Phantom

Set up a brand new work bench for my new SPARX skate sharpener last night. SPARX is sweet and the workbench is offering a lot of additional storage/organization for spare parts, tape, gear, etc. Hockey room is now hockey heaven! :)

Sweet chesties guys, awesome score on that Brown. You'll be good on that thing for a nice long time. Here are some shots of me in my new Warrior kit. These are custom pro G2s, ordered two years ago (received June 2014...don't ask) and I'm just breaking them in now (sat out for a bit focusing on my career and my riding). Also got a new Simmons C/A this past spring to replace my old Simmons. And updated shot of my lid (Itech 961 with Maltese gel kit):

Nice sock collection steel! Speaking of socks, I broke out the Mighty Ducks socks and pant shell for this morning's stick time. QUACK QUACK!

Thanks! I had to play with the graphic a little before I settled on something I really liked. I tried doing the classic/retro option on the pads since I love the knee roll look, but I couldn't make it work well in that color scheme. But I think they came out well in the standard graphic and they play as great as they look. I agree the glove looks huge in the finger area, but it's really deceiving with all the padding. This is probably the first glove that really feels like part of my hand/an extension of my fingers, but I miss having an actual wrist strap to keep it snugger at the base. Probably just a matter of getting used to it. Glad you like the foamcores! Twigz make some great sticks.

OptimusReim - how are you liking the foamcore? I think they're a good, happy medium between composites and wood. Medium weight, much more durable than composites with usually a pretty good feel. I have four foamcores; three of which I might never use because I cannot kill the first one. Congrats on joining the goalie guild, I remember you posting awhile back on this thread about that never happening - glad that wasn't the case! Here are the first puck marks on my Warrior Ritual G2 Custom Pro pads; today was my first skate with them. Minimal adjustment coming from my Smith 5000 set; it'll take a few more skates to dial stuff in, but overall the first skate went great and I barely noticed the different pads. I actually like the default toe and heel elastic; I was most skeptical of it, but that system worked well, felt good and didn't impede my movement (I impede my own movement, lol). In other news, I think I'll be seeing the doc next week because I came up LAME LAME LAME today with a nagging hip issue. Has nothing to do with the new pads, this is something that started on Monday after my second skate back and I'm hoping it's a fitness issue. Fingers crossed. :-/

Glad to they're working great for you! Do you use the elastic toe strap or did you go to another set up? I'm going to try the elastic and see how I like it, but I have the sliding toe bridges as a back up. Elastic felt fine during carpet flys so we'll see. I saw some of your vids on GSBB and you play well! :) Yeah, I ordered these back in Dec '13, was quoted 8-10 weeks, and they didn't show up until mid-June. I moved back east at the same time and got busy with other stuff, so I haven't played any hockey at all and was totally out of the loop regarding Warriors production woes (aside from the six month turnaround on mine). I cannot believe what happened now that I'm caught up. That being said, I'm excited to take the unicorns for a spin and see how I like them! They have to be pretty good to get me out of my Smiths.

Nice set Hills! How do you like them so far? My Warrior Ritual G2 Custom Pros. Got them in last June and they've just sat around the house because I haven't played since last April. I'm looking forward to getting these babies on the ice today. :)

Thanks! Those are the Bonafide X SE's. Love the Warrior mitts, very comfortable and awesome looking to boot.

Just a couple pics from yesterday, messing around at a couple of stick and puck sessions, taking the new uni's for a spin: (I normally play goal, I sometimes pretend to be a winger)

I don't normally skate out, but I brought my goal skates into the shop today for a sharpening, and absolutely had to buy these babies: Gonna look awesome the half a dozen times I actually skate out this year. I'm beginning to understand how you guys collect player gloves so easily.

Thought you all might get a kick out of me in my Heaton 6 set: This is my usual set up:

LOL yep, they've been pretty well destroyed. Barely any steel left, and the back padding is falling to pieces. Boots are still good though.

My collection of Grafs. 705 player skates, and three pairs of 750 goalers in various condition from brand new >> beaten to death.

Just Hockey has one pair left on their eBay store: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Reebok-7000-Custom-14-Sr-Ice-Hockey-Gloves-/110674575326?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_2&hash=item19c4b7ffde

My current setup: Itech 961 Maltese combo Simmons 995 Pro C/A RBK Pro pants Smith 5000 pads, glove, blocker Graf 750 skates The rest of my stuff:

I don't normally play out, but I think I'll skate out more now that I have these: I'm a sucker for navy/powder blue...and I'm ok with it!

Screen caps from a recent tourney:

Haha Law, I wanted to do that. Oh how I wanted to. I also was fit to skate after him and put my blocker in his throat, but managed to restrain myself. Later on, the tool was skating by me, backward, when I was over by the boards, and it was all I could do to not put my stick out there and trip him. So many opportunities.

As a goalie, my main stick and puck rule is that if I'm in net, you don't get to shoot unless I tell you to. I was at a stick and puck today, and some teenager was there just letting slap shots and snap shots rip from either side of the ice while I (and the other three goalies there) was busy with other shooters. He wasn't waiting for clearance, he wasn't waiting his turn, and he had absolute no regard for the goalie or any one else that was in the area of the net. And like most stick and pucks, very few people had full gear on. I let someone come in on me one-on-one. As I was just beginning to recover from that shot, this idiot let a slap shot fly from my left, and I never even saw it. It hit me in the throat, broke my lexan neck shield, and impacted into my Maltese neck guard. It felt like I got punched in the throat. I hit the ice immediately knowing what had just happened, but it didn't take me long to figure out that I was ok. A little sore and extremely angry, but ok. The alternative was a hospital visit of unknown severity. I'll take pissed off over a collapsed airway, thank you very much. I was absolutely livid. Yes, I get to now replace my shield, but more importantly this kid had absolutely no regard for people's safety. If I hadn't had that Maltese on, Lord knows how bad it could have been for me. He didn't own up to it either. I was down on the ice and someone else skated over to see if I was ok. The guilty kid continued to shoot for another couple of minutes until I skated over to him, mask and broken shield in hand, and looking pretty pissed. He apologized, but that was too little, too late. I informed him that he couldn't just shoot on the goalie unless that goalie cleared him to shoot. Especially since there were a TON of people there today, someone else could have been hurt too. Pure idiocy. It's frustrating as hell.

That guy sounds like a complete and utter tool, cdoug. It's not just a common courtesy thing, it's a safety issue. As a goalie, if I'm at a stick and puck session and have to clear some pucks out of the net and someone shoots on goal with my back turned, I get pretty pissed.

I found the break on the Smith slightly different than the Bionic, but it wasn't at all dramatic. I can't stand any other brand of glove, but the Smith was one I could definitely see myself transitioning to without much trouble at all. Very comfortable, well balanced, and again the break was very similar. My Int. Bionic is staying around until it falls apart too, and even then it's probably getting a place of honor on my wall. But for me, the Smith is probably the next best thing, especially since getting a new Bionic won't happen. Which is too bad, really. One would think that TPS would take advantage of that and offer it to those willing to pay for it. Oh well.

Not to mention has a proper sidewall! :) I'm debating now if I'm going to get a set of gloves or have him do a whole set (including pads) for me later this year. I'm glad I had a demo catcher sent out last fall to try - surprisingly not unlike the Bionic, which is by far my favorite glove. Pete's getting a lot more of my business, right now it's just a matter of how much and when.

I love the sliding toe bridge. Coming from a more hybrid style into playing more butterfly, it really helped me get my skate blade on the ice for backside recoveries, pushes, etc. Very handy device.

Some new stuff: Itech 961 Maltese Combo Simmons 992 Pro C/A TPS Bionic glove/blocker TPS G7 pants Smith SP 2000 pads Bauer 3000 skates CCM Gatekeeper composite sticks

Mask: Itech 961 C/A: Simmons 992 Pro Pants: TPS G7 Pads: TPS Bionics 32" Trapper: Int TPS Bionic Blocker: Int TPS Bionic Skates: Bauer Reactor 3000 Sticks: CCM H6