Cavs019

It feels about 5 flex points higher than 77 and 5 lower than 87. 🙂 In all seriousness - it’s a good compromise if you want a bit more give vs the 87 but don’t like the potential lag or noodle feeling you’d get with a 77. No one can say one is better than the other as it’s purely a matter of preference and on ice feel. You might not need to go custom either as 82 is super common on Sideline and Ebay unless you use a more quirky curve. Kickpoint also plays a role here as I find the higher up you go the softer the stick feels - I.e my 77 1S sticks feel softer than a Vapor in the same flex.

Did you buy the same size? Just from a length perspective a 50k fits a half size bigger than the 80k. I.e a 6.5 50K = 7.0 80K

To be fair - gear has stagnated completely and either innovation is at an all time low, or we’ve reached a point of diminishing returns on currently available materials. I have a hard time getting excited about CCM moving their logo from the bottom of the Ribcore shaft to the top, or Bauer adding different pops of chrome every year and calling it a new stick. Protective hasn’t really gone anywhere in about 8 years since the CL line released and skates, aside from steel/holder enhancements haven’t really gone anywhere aside from perhaps better baking results. We’ve also seen a decline in unique products. We’ve been P92/P28/P88’ed to death and quirky stuff like custom Franchise gloves have completely disappeared. Did I also mention that all of this stuff has been increasing in price at an absurd rate? It’s hard to generate buzz when there is nothing to buzz about. /rant.

LOL @the_game. To be fair those T-Flex blades were unreal and the puck absolutely exploded off of them so I totally get it. It’s hard to decouple what could be attributed to the blade itself vs kickpoint. IIRC consensus on here (or was it Corebeam at that point?) was that the Synthesis blades felt like a dead fish.

It will probably feel closer to a Synthesis or Synergy did back in the day. Pretty sure the Synthesis was just a longer T-Flex with no change to the kickpoint.

I’m only using pro stock sticks at this point because of the price differential for top of the line - I rarely if ever break sticks inside 30 days. I’ll use pro stock gloves as well if a deal presents itself but otherwise I’m using all retail. Pro stock protective and skates are mostly way overbuilt for beer league.

Sounds like a great deal for them, and an absolutely terrible one for you - especially in the current environment. Team orders were always paid up front in my experience.

NHL teams are obviously not using this customizer nor are they placing orders through the same website as the general public. The idea is that this would help facilitate cost effective customs at scale and no longer support things like “Hossa cuff, shortened gussets, Franchise dressed like an AX1” etc etc etc from back in the day.

100000000000% People forget the fact that the Synergy was basically a T-Flex with epoxy where the shaft and blade connect.

The RBZ pants (HP45) and shoulder pads. After all the hype and hunting around the internet trying to find them, they were super meh. Obviously both pieces are incredibly light - but they didn’t feel like they moved well at all or had good ergonomics/break in compared to my very old Vapor stuff.

The only company that made a true intermediate blade was Easton with the blue hosel Synthesis blade to be paired with their intermediate shaft. Otherwise, 99% of intermediate shafts took senior blades.

Stealth CNT Drury 85 Anything Styles/Roenick pro from back in the day, ideally the OG Stealth Jofa 8060 shins

I’m a big frankenpad guy - top of the line chest and bicep piece with shoulder caps from a $30 entry level model. Most of the repalm/repair places can do this relatively easily. I agree with @psulion22 in that if I had to pick anything off the rack it would be the Vapor line. I had the “holy grail” CCM U+ CLs recently and felt like a linebacker in those shoulder caps.

I remember loving the metal tipped laces on my old Bauer 7000s back in high school - until they somehow came into contact with my steel and absolutely destroyed my sharpening.

Ryder optimized shooting with a long P89. PK Subban hammers one timers with a P91A. Boeser has an absolute bomb with a P88. Sakic had arguably the quickest “dual lie” release in NHL history using a Drury Blake Wheeler averages like 15G-60A a season using a P28. Tavares has the puck on a string with a P15. TLDR: Curves aren’t good at things, players are.

In addition to the above - hockey isn’t golf in that you have your hands in the exact same position for different shots and have time to approach the ball. Ideally you want to be able to get your shots off from a variety of hand/body positions as the play unfolds dynamically. TLDR: Whoever fed you the hold at the balance point idea, fed you nonsense.

This is only true if you’re comparing a retail 2S Pro or pro stock 2SPRO build to a 2SPROSE. The SEs have thicker sidewalls and are heavier, the regular builds are the same.

This screams Jetspeed FT1 to me. They’ve always felt similar to a vapor with the V shape heel-forefoot dimensions but with slightly more volume ala Supreme.

It’s more or less the same number of SKUs. It probably ends up being a SKU reduction if you take into account the senior Supreme being offered in C,D,EE over the years. New: 2 lines x 3 fits vs Old: 3 lines x 2 widths

Whether or not you lace the top eyelet and/or the overall height of the boot (where the top eyelet hits your ankle) is the number one determinant for this, not volume. The top of my foot bulges out of my Vapors but I don’t have any mobility issues with them. There are also other variables like flexible/stiff tendon guards, tongue stiffness - that can help or inhibit toe flick.

It’s beautiful.

The CCM Tavares P45 and Datsyuk P38 blades are sort of like a longer square toe P88 if I remember correctly - though I don’t like CCM sticks unless you can find an old Tacks or Ultra Tacks. FWIW - the Bauer Supreme 1S has the most “sticky”, wood-like blade I’ve used in a long time. Almost every CCM stick I’ve used has felt like it’s made out of glass, same with recent Warriors after they moved to that minimus 1000 carbon.

Another vote here for Ribcore skates + P88 stick.

They look like they have way too much volume for your foot and are too wide - based on how far around your forefoot those eyelets are wrapping. I imagine all the negative space is then causing the boot to crease as shown in the pictures as the material tries to make its way back to your foot once you tighten the skate.

I play with the P92 and P28 shorter and whippier than my old heel curve sticks. I find the shorter twig lets me get more of my weight and leverage over the toe when shooting. I also find the shorter stick helps me keep the blade (especially the toe) flat on the ice and closer to my body when stickhandling/protecting the puck.