cptjeff

Tell that to speedskaters. They sharpen them flat, and the corners are sharp enough to grab the ice. It's when those corners get rounded off that you have problems.

Looks like they have some nice stuff. Can't wait to hear about your impressions JR.

Agreed. But I can see why some might not like a different feel from what they're used to, and I really did always think it was odd to have two lines of skates that were so similar. Any word on if the EQ5 fit will be a different fit or not? Somebody who had the chance to check it out at the MSH skate know?

What do you mean by this? Everything in the catalogue looks good. Really like the look of the EQ5 glove. Glass fiber composite instead of carbon fiber. Same stuff that's on the SE10 and the 800c before that.

Few thoughts as I browse through: Tapered wood blade should be nice, comes in their typical SE16 blade patterns. Always nice to have more options for wood blades. S13 helmet seems aimed at the 5500 market. Belt system on the S19 pant looks promising. Graphics package on the shins is much better. The white kneecaps and colored fronts of recent shin lines were rather ugly, not that it matters. Love my ST16s anyway.

Perhaps Bauer's not doing it so much anymore, but you still see a lot of perforated steel. The shape didn't last, but the idea of cutting holes in the steel to save weight sure has. I don't think you can call that a bust. The black coating though...

Heh, you lost to the worst team in the league! You lost to the worst team in the league! And if this game costs us Taylor Hall, I'm going to be pissed.

I try. In rooms with lockers and such instead of benches, or when it's rather crowded and other people's 'small' bags are preventing me from doing so, it's not always possible. But if somebody tells me that I can't use my bag, I'm not exactly going to pay much attention to them. If you have a problem with it, you can buy me a new bag that meets your size standards that still manages to dry and help disinfect my gear.

Too bad. We have them, we use them. You can't exactly keep a bag anywhere else but in the locker room. I agree that they can be a pain to walk around, but you really just gotta deal with it.

I'm really surprised your rink allows that. A one time forgot the helmet is one thing, but to regularly do that is another. With liability these days...

They require full cages here. Possibly so as to not make the varsity guys feel bad.

The other night at a pick-up game I went to, a guy came out to play with us in just gloves and a helmet. Mind you everybody else wears full gear. I thought he was just doing the warm-up at first, but he stuck around for a half hour or so into the game. Nobody wanted to pressure the guy or take shots when he was out there. Atleast put on some shin pads??? If people do that during a session where everybody else plays with pads, just act like he is wearing pads. If they want to whine about it, all you have to do is suggest that they wear pads like the rest of the world. Or go the snark route: "You're right. Wouldn't it be amazing if they made something to protect your legs. Perhaps made of hard plastic with padding on the inside? That could make a lot of money."

Best one I've heard (might have even been in this thread) was having a dummy bottle that looks identical to your normal one, putting cheap vodka in it, leaving it where you normally leave yours and switching your normal one in after a few people have learned their lesson.

Yeah, I wouldn't use the sweet stick. If it comes down to using a proper stone or worrying about the mirror finish, I would just loose the mirror finish.

I often deke the goalie in warmups, helps me get my hands warmed up. I don't care if a goalie doesn't try to stop it though, though I like it if they do as the practice helps. On teams, one of the goalies I play with likes me doing that to help him warm up, the other will take some and ignore others. In pickup, goalies have no justification in complaining. We don't know your warmup preferences, don't expect us to.