Coldclay

So I've been meaning to give my .02 cents on the new True MIPS Helmet... I bought one for my 15 yo Midget AA son for Xmas. A size Medium, paired with a size Large CCM Titanium cage. He's been wearing a Bauer Re-Akt (original version), paired with the same Large CCM Titanium cage for at least 2 seasons. The Re-Akt helmet has been holding up just fine with no damage, but since I'm a gear whore, I wanted to buy him something new and the MIPS really attracted me as I believe in the concept of slip-plane technology. The fit and build of the True helmet seems fine to me. Fit my son well with the various sizes of padding and a lighter-than-most (except Easton E700 of course) weight for the helmet. I really wanted him to like it, despite it looking goofy af on anybody's head and I've been a fan of what True has been putting out. With that said, my opinion is that this helmet is absolutely unsafe for the sport of hockey. He practiced with the True lid for a week and played one game with it. And one game was all it took for me to return immediately for a refund. My kid is an uber physical forward and will not hesitate to hit someone, but this time he was on the receiving end of a check, sort of... So he collided with another player along the boards and somehow fell on his knee, and the other player's hip made contact with his head/helmet and he immediately laid on the ice holding his head. He went off the ice and took off his helmet and swelled up with a huge bruise all the way across his forehead. He ended up sitting out for a whole period... After the game, he flat out told me that he can't wear the True lid because it simply doesn't have enough padding all around. See the pic below, and that's from ONE hit. He's played AA for years and checking for the last 3, and he's had his clock cleaned a few times but nothing like this has ever happened before... Not to mention the collision that caused this wasn't even all that great. It was just his helmet pressing into his forehead at very low speed... IMO the True lid would be amazing if it wasn't for the foam padding they use. The foam is basically spongy pads, very much like the E700, except thicker and by the feel of them, the pads would get thinner the more you use the helmet. Now image you using a bicycle helmet, with or without the MIPS, and now go play a full contact hockey game with it. The True lid is exactly that, a thicker, bulkier bicycle helmet... Now if the true lid would use something like Poron AND the MIPS, then you'd have a perfect helmet. But as of now, the padding for the True is seriously lacking and I'd advice anyone to avoid it, unless you play beer league or other non-contact game.

The funniest thing about Mighty Ducks 1 was how they said Bombay used to rule Peewee... First of all, nobody ever remembers who 'ruled' in Peewee, second, ruling in Peewee is like saying he used to be the smartest kid in 5th grade... they should've said midget or even bantam, but kicking ass as a peewee pretty much means nothing.

Ok, so I personally have only tried the Smart Hockey Tape in the garage, on a shooting pad, so my opinion matters little. But my 15 yo midget AA son have tried the tape in 6 practices and 3 games. By the end of the experiment, he told me he was going back to regular black cloth tape, pretty much saying SH tape sucks. I paid $15 for what I thought would be 3 rolls of SH tape, but to my surprise, 6 rolls showed up, in two different shipments. My kid taped his pretty much brand new Vapor Flylite 65 Flex Int (his second Flylite), the same way he normally does (it's actually more difficult to tape than regular cloth tape) and you sorta have to stretch the tape to make it taut and the very end of the tape (for us, ends at the toe since we tape heel to toe) almost always will not stay on the blade. He takes a strip of cloth tape to wrap around the toe to ensure Smart Hockey Tape doesn't get unraveled. Feel: the smart hockey tape is almost a tad too thick... feels like it does give a slightly better cushion while receiving puck but my kid thinks it's too soft and doesn't feel crisp. He doesn't notice the SH tape being any stickier than regular cloth tape. Weight:: This was the dealbreaker for him as he did not even use a full roll of SH tape and you can already feel a noticeable weight differences vs regular cloth tape, almost making his Vapor Flylite feel off-balanced. Durability: Another big minus. The tape job fell apart after 1-2 practices, starting at the bottom of the blade. The ice is not kind to the rubber tape and just shreds the bottom up BADLY. Regular cloth tape lasts him waaaaay longer and never falls apart at the bottom, and even if it does wear at the bottom of the blade, the tape job doesn't completely falls apart.since cloth tape seem to stick a whole lot better than SH tape. So he never really saw any benefits to using SH tape and frankly, neither did I. We really want to like it but we just can't... it's really nothing special and the tape needs to be a lot stickier to last longer on a blade.

Bombay is a freaking bender. Always was and always will be. They should maybe find actors who could at least skate a little. Russel Crowe couldbt skate in Mystery Alaska and Emilio definitely couldn't skate in all them ducks movies.

so my 3 rolls for $15 order came in yesterday, just waiting for new stick to arrive then I can give a review...

So weird that Rezztek doesn't like money and drags their feet on getting their products to people outside of the pros'

Ya I'm a sucker and I coughed up $15 to check this out. Will let yall know how well, or not-well, it works. BTW I've always been a fan of Bladetape and my kid doesn't mind it either but his coach wants everyone to use tape instead...

Now take that same 20lb sledgehammer and handle it with one hand. Tell me how balance point matters. It's not even an extreme example but illustrates my point better. A heavy stick is a heavy stick. Balance point is just a way to mask and trick your brain that it doesn't feel as heavy. I'm an advocate that light sticks are generally preferred over heavier sticks, hence why NOBODY chooses to use a frickin tree. Sure a stick may be 'too light' but a stick on the lighter side is what all the pro's use because they know this is a game of inches and if your stick is too heavy, you may get too tired or you may be half a second late to the puck.

I don't understand why some would say stick weight matters little as long as it's 'balanced.' A heavy stick is a heavy stick no matter how you spin it. A 500g stick is a frickin log and I don't care how balanced it is. Sure a well-balanced stick is better than a 'not-well-balanced' stick, but c'mon, a heavy stick is annoying af when it comes to handling the puck/poke check etc with one hand, especially towards the end of the game when everyone is fatigued. In my 30 yrs of playing the game and now a hockey parent, for the most part I'm glad today's sticks are getting lighter. Sure durability may not be ideal, but top-of-the-line sticks are built for performance, not longevity. My midget kid who's an uber physical center in tier has only broken 1 top-of-the-line stick (Warrior QRE SL, while shooting a wrist shot, stick lasted a little more than 30 days) and he's had just about every hi-end sticks ever made by Bauer, Warrior and True (but never had any Bauer ADV's) and almost all of them are replaced due to blade going soft or splitting. His current Bauer 1X Flylite is experiencing blade going soft and he's logged approx 170 hrs of ice time in 5 months. If a stick lasts him 6 months, I'm perfectly ok with it.

I tried putting spacers between j-hooks and helmet but the screw were too short and wouldn't catch...

My son's large CCM titanium cage has a difficult time fitting my medium True helmet... I was only able to get cage to fit under one j-hook , which is fine but seems like the cage pitches the top frontal part of the helmet when buckled in... Previously he had a large CCM titanium cage to go along with an original medium Re-Akt and although not a perfect fit, he wore that combo for 2 seasons. FWIW a medium True helmet with a large CCM titanium cage weighs in at 690g, which is 90g lighter that an original medium Re-Akt with a large CCM titanium cage.

RX3's looks nothing like HPR's.

My 16yo kid wears Supreme 2S Pro gloves with STX RX3 elbows and he has zero complaints. STX RX3's are priced reasonably, light, durable (still looks intact after over 120 hrs of hockey), and do not stink as bad as his previous elbows (STX HPR, CCM CL) and the sleeves and strapping system never bothered him.

I tried the True helmet on yesterday and here are my thoughts... 1 - It's lighter than most helmets out there. I was hoping it'd be like the Easton E700, but it's not in that super light league but still lighter than most. 2 - The MIPS system is super cool and rotates/gives quite a bit. 3 - It's a thick bulky looking helmet. Super stiff one piece, adjustments can only be made with the different thickness of padding included. I found the helmet a bit tight by my temporal area. 4 - Not crazy about the padding included... Comes with 1.5mm and 1 mm padding and the concept is exactly the same as Easton E700. Padding are made of simple foam, not very cushiony, and like the E700, padding will thin out the more you wear the helmet. Didn't try the two different occipital pads, just went with the one that was already on the helmet... 5 - it's a bit pricey but if MIPS is as advertised, what's $249 if it protects my kid's noggin?! With all the money we spend on hockey, I don't care about the extra $50. Overall, I was impressed with the MIPS system and the slightly lighter weight but like I said, it looks bulky af and padding could be more soft and comfortable.

1) Bauer XXX 2) Mako II 3) Mako I 4) CCM FT1

Unlike D3O, Poron doesn't 'stiffen' when impacted.

Agreed, they look nice but what's the deal with available in only Black shell?!

My son wore Mako's for years, then went to CCM FT1's (currently on his second pair of FT1's) and we did add a Powerfoot insert to the toe box, but again, he had Powerfoot (Mako version) inserted in the Mako's too. He just like his toes to be snugged.

Went to a certain chain hockey retailer and just thought I'd ask if they had any Bauer 2S or 2S Pro gloves (Release date: Friday 06-28-19) and to my surprise, he went to the back and got me both the 2S and the 2S Pro's to try on... 2S retails $149 and 2S Pro's $199... As I walked out with the 2S Pro's, I was thinking these retailers have no chill!

Those Nike skates are cool looking especially the white ones like the ones Fedorov used to rock. But those skates are heavy af...

360g sounds interesting but I sure hope the Fantom is more durable than the garbage QRE SL... My kid broke his QRE SL in less than 3 weeks and he NEVER breaks sticks. One of his teammate also broke his in less than 3 weeks. The QRE SL was the most disappointing stick we've ever tried, meanwhile his go-to stick, the regular QRE stick has been a total tank and surprisingly lasted for months and still going strong.

Below is my son's review on his Marsblade holder. Player: soon-to-be 15 yo, 1st yr U16 Midget AA Skates: CCM FT1 + stock Marsblade holder (sz 7, 263 MB Holder, Prosharp Quad 1 on 100/50 FBV) Time spent on MB: Sticktime/drills: 4 hrs Pickup: 1 hr 5v5 scrimmage: 2 hrs Spring League HS Varsity games: 3 According to him, the Marsblade Holder helps with tighter turns while maintaining speed, with more confidence in trusting edges than before especially in small area doing delays/gretzky turns. Exiting turns going into lateral crossovers feels easier and more powerful than before. A bit more top end speed and power when pushing off. No difference on stopping/stop and go vs previous holder. Backward/pivots/mohawks/Crosby's/Tarasenko's are a breeze and effortless. The extra 100g on each skates are not noticable at all. The only con he mentioned was that it took him at least a few hrs to get used to them. From a dad/drill sargent's view, since I skate with him at sticktime, the MB's do help him seem more sturdy/balanced and his turns look more powerful with smoother and quicker exits. He 'looks' faster during breakaways and backchecks. Just overall more stable and stronger on MB... Could be that he's growing and getting stronger, but I firmly believe Marsblade has a good thing going on. I simply can't see how these holders won't help you fine-tune and enhance your skating, especially for higher end skaters, MB can really give you that extra edge. Cosmetically, the holders are holding up decently. A few chips here and there, exposing the black core underneath some sort of thick white coating... Really hoping the MB will be durable and last at least a season. The Tydan blades are nice but I feel his previous Massive Blades held edges longer, while blade height appears to be same as Massive Blades. My kid really does like the MB and if he feels they help his game and he feels good on the ice, then I must say it was money well spent.

It would be nice if someone can do an actual weight comparison between True and CCM FT1, FT2... In my opinion, True skates feels heavier than any other top-of-the-line skates on the market... My kid's size 7 FT1 with Massive Blades, Speedplate 2 and waxed laces were 826g. His same pair of FT1, now with Marsblade, waxed laces and Speedplate 2 are 936g, but still feels lighter than comparable size True skates but I have no actual data to back it up... I held a pair of FT2's and they're definitely heavier than FT1's, likely due to the new holder and the screw that holds the blade in place.

I did receive the components and thanks for the fast shipping. Will try the holders at its original state for a few hours at the very least and hoping there will be no need to install the new components.

Just got my son's skates back with Marsblade holders freshly installed. He will try them out this weekend... BTW his regular skates were Sz 7 CCM FT1, with Massive Blade and Speed Plate 2, weighted in at 826g each. With the new Marsblade holders, and Speed Plates 2, his skates now weights in at 936g each.