shoeshine boy

99.9% of our players are wearing traditional facial protection. once in a blue moon someone will show up with something like that one cage which really won't protect you from anything. that player will be politely told to get adequate protection. we are not USA Hockey affiliated (we are an independent league run by the players) but do play by most USA Hockey rules. we did change one a few years ago that says if you high stick an opponent wearing a half shield or no facial protection, that you are not given a game misconduct for the injury.

you try to play in that one on the far right in our league and you will be asked to leave the ice. only our highest levels allow you to play with no facial protection and the other levels require your protection to be certified.

I wear the CCM mask with a full visor. this mask can be work with full visor or a cage. I would imagine that the half visor version sits right up on your face.

hard to say. it's probably a little closer than my cage. I'm wearing the CCM Game On mask with it so everything nose-down is just mask.

for those of you who are playing I have a question: is your league sharing with you how many positive cases there are among players?

I have the CCM visor. I feel like it's got solid optics. I'll go back to my cage when this insanity is over but for now I can live with this.

my league has been back since mid June. we had a few cases over the Summer but in the last 2 weeks it's spiked like crazy. in the last week alone we had around a 15-20 cases. in some cases, there have been outbreaks on teams. masks aren't required once past the lobby, games are being played as usual, no special locker room rules other than showers are closed and after-game tailgating has continued as normal because where I live (GA), people are stupid.

I played with the CCM Game On for the first time yesterday. it blows the Bauer splash guard away. I has zero fogging issues and found it comfortable to wear. I am wearing mine with the CCM full shield. not the biggest fan of that but only because I'm a Bauer cage wearer. I don't feel great about skating with the cage right now though because at least the visor offers some protection from droplets entering through my eyes.

I played twice with the Bauer splash guard while I was waiting for my CCM Game On mask to arrive. I had minor fogging and condensation issues both games. between the first and second game I added some dish soap to both the shield and the splash guard. it took care of 98% of the shield fogging and maybe 70% of the condensation on the splash guard. not perfect but better than taking a risk that I'm not comfortable with. I'll be using the CCM mask from here on out. it's just a better system, imo.

that's an awfully cynical view of the world though I freely admit that sometimes I'm not cynical enough. only those at Bauer know their motivation. I can easily see both CCM and Bauer's motivations being to provide whatever they can to get hockey going again. guaranteed their sales plummeted between April and August save for some street/roller hockey equipment. parents (maybe some stupid ones) aren't spending $300 on sticks to play out in the driveway. and please, let's not get into a debate on the effectiveness of masks. everybody has a study to prove whatever their opinion is on it. the only thing most intelligent people agree on is that N95 masks are the best but should be reserved for our front-line workers I definitely agree with you on common sense being tossed aside once entering the rink. I've seen it. once in the locker room the masks come off and here in ATL, the 4th period is continuing like normal. folks are congregating in the parking lot, no masks and MUCH closer than 6 feet. I guess they figure the Bud Light will water down the respiratory droplets. 😉 glad you included your last line because I was beginning to wonder. we have our share of the latter in our league and those are the guys that scare me. I don't trust them to stay home when they're sick.

I think to call the Bauer splash guard a "cash grab" is a bit harsh. I think that Bauer wanted to create a device that covered all the holes and then quickly discovered that the heat and fogging would be a MAJOR issue. (note: I usually err on giving the benefit of the doubt) I also wouldn't say the splash guard is useless. it's not like a respiratory droplet is going to see the holes on the bottom section and decide to adjust course so that it can enter that way rather than just hit the top row which is covered. it may not be everything but it's something that's better than nothing though I do believe Bauer should have been more forthcoming with details before releasing the product. having said that, I think the CCM system is a much better system. I purchased both and was actually able to attach BOTH the Bauer splash guard AND the CCM Game On mask to my Bauer shield. I have skated with the Bauer splash guard but I won't be able to skate with the CCM mask until Friday. in the end it all comes down to this: if you are playing hockey right now then you have weighed the risk to you and your loved ones and decided that it's worth it to play. that doesn't mean that you can't take some common sense measures to protect yourself and others against COVID.

as I said on PHEW, I’m glad I’m not the only one who was expecting hard plastic with the Bauer. Also, I was actually able to put BOTH the Bauer splash guard AND the CCM Game On mask on my Bauer shield. Likely overkill but it worked. IMO the CCM mask works best on the CCM shield (bought one for my gf) but still sits pretty well on the Bauer too. the CCM shield has 5 holes on the bottom in front while the Bauer has 4. this causes the CCM Game On mask to be slightly off-center but the difference is minimal. last week I tried to wear a Bauer cloth mask under my Bauer shield but it was difficult. I hoping that the fact that the CCM Game On mask doesn't sit directly against your face will make it easier.

our rinks aren't closed here in ATL but the league just postponed for at least 2 weeks. as much as I hate it, I think it's the right call, especially judging by the amount of forfeits we had saturday night.

with you on this. it really bugs me that the pants are cream while the stripes on the jerseys and socks are white. I do love the jersey though.

I am a female (yes, it's true despite my username) and I have been wearing the Bauer Total One girdle for about 3 years and I'll never go back to regular pants. Bauer girdles are sized very differently. Bauer women's pants consider a 33" waist to be XL. WTF? in a Bauer girdle the same size is a medium, sometimes even small.

I was having too hard a time finding current Pens Warrior 4 rolls so I had Warrior make me some customs thumb embroidery is a combo of my number and the fact that I work for our state's department of transportation.

no, the ones I wear come right up to the knee. I rarely buy a new pair because mine have lasted so long but recently the soccer socks I find look like they're made to come over the knee which I'm not interested in. these are the closest I can find right now: https://www.doddsshoe.com/nike-classic-soccer-socks-royal.html they fit snug but not compression, at least not on me and my legs are anything but skinny. a lot of sporting goods stores sell baseball socks now which are very similar.

ditto.

I prefer Nike soccer socks. they use the same dri-fit technology used in "skate socks" but cost about half as much. mine have been really durable too. I've got probably 10 pair that have lasted me 15+ years.

when we were in Anaheim for USA Hockey Nationals we visited a Pure Hockey and they had a company that was making women's-specific gear. some teammates tried the stuff on and were impressed with the fit: https://starkhockey.com/collections/women-s that said, I'm glad to hear that you got your wife a girdle. switching to a Bauer girdle was the best thing I ever did.

I owned a Wissota for probably 15 years before I got in on the Sparx during the Kickstarter campaign. both are fantastic machines but for me, the time savings that I get with the Sparx are incredible. I have yet to get a bad sharpening on my Sparx. our household has 2 players skating 2 to 3 times per week. either way you go you'll get a quality machine and I think you'll find that it's worth the cash.

I've been skating on 3/8" from the beginning. at my size it's probably not what I should be using but it's what I'm used to. it's only been the last 2 summers that I've switched to 1/2" when the ice starts to get soft.

I sort of change my radius. in the winter I skate on 3/8" but when it starts to get hot here in GA in the summer I drop down to 1/2" since the ice is so much softer.

Kovalchuk LA Kings current Kovalchuk family

must've done a good job. she loves those skates dearly..... 🙂