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Wanted to top this thread, and maybe move the discussion out of the Flare thread, since it’s well away from that brand of steel. What can I look at at home to see if steel is loose in Edge holders? My vices are both vertically mounted, so I can’t hold hold horizontally by the steel. Is there a feeling/experience I can look for on the ice that might point to loose steel? I’ll ask my sharpener next time I’m there, but it helps me to see things with my own eyes.

Relativity. Ever notice how slowly time passes when you’re in the penalty box?

Hasn’t Ribcore been under CCM branding for like 4 seasons now? 🧐

Chars and Hronek, so one Slovak and one Czech. I thought maybe it would be like how T-Blades were only used by German players.

A few questions: Do the Tacks fit? You mentioned buying them, and saying the Vapors are too wide, but not how you feel about the Tacks. You said the Tacks are R...a quick google tells me that there is a size R between D and E, but I’ve never seen retail skates that are anything but D or EE is the USA. Are they definitely R? And, if so, what country did you buy them in? If the EE Vapors were too wide, did you try D Vapors? To me, that seems like the logical starting place. — When going from inline to ice, you don’t really need anything special in the skates to compensate. You want the best fitting skate for both. You’ll probably end up playing with the profile and hollow of the steel to figure out to feel best on the ice for your skating style.

Well, that’s an even better point.

Or it’s got the FT3 graphics to drum up hype. We can’t know the build unless someone posts the code from the stick. Anything else is just speculation or hearsay. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Appreciate the input, but I’d rather have shims because it’s more consistent, and doesn’t run the risk of change with sharpening. I kind of buried that in the middle, but would prefer shims.

Are there any resources that compare pitch between current popular holders? Edge, Speedblade XS, Shift, any others I’m missing? My previous two skates were Mako M8s with CXN, and Vapors x800 with edge holders. Currently in a pair of Supreme 190s with edge holders. I liked the more “forward lean” of Vapors and Makos. Trying to figure out how to replicate that in my current skates, preferably with shins as opposed to profiling. Blade profile and hollow was the same across all three. And, to add another wrinkle, I’ve noiced my left holder clicking, and I think I’d like a new holder, maybe the Shift, since I can get it with Step steel. A) if I leave the Edge on, what size shim do I need to be closer to the pitch of Vapors and Makos? (Which, of course are different pitches on their own and not the same, I just want to get more in that neighborhood.) B) Does the True Shift holder have a more aggressive pitch than the Edge? If so, how much? Thanks!

At the risk of sounding stodgy and condescending...pick literally any blade you want, and practice with it. Since you're used to the p28, and it checks almost all, if not all, of your requirements, stick with that and make it do what you want. If you change curves, that alone might improve some aspect of your game, but other aspects will suffer. From your descriptions, it sounds like you just need to go to stick time and practice wrist shots and passing accuracy.

How do sticks with no reviews and that no one has held in their hand, let alone played with “seem nice” and “look like a deal?”

But, from Taymag’s questions and issues, it sounds like Sparx still has some room for user error, and the chance to think you’re doing it correctly when you’re not.

...how else would you make a DIY comfort edge without sewing something into the edge of the ankle? i guess you could glue it, but that would potentially be sloppy, and/or it would be harder to remove if you don’t like it.

Reading the Bauer descriptions on Supreme pads, they mention “Flattened knee cap for better stability when taking a knee on the ice.” Thats an odd selling point; a rounded cap would disperse impacts, a flatter cap is going to transfer more of the energy from an impact to the knee.

How long are the leagues? Does the season end in December/January, or does it run through the spring? Asking to be moved mid season seems like you might burn hockey bridges, which can be dangerous. In situations like this, I usually tough it out, but also keep my eyes open for new opportunities. Try to get friendly with people at pick ups, or even ingratiate yourself with other teams in the league, and maybe you can find a better landing spot next season. Are the teams all "free agent" teams, or were they established teams from previous seasons that you joined? I feel like free agent teams that are built of random people, no matter how skilled, are never good. I think people don't feel beholden to each other, and there's a lot of blaming everyone else and not being responsible, because you don't owe the other players anything. This doesn't help you at all, but there's something comforting to the rest of us that someone playing in an "elite" league is dealing with a problem that the rest of us pleebs have gone through.

Then so should Kessel and Ovechkin. Different people and different playing styles use euipment to suite their needs. We are pretty far away from X weight =Y flex, or if you use a lighter flex you need to go to the gym.

Hi! Topping this again. I've taken a few falls where I land directly on my knee, and it gets inflamed and sore. Growing up, we played a ton of outside roller hockey and were way too cool to wear knee pads or shinguards, and I think the bursa in my knee become inflamed really easily. So, same question as the original post. Any recommendations for shinguards with extra good knee padding? Or has anyone had success adding padding to knees?

Shoulder patch looks a lot like that the weird bear/wolf Bruins shoulder patch of the 80s. Having the city name and team name feels like too many words. Maybe they could up the ante and white on white print the teams Wikipedia entry, the way the Slovak team did their national anthem for those Olympic jerseys. These would be mediocre adult league jerseys. To me, it’s super limp for an NHL jersey.

TLDR; Fire/BFD is the Hydrox to FBV’s Oreo. Similar, but fundamentally and demonstrably not the same, and most people prefer Oreo. This blog post from Sparx does a decent job of explaining the differences of ROH, Fire/BFD, and FBV. Blade master BFD appears to be the same as Fire. https://blogs.sparxhockey.com/hollow-shape-and-depth In an old post, JR explains BFD as being kind of the half way point between ROH and FBV. BFD came first, but wasn’t a big enough difference from ROH, so people didn’t go for it, and it was essentially shelved. Once Blackstone FBV got popular, Blademaster pushed the BFD to play catch up. So many acronyms!

There was a similar product called Oggie Grip a few years ago. Their version was an arc, as opposed to the hard angle of these. And, it was rubber and plastic, instead of wood. The argument was it could help with stickhandling because of the way it offset your top hand. If you google “oggie grip” you can find the old threads on here. They also said their buttends were more flexible, and would allow the top of the stick to flex at the top hand, similar to what I think the Bauer G3 shaft does.

If other 3rd party companies “can expect letters,” why are they able to sell their Edge runners in the US, but Step couldn’t, and was confined to Canada? Was that a choice Step made to try to play by the rules? Sorry if I’m getting into the weeds, the behind the scenes business issues of all this stuff intrigues me.

I’ve never fit skates for anyone but myself, so I don’t know anything about uneven feet, and I don’t know much about the mechanics of skating. Just asking informationally as a lay person trying to learn and understand... Do you need the same size holder on each skate? Two people in this thread mention holder size vs boot size, and if they would match up. Couldn’t you just have a 288 holder on the sz 10 skate and a 306 on the size 12?

Why is it other companies (Massive, Bladetech, etc) can sell replacement runners for the Edge holder, but Step can’t? Did those companies work out a licensing deal? And, did Step refuse to pay that license, or Bauer wouldn’t even offer it to them?

I love the idea of Johnny Suburb pestering his parents to buy him the new $350 375g super lite air maxxx stick, then turning around and demanding that he now needs an additional heavier training stick. None of the info I can find on these mentions their weight or flex profile. Same flex profile as your “game stick” seems like it’s at least as important as curve. If you want a heavier stick, can’t you just buy a $50 stick from Walmart or Canadian Tire?

I can’t beleive the number of people in locker rooms I overhear who say things like “I can only use Bauer sticks, everything else is garbage” or “Bauer is the only company whose skates fit right.” So much long term brainwashing and group think that Bauer puts out product that is on such another level. They have a brand loyalty that no one else does.