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I just got an FT4Pro from SLS and it looks the same (curious if we got from the same seller). I used it the other night and it felt great (I've used Ribcors for a while and it didn't feel very different). Mine is an 85 but it felt as whippy as my 75 flex sticks, was pretty surprised, now seeing this I'm not sure what I actually got haha I looked mine over and compared it to a regular FT4 and the fonts are definitely different on the namebar as well as the serial#/id numbers on the underside of the shaft. The material appears the same as far as I can tell but I'm no expert on these things. I had cut the stick so I don't have the full sticker (the part with the codes on it is under my tape) but I still had the other half of the sticker, also I noticed inside the shaft that I cut there was a sticker and it appears to say it's a 75 flex not an 85 (score for me since I normally use 75), hard to make out but it says ST2031 75-R inside the shaft and then some Chinese writing. Untitled by Jon Schusteritsch, on Flickr Untitled by Jon Schusteritsch, on Flickr Untitled by Jon Schusteritsch, on Flickr there's a few more pics in this gallery, I didn't want to bombard the thread with them: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjzybdt edit: I was curious so I pealed off my tape and ruined the sticker underneath that would have had the code on it... doh!! So that's a dead end

I used to use it til my son knocked my skate off the hook in the garage and I didn't find out til day of a game and couldn't get to anyplace that used it. I switched back to a regular hollow and now use some sort of flare/fire thingy that my friend at Pure did for me.

The best I've been able to manage is avoiding tax if I pay with cash from some of the smaller shops since they usually have a little more freedom with creative accounting and can benefit as well. I'll usually try this when buying higher priced items like sticks or skates... we're just under 9% sales tax here so it def adds up quick.

The Super Tacks one has a coupe of layers of foam, some D30, and a thick rubbery outer coating, it's beefy. Mine has a slight curve outwards but I just played with it and you can bend it easily and it should hold if you wanted it more inwards. For me, the 9K girdle left a pretty sizeable gap between the spine protector and shoulder pads, that's one of the reasons I like the Super Tacks girdle (also I find the ST more protective and lighter, just wish it had the built in velcro tabs for the socks like the 9K).

I have a Super Tacks girdle and it has an adjustable spine protector which I love, lots of protection and easy to adjust so it sits higher or lower (similar to 7092 girdle but adjustable and, from the sounds of it, much more protective since the Tacks one is like a tank). I had a couple of 9K girdles and they both lacked any sort of spine protection aside from a short piece with a little plastic that didn't move at all, pretty minimal, so I'm not sure how this won't stay in place for you. You're not flipping the tailbone pad up to act like a spine protector are you?

Those NJ "jerseys" are terrible, can't believe someone was paid to design those. Also, on a tri-state related subject, Kaapo Kakko has been using an FT4 Pro stick the past couple of weeks instead of the SherWood he used previously and all of last season. I noticed it when he finally scored a goal so I assume it was the stick that made the difference 🤣

For using on a cage I found the Bauer one worked best followed by the CCM. I felt like Bauer waited a little longer and found a better material to use than CCM which made a difference, they had a nice adjustable nose clip and they also had multiple layers with a filter pocket which was nice if you wanted to add yet another layer of protection). For using while coaching I've tried a handful, the UA ones aren't bad and do breathe well but I was more aware of it while wearing it. In the end I found that regular disposable ones (the accordion looking ones) were the best as they didn't make my face as hot and I could easily replace it if I felt it getting too wet (I'd always have a few on me at any time, buying a huge box of black ones from Costco means I never worry about wasting any lol). As for talking, I didn't find any of them actually affected my ability to speak or be heard, maybe if I spoke really low but pretty sure people would then have a hard time understanding me with or without a mask.

I'm with PBH... check out Sole footbeds. I had a pair a long time ago and they were definitely on the thicker side (I don't remember which modeI I had, they have a lot of different ones), I remember they were heat moldable and more on the cushioned side rather than a hard insert, the ones I had didn't have a ton of arch support (less than Superfeet Carbon which I wear now). Might be worth checking out: https://yoursole.com/us

They do look good, I'm on my way to converting you 🤣 I won my game on the other rink 4-1 with a goal and an assist, must've been the yellow laces. If you guys ever need a fill in let me know, you'll get a ton of photos in return lol

Ran into this guy @dkmiller3356 last night, looking sweet with those yellow laces 🤣 October 19, 2021-0009-J. Schusteritsch-web-2 by Jon Schusteritsch, on Flickr

This is great to know I have someone local to repair gloves (I have a couple pairs that I wouldn't mind getting re-palmed in the near future). Last I knew of someone on LI that did this was back in college when we had a legend named Milty Papps who'd do this stuff for our team, he was retired from working on pros stuff by that time and sadly passed away a few years later... his work was incredible though.

and GM's as well... I wouldn't be surprised if Lou Lamoriello had/has a ban on yellow laces, I heard he even told what players what kind of tape they could use on their socks.

As flip12 mentioned, they're aimed at the roller derby/roller skate crowd (since that's where the owners appear to come from) but they make a variety of lengths and widths including many that are ice skate appropriate (I'm guessing the 10mm is the correct width without measuring and then length is all preference, I think I usually go 96 or 108 since I don't like them too long and have a 7.5 skate size). As for their thickness and durability, they're as nice as any other laces I've had (Howies, A&R, Elite, etc).

When both of my kids wanted fancy/funky colors and patterns I did some searching and found a company that not only made a huge array of colors/patterns, but also made some really nice quality laces (and waxed too!)... check them out, they def have what you're looking for: https://derbylaces.com/

Have you tried your local pro shop? Seems like you'd also need someone to install them (assuming you mean the ones that go between the boot and blade). I know there's a guy/shop out in Cali that sells them, he's on S2K under goldengatesharpening so you could always contact him.

No more pics for you! Or if/when I do make another Lightning game I'll photosh p yellow laces on you 😝 I still wear them, have worn them since the mid 90's. I dabbled with black when that was all the rage but it just wasn't for me, and white is too boring, so yellow it is. I do see a lot of other colors now a days though, pink, blue, green, orange, red, basically any color you can think of I've seen out there (both beer league and young kids). So yea, people still wear yellow or any color they want so wear whatever you like.

Is Kevin Lowe behind that design? 🤣

I had that S190 girdle for about a season, the shell didn't seem much different than other shells, the padding on the front thigh was just a layer of soft padding and I swapped the shell out for a couple PP9K shells that I preferred more (the girdle itself still had the thicker pad and plastic insert). I don't know if I'd call it a 2 piece pant, I thought 2 piece pants had upper and lowers that were able to detach from each other? If you prefer that girdle/not a girdle idea you can just attach a shell to most girdles with the velcro loops, that way it's more of a one piece set up rather than putting on the girdle then the shell, but I don't think you'll find many shells with more than a thin layer of foam in the thigh area (some have more padding in the kidney area which is why I like the PP9K/PP90 shells).

I have a top loader without the agitator thing so I just toss mine in the washing machine. I use Sport Wash (amazon has it, like $20 for a bottle that'll last 6 months) which doesn't have any additives (phosphates, UV enhancers, fabric softeners, fragrance, etc.) and will clean out years of gunk blocking the pores of materials, I use it on all of my athletic clothing and also on my gear from time to time, works awesome.

There's a topic somewhere about girdles but only a brief mention of the Jetspeed one since it was new/announced at the time. I wear a Tacks girdle (had a couple 9K's for a while before) and really love the Tacks one, I've only help the Jetspeed in the store and it was a little lighter and slightly less bulky which I'm guessing is just thinner padding. The Tacks is light in my opinion and very mobile so I don't see much realistic advantage to the Jetspeed, also the Tacks offers the adjustable spine protector which was one of the features I liked most coming from the 9K with practically zero spine protection (the Jetspeed has spine protection but it's not adjustable and slightly smaller from what I could tell).

Those images reminded me of the buckle system on the Tacks shell, I didn't care for that b/c it was a couple inches too high and made me aware of my belly fat any time I clipped it shut 🤣 I just double checked my shells and the 3 I thought were PP90's are actually PP9K's (which are nearly identical I thought), turns out those don't have belts at all, just the velcro flap up front which has always worked out fine. I also looked at the Warrior pro stock shells I have and those seem to be thinner material all around (just don't feel as nice and less padding) but they do have a combination belt/velcro closure up front which sits nicer than the Tacks one.

I picked up the RX3 shoulder pads last year during a covid sale (when I thought it would just be a short time before I played again🤣), after them sitting around for almost a year I tried them 3 or 4 times and just didn't care for them... they were plenty protective, light weight and relatively low profile but they just didn't stay in place at all. I found myself constantly re-adjusting them no matter how tight or loose I made the chest straps. Not sure if it was the design with the shoulder caps/bicep pads that would pull the chest section or what but I couldn't stand it. I went back to my old RBZ130's and then found a deal on a pair of NOS CL's which I have since swapped the shoulder caps on in favor of the RBZ130 caps from my old ones (the CL caps felt huge).

I own both and prefer the PP90 style for the added kidney protection and it just seems to fit better (plus I didn't need the added zip length than Tacks offered). Either shell will fit either girdle (as well as any girdle ever made since you just tighten a belt to keep them on). They might have velcro to more permanently attach to the girdle but I've never looked, seems to defeat the purpose of using s girdle that you can quickly/easily swap shells if you play for different teams with different colors. Also, Warrior makes a shell that's sort of between the two, I personally don't like it as much as the PP90 but they have a lot to choose from and are readily available in pro stock from various sites.

I bring 2 of the same stick to every game, I have different colored grip/medical tape on the butt ends to tell them apart. I generally switch halfway through the game or once the tape is getting too soaked with ice (even with wax it can only take so much lol).

I feel like SherWood and CCM are swapping designs... that new SW looks like they took a page from the Tacks book while the new Jetspeed stick looks like the old T100 with bare CF and red lettering. I'm not complkaining, I like all of the designs.