colins

Does anyone know how the sizing runs on the Jofa Classic Sr. Shoulder pads? Pro Hockey Life carries these but has no sizing guide and I can't see them in person. Sizing starts at Medium (there's no Small), and runs Medium, Large, Extra Large and XX-Large. I'm guessing that the Large in these is more in line with a Medium in a Bauer or CCM shouler pad? But I'd like to confirm before I order. For reference, I'm looking for the size that will fit 5'11 ~185lbs 41" chest. Pic of the pads for reference: colins

Another shot of these team Nexus gloves. Agree they should be a retail Bauer 4-roll offering!

Yeah the S190 shell is very similar to the CCM Super Tacks shell - velcro and extra beltline protection. The classic Supreme / Nexus shell that you can buy stand-alone is a more simple design, and the couple of team shells I have based on it are the type I was referring. No extra protection and no velcro. Very simple and very good at the same time, great shape/contour and fit and very comfortable. colins

It's the reverse actually, the CCM shell that comes with the Super Tacks girdle has velcro. It also has additional padding around the hip/kidney area. The Bauer has no extra padding and no velcro and the belt is right at the top of the shell, tightening just below the kidney/hip pads on the girdle (or pants if you put it over regular pants). You could stitch some velcro to the Bauer's without a lot of work though. The Bauers just seem to disappear when wearing them - once the belt is tightened you just forget they are there. Which I think is why I prefer them to any other shell I've worn. colins

The Bauer (Currently Nexus) shells are very well made and well shaped, I've found. A lot of other shells don't follow the contours of a girdle or pair of pants very well, and the zipped legs are great if you want a bit more space around the thigh.

Have you thought about making one? If nothing else you'll probably learn about what size/features you'd like to have, and the investment is low: https://www.reddit.com/r/hockeyplayers/comments/5sf86l/diy_slideboard_for_under_50/ colins

I don't imagine there's more than one company making pucks in Canada these days. Howie's say they are made in Canada, pretty good bet they are from inGlasCo but I guess you'd have to call them to confirm. I usually buy mine by the bucket at Canadian Tire, which now owns Sherwood, but the InGlasCo piece wasn't part of the deal as far as I know. I'll have to check and see what country's pucks are being sold there next time I'm in the store. colins

Looks like Howies has some: https://www.amazon.ca/Pack-Canadian-Howies-Hockey-Pucks/dp/B00CAWOF5C

I purchased the 264 and 265 eyelets, and used mostly 265. I didn't find them too long - in fact, on the 1 eyelet that was torn out that I had re-enforced internally with some plastic and epoxy I would have preferred to have the 266 eyelets for some additional length. I would say for these CCM skates at least, the 265 is the best choice for straight replacement. For repairs/re-enforcements I'd want some 266 as well. If you have the luxury, order yourself a set of all 3 sizes to have on hand. I saw a note in the Blademaster catalog (or maybe it was online?) that said the 265 was their most popular seller. colins

Despite being what I would consider an above-average consumer in terms of experience with hockey equipment, I've personally spent $1500+ in CCM skates which have had failed eyelets that resulted in the boot being torn because an eyelet failed and the lace pulled through the facing. So I don't think they consider them replaceable - in one case I took the skate to a reputable shoe/leather repair shop that has been in business for close to a century, and the repair failed after a couple of weeks. In another instance, I took the skate to a reputable hockey shop in Saint John, NB, they installed a new eyelet that repair also failed within two weeks. The two times the repair didn't fail was when I found a small appointment-only boutique repair shop, and the other time when I did the repair myself by replacing all the eyelets with Blademaster brass ones. Eyelets failing to me is not like breaking a lace - severe structural damage occurs that makes the skate unusable if not addressed quickly and properly (a very small percentage of consumers will be in a position to do so). In the first instance, CCM replaced the Jetspeed skates even though they were 13 months old. Credit to them. In the second instance, which were for a newer generation skate and not the same Jetspeed replacement pair, CCM refused warranty even though the skates were just 4 months old and had only been used 3 months since purchase (90 day warranty was the reason for the denial of warranty claim and my receipt showed they were ~110 days old). colins

Vet88, CCM has some real smart guys working on their skate lines. I can't imagine it's a cost or a weight issue using these thin weak eyelets that react to sweat and break down so quickly. To me - the only logical explanation is planned obsolescence. If the eyelets fail after a couple of years (normal user) - great, you need to go out and buy a new pair of the current line of skates. Seems those that sweat more than average get caught in the crossfire - having to replace the eyelets or skates before a single season's use. What's your take on why CCM sticks with these inferior eyelets on their otherwise great top of the line skates? colins

Followup - only about 10 hours use so far, but the new eyelets are looking good. Real test will come in January when my son resumes his season after a broken ankle suffered in October. Here's what the eyelets look like after about 10 hours use in the past couple weeks: colins

Yes. And edge checker is necessary for anyone sharpening skates on any machine. Otherwise you simply never know if you are aligned properly and creating level edges. colins

Adjusting the wheel up or down doesn't itself change the force applied by the wheel on the blade. However, that's not the point - the point is, the higher you start up the blade, the more vertical travel the wheel has to make to reach the bottom of the blade, and that puts more load on the spring (shown top center in this pic below). This causes more force (Hooke's law) to be applied to the steel. As you push the wheel down, that spring in the pic extends - the more it's extended, the more force it's applying on the object extending it. So the whole point of the height adjustment is to allow you, for any depth of steel from banana blades to brand new Step, to find the height that allows the wheel to start a small ways up the toe or heel, and still smoothly travel the length of the steel with optimal force applied. If you go up too high, and you have newer LS3/LS4/Step with 10" radius that hasn't been rounded off - you will be applying more than the optimal force on the blade, and you will hear this in pitch changes 2/3/4 times down the length of the steel. In my experience, dropping the wheel another notch or two will reduce the vertical travel of the wheel, and therefore reduce the friction and eliminate the 'skips', resulting in a smoother constant-pitch sharpening pass, with no skip/stop marks on the finished hollow. A perfect finished hollow should look uniformly polished toe to heel all the way with no interruptions when held under the light. Again, in my experience, if you are getting pitch changes and non-uniform looking hollows (from a polish POV), try lowering the wheel and doing a couple more passes and see how it then sounds/looks. It probably makes next to zero difference in performance on-ice, but sharpening blades is one of those things where we all just strive for and crave perfection, isn't it?? 🙂 colins

There is definitely a change in the resistance/drag across the steel related to the height adjustment. This can easily be verified if you adjust it to the max height just before being too high such that you cause the machine to stall. The first notch below that height will sound like the machine is struggling, the pitch changing the length of the blade and a general 'unsmoothness' to the grinding. Pop it down 2 or 3 notches and it will travel much easier, with a smooth constant pitch. Having it too high causes too much resistance and you can hear it in the pitch changes. Each of the significant pitch changes creates a small 'stop' or skip mark in the steel if you look closely. A smooth pass will have no stop marks. colins

Play with the height setting. It should be a nice consistent 'no struggle' sound/pitch of the wheel down and back the blade. If the wheel is higher than it needs to be and putting more force on the blade you'll probably get more burrs. I get next to no burrs on my LS3 and regular StepSteel using a 1/2 radius ring. colins

Update - a.k.a Necessity is the Mother of Invention. I bought a cheap $70 grommet press off amazon and ordered some brass eyelets and washers from Blademaster. The only videos I could find on Youtube showed placing a washer on the bottom die in the press, and inserting the eyelet from the top of the eyelet hole. This would result in a poor quality roll of the eyelet barrel, with sharp edges on the inside of the skate. I watched some other videos of this particular machine in use for setting grommets, and it was done in reverse order - barrel and washer inserted from the bottom, and just the washer then placed on the top. The top die of this press is able to roll the small end of the barrel smoothly. Once I figured that out I was really pleased with the results. I'll have to see how they hold up now to real world abuse. Can't be worse than the CCM stamped aluminum eyelets - and now I can monitor and replace these as needed before any major damage is incurred. Pic of the machine which I mounted on some 4x4 posts to give me the clearance I needed to place the boot on it: The eyelets and washers from blademaster. Size 265 which are quite long: Eyelet and washer inserted in the eyelet holes. Another washer goes on top before pressing: Finished eyelets after pressing: And the inside: colins

Looks like Prosharp Home has the clear lead in cost per sharpening then. The missing piece for me is still the comparison of a single pass on the Sparx vs. a single pass on the Prosharp Home. Sparx have claimed to have measured the amount of steel removed per pass and said the Sparx machine removes more steel per pass than the Prosharp Home does. So if 3 passes on the Prosharp is removing less steel than 3 passes on the Sparx, but Prosharp claims 3 passes is on the extreme end, then the Sparx guidance of 4 cycles for a "normal" sharpening is very conservative, and the comparison is still apples and oranges. One is talking about regular routine maintenance by taking good care of your own edges after every skate or two, the other speaking to average joe sharpening his buddy's kids skates after 8-10 hours use with the regular nicks and abuse you see from folks that don't own their own sharpener. Nobody seems to have a benchmark to show them on a level playing field. Seems the Prosharp Home is going to be cheaper per pair, but to Marka's question above, what's the real delta between the two for cost of ownership? colins

The Prosharp math is different, but physically the wheels don't look to be much different in design than Sparx rings. Perhaps the ProSharp folks could comment on what makes their wheels last longer, if indeed they do. They are $99 USD for Prosharp wheel vs. $59 USD for a Sparx ring. Prosharp describes their wheel: Typical Sharpening 1-3 Passes per Skate Wheel Lasts approx. 500 pair of skates The Sparx rings are programmed to last for 320 passes. Based on a typical 4 pass sharpening, Sparx often states that's 40 pairs (4 passes x 2 skates x 40 pairs = 320 passes). 40 pairs at $59 USD is $1.48 USD per pair before taxes and shipping are factored in. If you change the 'typical sharpening' for the Sparx to be 1 pass, you'll get 160 pairs done at a cost of $0.37. But nobody should base their financial decision on this as anyone with experience will tell you one pass of any type of grinding wheel isn't going to be typical to properly sharpen a pair of skates. Back on page 29 of this thread, Russ from Sparx Hockey made this comment that I haven't seen refuted by an independent tester of both machines or by any of the ProSharp team (if I missed it, I apologize and would appreciate the pointer): If ProSharp could be a bit more specific on the math behind their statement of 'approx. 500 pair of skates' that would be a big help in the financial comparison. Does the ProSharp wheel keep going until you decide to change it out based on reduced performance (ie: wear) or is it coded to stop working in the machine after a fixed number of passes like the Sparx? colins

Any idea on sizing? They have sizes #60 through #66 in the brass ones. Not sure what die sizes my repair shop has to be able to properly set these and not sure if I should just go with the largest size or something smaller. https://blademaster.com/web/en/2606-eyelets colins

Ok, desperate times call for desperate measures. As stated, these 4 month old Jetspeed Control skates were denied a warranty claim. I was about 2-3 weeks outside the 90 day warranty period. So... to salvage a $500 pair of 4 month old skates I'l going for a complete eyelet replacement. I'll be the first to admit I don't know what I'm doing. But, the plan is to get the garbage CCM stamped aluminium eyelets out, and bring the skates to a reputable repair shop for a complete eyelet replacement, preferably with large brass eyelets as the brass eyelets (top 2 and bottom 1) on these skates hold up exceptionally well compared to the crap CCM stamped ones. Here's the state of the eyelets after 4 months (a couple of replacements were already done, one repair failed, hence my desperation at this point). Note the misshaped, stretched and dented eyelets - that's phase 1 before they start to move and eventually pop completely out: Drilling them out (looks sloppy as I'm holding the camera in one hand while drilling.. I was more patient and deliberate on the others): Then some snips to remove the heads and simple push the remaining eyelet out through the inside of the skate: All done and ready for repairs/replacements: I'll report back when I get the new eyelets installed. Hopefully CCM is ditching these junk eyelets in their next gen skates! Otherwise I need to seriously consider custom orders, eyelets simply should not fail this regularly after 3-4 months use. colins

About 5'11 190. One pair a season I could live with. He only got 3 months out of these. I'm buying a second pair now, and planning to get more intensive repairs on these so he'll have a spare. I'm going to get my local repair shop to drill out all the stamped eyelets and replace with brass. Should last the season then. Also going to get them to fill in the stretched eyelet hole with some extra reinforcements. colins

I didn't get to see this one myself as he's away playing Jr A now and not at home but he does tie them tight. And as soon as corrosion and contact starts deforming the stamped/painted eyelets they break up and pull out. The significant stretching looks to me like it came after the eyelet was repaired, and the new eyelet didn't grab enough material (smaller diameter than the CCM eyelet maybe?) and now the replacement eyelet has stretched the hole a lot. The first two images above are dark but they show the eyelet hole after the original eyelet popped out and before the repair was made - maybe a little bit of stretch there from using them for a practice or two before he realized the eyelet was giving way. Certainly he doesn't check each individual eyelet before lacing up, that's for sure... and once the failure starts it just takes one tightening/skate on them to begin to mess things up. On his first gen Jetspeeds, just a section of the eyelet cracked off (about 1/4 of the circumference), and after that he tied them up tight and ripped the lace through the boot mid-practice once things started flexing. I wasn't expecting this to happen just over 3 months in on a $500 skate. Here's a closeup, the missing eyelet on bottom, you can see the two above it are missing paint (corrosion) and the one above the missing one is deformed and on it's way towards failing like the missing one did. This is after just a little more than 12 weeks use. The brass eyelets do not suffer this same issue at all, they retain their shape and are good as new (both on his old first gen Jetspeeds and these new ones). colins

My next move is to probably get him a new pair so I can take these somewhere else for more repairs (he skates every day with his team so can't have any downtime), and I'm considering drilling out all the CCM stamped/painted eyelets and replacing with Blademaster #65 brass eyelets. Is that crazy? Probably still cheaper than going for another skate that fits him as good as the Jetspeeds do. Anyone ever do a complete eyelet swap on new skates? Is brass the way to go, or overkill? Any downside? colins

Warranty claim has been denied. Skates were ordered online May 13th, received around May 20th. Eyelet popped out just a week or two after the 90 day warranty period (late August). We tried a repair on our own dime (from Doiron Sports Excellence - Saint John NB) but that failed too so I submitted a warranty claim to see if CCM could help out. Skates are less than 4 months old. CCM has a problem with these eyelets for anyone that has sweaty feet. My son's feet (hyperhydrosis - extremely sweaty) caused them to fail in 3 months. Average person would no doubt get more use from them, I guess depending on how acidic your sweat is and how much volume of sweat your feet produce. We haven't found a maintenance strategy to deal with the problem, his skates are dried / hung up after every session, never left in the bag wet. Boot and runner and steel are all still in practically brand new shape after 15 weeks use - but if you can't lace them you can't use them. @BelangerJS - I don't know what your failure rate is at the factory, maybe cases like mine are rare and not worth pursuing from a business perspective. However, if the failure rate is a concern and CCM is trying to address it, I have here a candidate for testing any trial fixes that you can suggest, and provide you some great real world use case. Hyperhydrosis affects an estimated 2-3% of the population, and I imagine the vast majority of players produce ample amounts of sweat per hour to strain these particular eyelets towards failure, it's just a matter of how long before they fail once exposed to sweat. Off to buy more skates... <sigh> colins