colins
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Posts posted by colins
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On 12/28/2020 at 4:16 PM, rh71el2 said:I'm the only one who knows how to use the Sparx at home so it's not that, and I have a running list of passes I keep on my phone. I'm surprised I'd be that far off... something is for sure amiss if it's pre-programmed for 320 passes. Is the count kept on the machine or on the wheel (the latter would be an interesting feat). I ask because I rotate 2 different wheels, albeit infrequently. 146 passes so far on the 5/8 Fire which still wouldn't explain it.
The light for the 1/2 Fire finally stayed red and I couldn't start it anymore. Thanks for the info.
Count is tracked on the wheel not the sharpener. There's an embedded rfid tag in the ring and the machine writes to it to decrease the # of remaining passes each time it's used.
Check this thread circa July 2016 when Russ the inventor of the Sparx confirms each ring is programmed for 320 passes.
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On 12/27/2020 at 12:52 PM, rh71el2 said:So I finally finished a grinding wheel (1/2 Fire) and this is my finding... it lasted 264 total passes. Which means if you do an avg of 4 passes per skate (overkill IMO), it would do 33 pairs. I do an avg of 2 passes per skate every 3rd or 4th hour on ice... so that would mean 66 pairs. Overall with the 2 kids playing 3-4x per week in-season, that wheel lasted 1.5 years.
Anyone else with data to share? Is 2 passes average? I find that with the LS1 steel in my kids' skates, it requires more frequent sharpenings (is it because I only do 2 passes - doubt it). My LS4 sharpenings (5/8 fire) last a lot longer.The rings last for 320 passes. You may have miscounted if you only recorded 264 passes. Or someone is running cycles that you aren't aware of. But the ring is coded for 320 passes, that's how many you get before the light goes out.
I'm in the habit of doing 2 passes before every 3rd or 4th skate. I don't find I ever need more than that for well cared for / well handled skates.
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9 minutes ago, mickz said:The EQ line of stick was a flop but the Stealth series was still very popular. S19, RS, RS II
The SE16 was also terrible. Never seen a stick chip as badly.
The paint flaked off in big sections given the shiny/reflective properties but I didn't find the shaft or blade chipped particularly easy. The blade durability was junk though, but most loved the performance up to the point where the blade integrity got compromised.
The first gen RS with the oval hosel was brutal for durability, I remember kids in peewee and bantam that were breaking them off it seemed on a weekly basis. But the feel/performance was stellar for those that liked them. It wasn't until the S19 that they seemed to make them hold up a bit better.
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1 hour ago, chippa13 said:Not only did the EQ50 get a bum rap but I recall the SE16 having quite the cult following.
SE16 was a great stick, only flaw it had was the hollow core blades would go 'crunchy' and lose their pop pretty quick. The blade wouldn't be visibly broken, but the internal structure would be compromised.
I guess that was some of the early days before they had all the foams and internal rib structures figured out for durability.
The weight on the back of the EQ50 was a physical 'bump' on the blade and I don't think people liked that. The Warrior Spyne blades also had a non-flat back surface and didn't seem to instill confidence in most people's minds for handling the puck.
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Easton was on a huge roll of delivering some of the finest high end composite sticks on the market up to the release of the EQ50 which was a huge flop.
The weights in the top of the shaft weren't even that bad but the heel weight insert in the blade was terrible.Whoever was responsible for that release should have been fired. I'm not sure Easton ever really recovered their position in the stick market after that did they?
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20 hours ago, Miller55 said:Lot of really good points made in this thread. To me, this sounds like a lot of nerves and internal stuff. Probably a lot of pressure to perform, which creates anxiety, which makes you overthink stuff and essentially the whole game speeds up (mentally) around you and you lose your bearings and have to figure out how to react, rather than just relying on good instincts that are cultivated through practice. The exact details of what is setting off this particular kid, I can't even pretend to know. But the bottom line is that it sounds like at practice when he isn't nervous, he is able to slow the game down and react properly, without feeling out of control. But when it comes to a game, the nerves get to him and he can't find a way to slow down the game in his head, so he is just afraid to touch the puck and to make a mistake etc. Sounds like you just need to figure out how to get the pressure off of him (or better, how to help him realize that everything's alright and he has nothing to worry about) and help him slow the game down, which will help him fall back on his skills and familiarity with game situations from practice. One way to do this is practicing 3-on-3s, where it's really out of control and he will have to learn to focus his mind and get the game under control mentally in order to manage that type of play. Another is to teach him how to breath and calm himself down
This phenomenon was foreign to me as a player who as a kid was always a first line offensive type of guy and never had to question my own ability or place on the team. I didn't know what confidence was as I was never in a position up through all minor hockey and highschool to deal with it - I was always top six guy and I felt I belonged there and everything was "normal" all the time.
Fast forward 20 years and I'd been away from the game for 10 years after starting a career and family, and as I got back into it I was just playing beer league with variety of skill levels and quickly enough everything was normal again.
But then as I started playing again more regularly, I got invited to some more competitive skates, and at one point I'm in a room with a bunch of guys, some ex-pro players, most of whom played at least junior or senior level hockey whereas I pretty much stopped playing competitive after highschool. Now the tables are turned - I'm out on the ice and although we're all guys in our 40s at this point, I'm feeling like my credentials are sub standard vs the majority of these guys, especially the ones that played pro, and I'm doubting myself.
For a couple of games, I'm pretty hopeless. Rushing passes, missing easy passes, not feeling part of the flow. Then I have a light bulb moment - we were all pretty much the same players in highschool, I just went a different path and didn't keep at it like most of these guys did, but we're all in our 40s now and old-farts from a competitive hockey POV, and I told myself I belonged on the same ice and to play the way I would if it was just a bunch of my highschool buddies.
Immediately everything changed. I relaxed and had fun and made nice plays and scored some nice goals and joked around on the bench instead of worrying if I belonged.
So that was my first experience with what a loss of confidence does to a player and it was a real eye opener. Had I not been on the ice with that group at that point in my 40's I never would have understood it, and I had been a decent player and played hockey for 30+ years up to that point.
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1 hour ago, SkateWorksPNW said:He is always smiling at practice, during skate sessions, and when doing open ice/stick time, etc. The kid is truly a rink rat and spends all of his free time at the rink.
With the 1:1 sessions he has been taking them for a while now, not sure how long, but long before I was in AZ. He seems to enjoy them and the instructor does make things fun for him. The teaching method is very unorthodox and unique, similar to how Katy Jo and Maksim Ivanov really change things up.
The only time he isn't smiling ear to ear is when it's game time. When it's game time he looks very serious.
That's an interesting case then for sure. It's great to hear he's enjoying the process.
I would say he's either:
1) Putting too much pressure on himself not to make a mistake. If so, tell him it's ok to make mistakes and use some positive re-enforcement so his mindset becomes one that says mistakes are just learning opportunities and not a bad thing. Second try to structure practice around drills that really emulate actual game situations he struggles with. You say he's given the puck away / panicking, so recreate those same scenarios in practice and have him put himself in those situations over and over and not throw the puck away early until it becomes routine and something he can easily bring from practice to game time.
2) Someone else is putting pressure on him. The car ride home talk scenario. Hard to know sometimes in those situations. Usually the parents are great and mean well they just don't understand the psychological impact trying to help fix the "mistakes" in the car ride home instead of just saying "Did you have fun? I liked that shot on goal you had in the second period. You were working real hard".
3) Back to earlier comments - he could be playing afraid (physical fear of getting hurt). For this one maybe find him a matchup where he's out against smaller / less physical players and see if that changes anything.Hockey is really just a metaphor for life, I think that's why it's so great - if you show up as a leader and show him you care and have an open ear, you can help make a positive impact on that young man regardless of what he's going through.
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5 hours ago, SkateWorksPNW said:We actually had one of our top defensemen get sick with the flu, not C19, so we were a defenseman short yesterday for practice and I asked him if he wouldn't mind helping out on defense drills. We were doing a lot of corner/half-wall 2 vs 1 drills and also continuous shooting drills for defense from the point and forwards from the top of the circles. He played very well, but as mentioned, he always does well in practice.
After practice finished I asked him how he felt playing defense and he said it was ok. He didn't seem overly enthusiastic. I am going to meet with his power skating coach late this afternoon, he does 1:1 sessions with him twice a week. Maybe he has some suggestions or the player has shared more with him than us.
That was a great way to feel it out. I think you got the answer you were looking for.
1:1 power skating sessions at age 13 - is that common in your area? It sounds expensive, but more so - it sounds like work more than fun.
Not a lot of kids that age want to spend an hour with an instructor one on one working on fundamentals like that. It's usually the parents setting it up and convincing the kid it's what's necessary to "get better and get ahead". The kids want to be with their buddies goofing around and having fun, in addition to hopefully working their butts off and maybe learning a thing or two in the process during a practice or group power skating session.
As soon as it feels like work or a chore instead of fun - the enthusiasm is lost and the flame starts to fan out.
All you really want to do up to age 16/17 is make it as much fun as possible and safe. Teach them that the the outcome of how much they can improve is a direct result of how much time they decide to put in, and then leave it to them to determine how much time that's going to be. The kids that crave getting better will put the time in, the kids that just want to have fun will end up developing other interests/priorities by age 18 and will tail off. Both are fine outcomes - either way their love of the game doesn't get snuffed out in the process. That's the worst possible outcome. It happens far too often when kids are pushed too hard at too early an age and no longer enjoy going to the rink. They carry that guilt around a while before it eventually becomes too heavy to bare and then they drop out altogether, with a fear of disappointing their parents. Hockey's no fun after that.
I've seen kids who were star players at 13 drop out by highschool and not even play at the rec level in their mid teens, while the kids they came up with are playing highschool hockey together and having the time of their life with all their classmates in the stands cheering them on.
Not saying that's the case with this young man, but it's something that's happened in rinks everywhere countless times before and for anyone who hasn't seen it first hand it's important to be aware of.
Next time you watch him play or practice - even if he's more of an introvert - is there a smile on his face? Is he having fun? If not - try working on taking everything serious about hockey off his plate and work on sharing some smiles and laughs regardless of the mistakes he's making. See what that does for his game.
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14 minutes ago, krisdrum said:The more I have been thinking about this, the more I agree. There is a lot to unpack here. Having been that parent in the car after the game, I've seen first hand what that can do to their confidence level. Luckily we saw the error of our ways and have adjusted.
Sounds like another year of development/confidence building would have been really beneficial. But that seems like water under the bridge at this point, so let's move on, but I would mention to parents to weigh their options next year. Does he re-join his birth-year team with some experience at the bantam level that can give him an edge to be more assertive?
If D is something to seriously consider in the short-term, I'd point to the new breed of "skill" D men that have been blowing up the NHL the last season or two. Makar, Q. Hughes, and obviously Hedman. Those guys are point machines that are just as effective with the puck as they are without. That style and mindset could be what helps flip the switch for this young man.
I don't want to squash the D idea but I would caution again in how it's brought up. Ask the kid what he thinks of the position before ever suggesting he try it. Read his reaction. Does he think it's a fun thing? Does he seem curious about what it would be like to play it?
If instead you approach him like "I think you'd be better on D" he's going to feel some pressure to please his coaches and might not reveal his true feeling on it. It could be a situation like "Coach wants me to play D and I should do what's best for the team", but if he's not really bought into it himself a move like that could really snuff out his love for the game during a time when he's already seeming a bit lost in terms of confidence.If he's like "I'd LOVE to play D" then obviously it would be worth experimenting with. But if they kid loves being a forward and just needs some help finding his confidence it could be a death blow w.r.t his love for the game. So tread carefully!
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Why is he playing up an age level? Even if he could arguably fit in if he found his confidence, he's 110% better off dominating/excelling at his own age level than just trying to fit in at the next level up.
Also I think you need to somehow determine if his lack of confidence is fear of getting hit/hurt vs. fear of making a mistake / bad play. Both situations lead to loss of confidence but I think each needs a different strategy to overcome. So you somehow need to figure that out first.
Parents might seem great in the rink but if the drive home in the car is a 20 minute review of all the mistakes he made that's a death spiral you can't pull them out of. They might think that's good feedback to help him work though it but it just has the opposite effect.
But if I'm the kid's parents - I do whatever it takes to put him back with his age level.
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On 10/30/2020 at 1:00 PM, Buzz_LightBeer said:Maybe it means “non-returnable?”
im sure they don’t want people ordering these, trying them on and sending them back
Yeah that makes sense, I think you're right.
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I just noticed the CCM Game On mask is listed as 'Final Sale' on prohockeylife.com here in Canada. That seems odd - surely it hasn't been discontinued already has it?
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5 hours ago, dkmiller3356 said:Hard pass... wow thats lame.
Agreed, but I applaud them for attempting to come up with a creative solution. These are uncharted times, the more innovation and creative ideas brought to market to test the better. The best solution will win out in the end - so far it seems the CCM Game On mask design is way out in front.
So please keep it up CCM, Bauer, Howies, UA, everyone - we need solutions that satisfy the health authority protocols and keeps our players safe and back on the ice where they belong!
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6 minutes ago, boo10 said:Ok, just kidding...I know many of the members here absolutely love quad profiles. I've tried a few different times and I literally can barely skate on them. I've been playing hockey for 45 years and played at a pretty high level, so I'm a decent skater. I find that I have zero agility on a quad. One thing that confuses me is the claim that the short front radius allows for tighter turns. I could see how this would be true for hard cuts when you're moving fast and leaning forward, but I find the long rear radius inhibits tight pivots. Maybe my skating style is odd, but when I'm trying to turn a very tight circle to shake a forechecker, I lean hard into the heel of my blade. The long radius makes it much harder for me to make that tight pivot.
Anyone else think single or dual radii are superior to quads? Am I just weird in my inability to adapt to the quads?
Single, dual, quad... I think some very great players have played the game on all 3 and it didn't matter to them once they adapted to what they had.
It's like sticks, curves and lie... there's no one size fits all. Is Ovi's curve better because of his one timers, or is McDavid's better for his game? Neither because Crosby's nearly flat blade and short stick is superior... for his game.
You can be elite on a 10' single radius or elite on an 0.5 Quad.Pick your poison and master it. There's no single answer to what is best.
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40 minutes ago, SkateWorksPNW said:It's the video for the Bauer splash guard. Not sure why you are seeing anything else.
You must have shared a playlist or something instead of the URL to the specific video because that's not what we are seeing...
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46 minutes ago, IPv6Freely said:Yes, the YouTube video you posted about baking your skated at home.
I'm seeing a IW video on how to measure your foot for finding the right skate.
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On 3/19/2020 at 11:57 AM, IPv6Freely said:Wow congrats on being ambidextrous!
Don't be ridiculous.
He obviously tapes them both together for wicked forehand AND backhanders.
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18 hours ago, beardacus said:Last question for you guys. Is the p90tm and p88 the same lie?
Ok that's a loaded question are you just trying to rile everyone up now? 🙂
Let's start with the fact that lie number means almost nothing these days and the rocker (or lack thereof) makes lie comparisons between patterns highly subjective.
That said, the P90T/P90TM and P88 are the same or just about the same lie based on the comparisons I've done with two sticks in my hand.
Certainly they are more similar in lie than the Bauer P88 vs. P92, which Bauer lists both as a 6, but are very different lies. The P88 is lower than the P92. Same with the P90T.
In the old days of wooden sticks we could torch them on the stove and bend our own curve in them... picture having a wooden P88 that you torched just from the toe back to the mid-blade, then you bent the toe in for more curve and back for more loft to create an open kink at the end. That's the P90T/P90TM.
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10 hours ago, psulion22 said:I think the P90TM retail curve might work for you. I'm also a P88 using defenseman because I need the flatter rocker and taller blade, plus the wide rounded toe and lower lie. P29/92 has way too much rocker for me. P28 has too much of a narrow arrowhead shaped toe. The retail P90TM is very similar to the flat rocker and wider blade as the P88 from the heel to the middle. Then it opens up like a P29/92 until the very end of the toe where it has a slight beak like the P28 but still the wider toe of the P29/92/88. It's not quite as open as the P29 at the end of the toe because of the beak. But it's definitely more open than a P88. Honestly, this is probably my favorite curve because it gives me the best of everything while eliminating most of the drawbacks. You get the flat, wide blade of the P88, but with more openness and rocker in the toe. Plus the openness of the P29/92 without the rocker and thinness of the heel. With P29/92, I would often get the puck rolling off the toe, likely because the amount of rocker from heel to toe. That doesn't happen on P90TM because the hooked toe keeps the puck in place. So I get nice flat saucer passes, and quick puck elevation without the rocker. And the toe curve of the P29 to keep the puck on the stick and for shooting, without the extreme rocker and arrowhead shape on the toe.
This aligns with my experience. My youngest son is a low skater, loves the P88 for it's low lie (it's lower than the Bauer lie 6 indicates) for stick handling and passing, but for shooting it doesn't have the features of the P92 or P28 for shooting off the toe.
The P90T or P90TM fixes that. He's tried the P92 but at lie 6 and the big rocker it doesn't allow him to handle the puck or make/receive passes like the P88. But the P90T is the best of both worlds - it allows the puck control of the P88, with the toe shooting of a P92 or P28.
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13 hours ago, Vet88 said:I've seen this before and still see it today in players at a top level. Spend enough time training / skating and the body does adapt and they learn to balance over the skate blade. It doesn't mean the pronation / supination has gone, it's just nullified enough so they can skate. The sad part about this is that it isn't identified early enough and hence the skater never reaches their full potential. As the skater gets better they don't want to do anything that might interfere with their skating ability, even if this might mean they skate better in the long term. It's the short term view that rules, I'm on the team and I'm not going to do anything that might put this at risk. Ultra stiff, well fitted skates do help as they help to lock the ankle straight and reduce any deviation in the subtalar joint. Given the level he skated at, I'd leave it alone. You could suggest that he might want to try a small shim and see if it made any difference but I suspect it will be very hard to get him to change given his history and possible mind set. Which goes back to my earlier point, it's a shame to see these players never reach their full potential but for a someone who knew what to look for during their formative years.
I think this scratches the surface on a much broader topic of "What percentage of kids are taught how to properly skate, before it's too late to really correct what they learn by doing it wrong?".
In addition to uncorrected supination, add things like:- Inadequate ankle strength and/or mobility
- Weak stabilizers causing the knees to collapse inwards
- Lack of mobility in the hips / inability to perform a hip hinge (ie: "bend your knees more" which is poor advice for this condition)
- Lack of flexibility in the groin / hips / quads to allow for a good range of motion and extension
Just to name a few.
None of these things are looked at, generally, when kids learn to skate and up through the first 5-10 years of their development.
Instead, every power skating coach or team coach chases them around the circles to "go faster" using the inefficient techniques they develop around any of the limitations noted above.
It's not a knock on the coaches, it's a very complex subject and they can't be expected to be experts in human kinetics. Even if they call out some of the above, very few would have the knowledge or means to advise on how to correct it.
colins
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3 hours ago, boo10 said:I suggest you take a look at the pics I posted on the previous page. They clearly show the rocker and curve. The pics were snapped of a retail version of the P90TM. In my opinion the P90T pro stock pic that Colins posted is not quite the same as the retail P90TM, but you can judge for yourself. When I took the pics, I purposely held the blade as vertical as possible to give a true view of the curve. It is very open, (moreso than the P29).
It's very difficult to separate openness from the amount of kink. If openness is the loft of the blade (like a golf club) then I think the P90T and P90TM have similar openness as the P29 or P92. But there's definitely more toe kink in the P90T and P90TM which is going to make it look more exaggerated - which some would describe as 'more open'.
Nothing beats having one in your hands and seeing for yourself. boo10 took some great pics to give you an idea of what it looks like.
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On 9/27/2020 at 9:07 PM, boo10 said:I think age has finally caught up with me. Even though I'm in my late forties, I was always one of the quickest skaters on the ice. Now after 6 months off due to COVID, I have just started playing again. I still have decent speed when I'm moving, but the first few steps are completely gone. I try to push hard to take off and my legs just won't move. I can't generate any power from my quads. It's not so much that they feel tired, more like I just can't feel anything, (dead legs). Getting old sucks!
Fight it. Fight it until you can't fight it anymore. Which is hopefully a few decades down the road.
You have to move fast to be fast and you can still do that well beyond your age. It's just that we tend not to run/sprint/skate fast the older we get with enough regularity to keep our bodies used to "being fast".
Don't give up though! There's no reason you can't still be fast if you refuse to quit practicing being fast. Your body will react/adapt to the "norms" you throw at it. Don't give up!
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22 hours ago, beardacus said:Can anyone compare the p90tm to the p88. I used a p88 for a long time but am now using a p29 to help with my shot but definitely miss the flatter and bigger blade on the p88.
Does the blade on the p90tm open more than the p29?
More kinked but not more open.
P90T and P90TM have a flatter rocker than the P92/P29 more like the P88.
Sounds like exactly what you are after.
Refer back to the CCM FAST pic of the P90T 'Pro Benn'. You can clearly see the flat spot in the middle 3rd of the blade between heel and center.
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22 hours ago, SkateWorksPNW said:The P90TM and P88 are nothing like each other. Look at the pics. Also, the P92 is longer of a blade than the P88.
The P90TM is a mix between the P28 and the P92, with a little more of a toe kink.
Whole heartedly disagree.
The P90T and P90TM are a lot like the P88 up to the middle of the blade. Both have flatter rockers than the P92.
Based on what bearacus is looking for I think the P90T or P90TM are well worth a look.
Bauer Pro Shoulders
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Those look awesome. Peak shoulder pad development right there.