shoeshine boy

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..... 🙂

they got back to me this morning. it's funny, all these years and I've never heard of the Canadian holiday known as Family Day. 😆 and for the other poster kind enough to answer, we didn't really get her feet scanned at a shop. JR did measurements for us when we visited Detroit for USA Hockey Nationals a few years ago. it was right in the middle of the transition from VH to True.

I used the search feature but couldn't easily find an answer to my question so...... how do we get new tendon guards when the originals break? the tendon guard on my gf's VH/True skates has cracked. a google search wasn't horribly helpful. I emailed True but haven't heard anything back as of yet. we don't have a local shop that sells True skates so that's not an option.

we basically do that now. typically the season ends on a Sunday. we usually have the eval the following Tuesday or Thursday. it then takes at least a week to complete the draft and then we send out the first month of the schedule.

and that idea has been floated but that becomes problematic too. imagine you've got a guy on your team that just can't hang and you need to drop him. you've got to tell him mid-season that you're not having him back in order for him to find another team &/or attend the eval to catch the eye of a captain in a lower division, then he's got to play 6+ games with a team that doesn't want him? I've been that player told 2-3 games before the season's end and while appreciated being told in time to find another team it made me not want to go play with that team for the rest of the season. it seems like there's no good way to make everyone happy but it also seems like our current method is not unusual.

we draft as needed. our league has 70 teams in 9 different divisions. our last eval skate we had 70 people show up. where all these people come from every season I have no idea. if you're already spoken for by a particular team then you are just hoping to be rated at that level during the eval skate. if you don't have a home yet then the eval skate is the place to be seen by all the captains who have available spots. when we draft we start with our most advanced level and work our way down. some seasons we have enough players of a similar skill level to make entire new teams or "draft teams", as we call them. this is often what makes it impossible to make the schedule beforehand, as some of our players are wanting us to do.

many thanks to those that responded. my first instinct is to tell our players how good they've got it but that seems harsh. I'm sure we'll still keep looking for options but it's nice to know that if anything, we do a BETTER job than the average league.

did he do it the entire game or just a shift or two? remember, you can't access the lockerroom from the bench at MSG so there might've been an issue that forced Geno to use 1 CCM glove.

that's what we're grappling with. some people want to move the eval skate to mid-season of the previous season. I think it's not good to have people come try out and then tell them, "ok, now you've got to wait 3 months to see if a team picks you up.". we have 2 seasons a year, 20 games plus playoffs. some players also want to move registration to mid season as well. imo I think that could create issues if you're dumping a player. I've been that player that's been dumped and rather than play the last 3 games I just bailed because it was too awkward for me.