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Hespeller had an offset blade. It didn’t have as many curves and joints, it just jotted “back” and inch so the puck and blade were behind the shaft. It was like 20 years ahead of its time, considering modern shooting techniques that are all about getting your hands in front of the puck. .

“You can have any color model T you want as long as it’s black.” It’s cheaper and easier to make and stock 3 curves than it is 10. Better for the companies producing them, better for the stores selling them. As much as I love to armchair CEO these companies, they are the ones making millions of dollars marketing a fantasy to players. I love to think “they’d make more money if they just ______, but kinda hard to argue with the financial results they produce. Absolutely nothing Bauer, CCM, Warrior, True, Sherwood do has anything to do with producing better equipment or player experience or hockey as a culture. They are just businesses selling widgets and we are widget consumers. The computer that manages the hedge fund that owns Bauer does not care if a small percentage of players would like a heal curve option, or if families are getting priced out of playing. My tinfoil hat is 10g lighter than last years model, plus, it has these cool holes that increase pop and improve air flow. It is not available in a pm9.

Funny how people are using a dremel to widen the channel on the Powerfly holder, but the Edge holder channels widened just by skating on them for a year. 😬

What do the Easton core socks look like? I have an older pair of Eastons that are gray with a red logo. In my memory they aren’t especially thin, so maybe a different model. I’ll give them to you, if you want a pair of lightly used socks (but washed) that were too small for me.

I started wearing contacts as an adult in my 30s. Originally I wouldn’t wear them to play. I started to, but would have to give myself 30 minutes before the game to get them in, and I had a whole set up with towels over everything so they wouldn’t fall in the sink or on the floor. Same with coming home, but it wasn’t as bad. And, I legit had some tantrums and big frustrations that made me feel like a little kid. It’s weird to poke your eyeball, and the whole process is just sorta hard to do until you get the feel. After a few weeks, i got better at it and better at it and it became such a non-thing. So, this is me just encouraging you to re-try contacts, and allow yourself the embarrassment of sucking at putting them in and taking them out for a few weeks.

I’m curious what happened that he’s able to mold so many new curves. Other companies charge you a new born child for molding a new custom curve, and this dude rolled out a ton of new options that are mostly just slight variations on things already available.

The materials and and technique to do this just seem like a lot. If it could be done, you’d have to essentially take apart all the fingers, and add and sew new padding and new materials. For the cost and effort, you’d could probably just buy another pair or two. I once heard a shop employee talking about having the tip of his finger essentially explode when it poked through the gusset and he took a randomly placed hard slash. Like Methot getting slashed by Crosby a few years ago. Those two stories disabused me of the idea of wearing gloves where my fingers are too long for the gloves.

If you can find them, I like the last iteration of STX surgeon elbows. I have long skinny arms, like medium circumference and large length. These are the first elbows I’ve had in a while that feel like they fit me correctly. I’ve had them I think going on 3 years and they are holding up fine. I thought the sleeve would be a deal breaker for me, but I don’t even notice it or think about it.

Woof. Those sound like the names if you could order knockoff profiles from AliExpress or Tron the same way you can order knock off sticks. “I got the Velvet profile on my Steep steel that I have in my HockeyStickMan BlackOut Skates. I am certain they are all just rebranded Bauer stuff, I got such a good deal.”

Oh man, for highschool years these were my go to blades for asphalt roller hockey with a ball. At that time, I don’t think i knew they made different curve options.

Just found out True has TC2.5T which is their p90TM clone. Doesn’t seem to be much info/advertising on it. I think a good number of sellers don’t realize what it is, and just list it online as a TC2.5. Even the name bar says “Marner,” which is the name on the TC2, so it’s confusing AF. Would be easy to miss if you’re glancing through a stick rack. Bought one for my wife on sale on SLS, and we were pleasantly surprised when it was the p90TM clone and not just a 5 lie p92.

Thank you! With the graphite added, do you know long do I wait for it to cure? And, when you say “tape it down,” won’t the tape get stuck in the epoxy? (sorry if that’s a silly question, this is totally brand new concept for me.)

I have a relatively new stick that’s taken some abuse, and has a spot on the blade and bottom of the shaft where there’s some carbon splintering. Is there some coating I can put on these spots to keep it from further splintering and poking me? Like every other equipment issue, is the answer just epoxy?

Woof. A decent option as long as your under 6 feet tall.

Most women I play with, including my wife, use all men’s equipment. It’s just a matter of trying on different models and sizes and seeing what works. A lot of women’s equipment seems like it’s designed as an afterthought, and is sized by people who have never actually seen a female person in real life.

Wasn’t the e36 just a p88 clone with a bunch of fancy marketing jargon to convince people it was something new and exciting?

The wheel was brand new. But, the guy I normally go to is pretty hyper-aware about his stuff, so I don’t think he’d use a wheel that’s past it’s prime. And it felt “off” enough that I don’t think whatever I did wrong was within some sort of expected tolerance.

I thought I deburred it pretty well. No grabby edge, felt smooth dragging my finger down the height of the blade.

Ok, I need some Sparx trouble shooting help. Sharpened my skates myself on a Sparx machine, first time I have personally done it. Used a brand new 3/4” fire wheel, which is my normal go to. It felt like way more bite than usual. Had pure hockey redo it, and it’s fine. Not great, but fine. I usually take them to a shop that does an outstanding job on a Sparx, it’s just 45 minutes each way. Obviously user error by me, but I thought I followed all the directions. Are there any typical newb errors that might lead to the blade feeling like too much bite? Machine isn’t mine. It’s a friend of a friend’s and I don’t know how well he maintains it. Thanks!

Prostock smalls with a +2 might be the thing. I’m often between a medium waist and large length, and the extensions help me.

Yeah, but this never, ever happened. And, edge holders definitely didn’t consistently get loose after a year or two and you had to put tape on the top of the steel to keep it from moving in the holder. Bauer products are perfect. They don’t make mistakes or have quality issues.

Thanks for the breakdown! My wife has this same problem last(?) summer. She’s been in profile cages for a while and got a new helmet and cage and immediately was like “this isn’t right, do not want,” and we tracked down an older one on sideline swap. On the other hand, I’ve used a variety of cages with different helmets and I barely, if ever, notice the difference. I totally believe people when they get all picky about bar shape and face distance, but I just don’t notice it.

I didn’t use D30, but I added VN foam to shinguards around the knee. I cut it to the shapes I wanted, and attached it to the pad, rather than the liner. I went closer to the “slab” approach than donut. To affix it, I doubled over duct tape, and it held everything with no issues. It wasn’t sexy but it held up perfectly fine. Prior to that, I had landed at just the wrong angle on my knee a few times and had inflamed bursa issues, but it stopped after added the padding.

Do you have any friends or teammates or non-enemies who would let you borrow their 85 flex and see if you like playing with it? (or borrow it from an enemy, but then really lean hard into a bunch of slapshots with it.) After cutting the 95 flex you’re probably getting to be around 100, so the 85 might feel like a significant drop, but the trend for the past decade is people going down in flex. It’s all personal preference but using a ~100 flex stick just seems like a lot.

They designed a hockey helmet specifically to perform well on a laboratory test that doesn’t actually test very well for real world hockey events. Uh, congrats? edit: being saucey towards the company, not anyone here.