hockeymom

Wish I'd had seats to that game! Friend of mine was working the game on the TV production with the regular Blues' crew. (there are always two crews broadcasting each game - one for each team). He was telling me they all really like David. Nice to hear... those guys (obviously) watch every game. Gotta keep the media on your side!

1st rule of parenting.... NEVER buy anything without headphones or a mute button... unless it is for someone else's kid

I'm one vehicle away fom something I actually want to drive. Yep, FINALLY ditching the hockey-mum-mobile mini-van this week (woo-hoo) and getting a Mazda3 hatchback. MissD starts driving this summer... and if all goes according to plan, she'll take this car off to university in 3 yrs (If she starts doing her friggin' homework grrrr) and then I'll get a car just for ME.

OMG - the level of detail you guys notice continues to shock and amaze me

I'm on a mac with flip4mac... it also worked fine... It did take awhile to load. Perhaps you're giving up too early on the blank screen that seems to be doing nothing?

Congrats David ~ I think I watched that goal 50 times.

why do they make these price regulations? To protect the price point. If you could buy it anywhere for less, it would no longer be worth $239.

A Player/Parent Joint Review Foot shape: Wider forefoot, narrow heel, flat arch, pronates, wide toe area and oddly angled toes. Coming from: Mission SW (S-series) Usage at time of review: 6 months 4-6 times weekly Fitting Issues: MissD is hard to fit; it is difficult to find a skate that is wide enough in the toe box and mid-foot, narrow enough in the heel and is comfortable in the ankle. She also doesn’t like the feel of a boot that is higher cut. I thought this was just her personal preference, or the difficulty of trying to fit into a skate that had been designed for male feet. Women tend to have wider forefeet, narrow heels and a slightly shallower/lower ankle. I have also recently learned that women’s calves are proportionally lower on their leg compared with men; a higher cut boot may in fact effect her leg movement because of the placement of the tendon guard. Parent Issues: I wanted a skate that had a good chance of lasting two seasons = value for money now that her feet have thankfully stopped growing. She was also working very hard on improving her skating – so I wanted to find a skate that would help her with her edgework and give her a good platform. We spent 6 months researching and trying on virtually every skate in the market (standing in each of them for at least ½ an hour in the store) before getting the ONE90’s Fit: MissD loved these skates the moment she put them on in the store – a first! I credit the instantaneous comfort with the fact that these skates were made on a 3-D last and are built to fit the shape of the foot better right from the get-go. You can see this if you compare them to another skate and look down, the inside is a titch further forward than the outside and also a bit higher. MissD identified a few hot spots that needed to be handled in the baking and breaking in period… primarily the outer edges of her mid-foot. Being ThermoFORMable (rather than just heat-MOLDable) makes it possible to ease the skate wider for the mid-foot and also really lock the heel in well. It did take many skates before these were fully broken in but are now the most comfortable skates she has worn. The larger ankle pocket in these skates fits a wider variety of foot shapes and meant MissD’s ankle was comfortable at last. Did not try the existing insoles – MissD pro-nates and always uses super-feet. Never had a skate fit so well: 10/10 Blade/Holder: We had heel lifts installed and the blades were profiled. The NBH website recommends profiling the one90’s. The holder took a few skates for MissD to adjust to: “They seem higher and felt weird at first, but it is easier to get my edges and I can really lean into these skates without losing an edge” It made a difference in her skating and her starts and transitions are noticeably quicker and easier. Weight: Crazy light. MissD has never been concerned about weight, but I imagine she would notice a huge difference if she tried to go back to a heavier skate. She says: “I don’t notice these skates at all: With other skates, I’d move my skate, with these I move my foot” 10/10 Protection: MissD stops pucks without noticing it at all. 10/10 Durability: After a lot of miles and even falling on the unforgiving surface of a skating treadmill there are only surface scuffs and scrapes. 10/10 Conclusion: Highly responsive skate: “you think move and BAM! You’re there” Although the stiffest skate she has ever worn, it has so much forward flex that it hasn’t been an issue. This is especially surprising because MissD was really afraid of moving into a stiff skate after having the Mission supple-fit. I believe these skates will last 2 seasons, however, they have so exceeded my expectations in a skate that I feel we will have received good value for the money even if they need to be replaced sooner than that. 10/10 This thread shows MissD’s transition into the one90’s: One90 Transition and Profiling

Oh that's too bad. Was it incredibly nerve=wracking to be in a televised game? I can't imagine the excitement and tension.

I'd love to see a pic of David with that trophy!

Thanks for the heads-up Kovy.... there is no way I am going to miss this tonight!!

We'll have at LEAST as many Perron threads as we currently have on Kovalev.

Oh Kovy thanks for posting the link. This is just great! Now I REALLY get why the two of you keep saying "practice, keep practicing, put the time in" Way to go David!! woot, woot

Did you charge extra for the pepperoni?

A "Mum-mobile"... shudder, yep the ubiquitous van. Now that D has a metro-pass, I seem to be free of schlepping hordes of kids around; I plan to celebrate next spring and get something that will still fit a hockey bag, but go with my leather pants. LOL

That's great Miike - did your dad shoot this one too? Thanks. My father is my personal videographer (only when i play hockey that is). It's nothing to special since its only being taken with a Sony digicam, but hey, it's not too too bad. Well, you're consistently great - but I must say your dad is really improving! Either that or you're cleaning up his action in post-production! Great vid.

That's great Miike - did your dad shoot this one too?

Jimmy: Actually, not to split hairs, I didn't misquote you, you mis-directed me to the "post above" rather than one 4 or 5 posts back. No wonder I was confused! And I remain confused in that you direct your customers to MSH so they can get information, yet you have repeated several times in this thread that you don't believe MSH should be "giving away information for free" because it is "cutting our own throats". As I said in my earlier post, from reading your comments in this thread... "Your stand seems to be, and I may be confused by this, that it is "much better to keep everyone UNINFORMED, so that I, the LHS, am the only source of product information and they are forced to come to me". Your second stand seems to be: "An informed person will rip me off/scam me by going and buying the product somewhere else."" Certainly the industry faces many challenges, and arguably the entire industry has been very slow to change. We agree, I believe, that brick & mortor businesses must evolve or die. Where we differ, I think, is where and in what way. I believe that a well-informed customer IS your best customer. Of all people they recognize the inherent value of a well informed and well stocked LHS. There are other areas to change; but of course, I'm not going to discuss that here, because it would be giving it away for free! Although I don't believe my business experience is relevant to the point, I'll satisfy your curiosity: Yes, I have owned a business; I am very much aware of profit and loss statements. I am now a marketing and advertising professor; I am well aware of the vast shifts in business practice and strategy as the world has transformed. And, just in case you subscribe to the adage "those that can, do: those that can't, teach" ... LOL, for many years I worked in advertising with experience in virtually every product and service category, (including both LHS and a hockey manufacturer) with a particular specialization in, and fondness for, retail. I have also developed business plans and strategies for on-line companies as well as developed strategies for retailers faced with stiff on-line and/or big box competition.

I agree with you, those who don't have LHS's nearby have a dillema. When I was in the military and stationed at god-forsaken places that had no LHS's, I had to rely on advice given by phone from a trusted LHS in another part of the country. We didn't have online and ebay stores. However for every one person like you who doesn't have a LHS nearby and is using the board for true need, there are 20 who are on these boards just to save a buck, no other reason. You don't have to believe me, on this board alone you will find many posts from folks, who admit scamming their LHS, trying stuff on and then buying from ebay or online. Perfect example is the post above. Until you've been scammed, you really don't know how it feels. Jimmy... I don't claim to understand your world view... but I am a little confused. To my eyes, the post you referred to supported and acknowkedged MSH for all of the useful product information that has helped them make good purchases, thus saving money. Here's the post: My business background suggests that the more informed my customer is... the easier it is to make the sale. Including up-selling, because they recognize the inherent value. Your stand seems to be, and I may be confused by this, that it is "much better to keep everyone UNINFORMED, so that I, the LHS, am the only source of product information and they are forced to come to me". Your second stand seems to be: "An informed person will rip me off/scam me by going and buying the product somewhere else." I am startled to hear wanting to save money is suddenly a bad thing. I spend between $5-7,000 a year on hockey and am very happy to save money along the way. I am also very happy to walk into the LHS armed with as much product information as possible - to be able to make informed decisions AND to balance mis-information, however well-meaning, from LHS staff. I am puzzled by your approach as it seems novel to the service business: your customers and potential customers are the enemy who are about to, at any moment, scam you. What is it that I'm not understanding here?

Fascinating thread... I'm learning a lot about how to be a good customer! I'm surprised no mention of the thing I've long thought must be a bone of contention...having to listen to long stories about little Johnny's or little Suzie's hockey feats!! Although I've come a long way in the last 8 years... I've been that rookie mom who put her 6 yr girl in a jock cuz I didn't know there was such a thing as a jill and who blindly accepted the wrong LHS advise (they know more than me, right?) and bought the wrong skates the first time out. Bless the people who took the time to educate me those first few years (you mean there's a right and a left and which way do they go up? I was SO relieved to get to the garter belt!! LOL). Actually, the only people I knew in hockey back then were with the Canucks (a former client) and a couple of the guys kindly started me on the path of the "science" of equipment. Didn't know then that it would become an obsession LOL. Ti-Girl mentioned one of my pet peeves... SOME LHS staff are pretty dismissive of girls' hockey... it's hard to feel you're getting the best advise when there's an undertone of "well, it doesn't really matter cuz its' just girls' hockey". Add to that that many LHS staff play hockey but don't know hockey equipment. It's made me a fanatical researcher so I can be an informed consumer. Here's what I've loved... The skate fitter who... 1. doesn't get (or at least doesn't show it) impatient that my kid is spending at least 1/2 an hour in the skates - she's picky about fit and is very hard to fit. These people make the skate buying ordeal SO much easier! 2. is attentive but gives us some private time to talk about the skates. (Go take care of that other customer or reorganize those gloves - hovering adds to the pressure) Although getting better about it, my daughter is shy and doesn't like to be "rude" about not liking something in front of them... so the people who give us the "friendly space" allow her to open up and say what's going on in those skates...and then I can feed back the info/open the dialogue with the fitter and my daughter will then join in. 3. Ahh! one in a million... the fitter who not only knows the skates and can be informative about it but ALSO knows feet and bio-mechanics. And if he's still working there the next time you need skates... huge bonus! After I made my first mistakes I realized I had to know more, so I've always tended to try to go back to the science of it to figure out what makes sense. The informed LHS staff who have helped me marry the product information to the realities of playing hockey have been invaluable along the way. Between that and lurking on MSH I've muddled my way thru. So, thanks to all of you out there who are helping other people like me along the way! It is much appreciated.