colins

I agree with the above. If you want to get fast at stick handling, practice stick handling fast. Don't practice it slower with a weighted stick and expect that will translate to speed.

Modern speed training doesn't not align with the above. Speed is not created in the weight room. Speed training develops strength moreso that strength training develops speed. We're way off topic but for anyone interested follow the guys like Tony Holler and Mike Boyle for more info.

Yes I kind of came to the same conclusion. There's a Prosharp shop near him so I'm changing direction and getting him to take the StepSteel in for a Quad 1. colins

That sounds reasonable but I don't think it accomplishes the end goal. Modern speed training is focused on one thing - if you want to be fast you need to train fast. Training slow(er) with weights does not accomplish the goal of being faster without weights. If you want to get fast, sprint. If you want fast hands for stick handling, if anything, go with lighter weight and move faster than you would with regular weight. You are training your central nervous system moreso than your muscles. If you arms are strong enough to lift a composite stick, making them stronger is not going to make them faster. If stronger muscles led to faster movements baseball pitchers would have huge bulking arms to throw the ball harder. My two cents!

But how does practicing mechanics of stick handling with a heavy stick translate into being a better stick handler with a lighter stick?

I don't know. I brought a new set of steel still in the Step package into the shop and he said he was afraid he'd fool it up without the steel being in the holder to find the balance point. He said if he doesn't hit the point exactly it will really mess up the skater's balance.

I think the premise is bogus. A lot of better things to spend your time on that practicing with a weighted stick.

Some have described it as a 10.5-9.5 with a 1 inch flat spot, so tri-radius? Or dual with a flat spot? By name alone I would have guess it's 9' and 8' with a 1' flat. Seems Maximum Edge keeps the details pretty close to their chest. I know from talking to a shop they can't do a 981 on steel that is out of the holder. Steel must be in the holder so they can find the balance point of the boot for positioning of the flat spot. New to profiling so take all the above with a grain of salt, I've only just been reading up on this lately. colins

Did you line them up blade to blade to confirm they are indeed the same lie? Can you take both sticks on the bench and switch shift to shift to confirm it's the stick and not just that maybe you were stiff that day and playing more upright than usual?

My son was using (and liking) and Maximum Edge 981 profile. He can't get this done where he is now, and the place he did get them done can't do them on steel removed from the holder. They need the boot they say to find the balance point. So I have new steel for him but can't get a 981 profile because I don't have his skates and he can't do without them. He can get a Prosharp profile where he is. Reading the groups it seems for a 280 length blade most seem to prefer the Quad 1. So my question is... coming from a Max Edge 981, would it make sense to switch to a Quad 1 or are they significantly different? Is there a 981 equivalent on the Prosharp side? colins

Free StepSteel showed up today, so less than 10 business days, kudos to CCM the process was painless and quicker than I expected! colins

Anyone buy new CCM skates recently and fill out the web form for the free StepSteel? If so how long did they take to receive? I've posted before about the trouble my son has run into with CCM eyelets. For the FT2's I've taken them out of the box and applied a light coat of Rust Check with a small paint brush in an attempt to delay the corrosion that happens on the stamped eyelets that lead to them pulling out of his boot. We'll see how it goes! He's off on Monday to head to camp, with the hopes a season might start before too long, pending health authorities approving the league to go ahead. colins

Can they be swapped out after the fact, or are the holders different to accommodate the cheaper screw? If they're interchangeable at least that should make it easy to swap out if someone can get their hands on the stainless parts.

I have to say - that tongue system looks brilliant. If the mechanism holds up to regular wear and tear what a great feature to be able to swap tongues out quickly and easily. colins

Are stiffness ratings documented anywhere? What procedure is used to test/measure? Can the scale be used across vendors or is it vendor specific? colins

No the teams don't pay for skates at that level, its tier-II JrA. But this started with the first top of the line Jetspeed (eyelets popped out and ripped through the boot) he had which were replaced under warranty and then it happened to the replacement pair in less than a season. We stopped buying the high end then and went a model down the lineup and the problem continued. He carries a pair and a backup pair with him for when the cycle starts again. If buying the top end skates fixed it we would have stuck with that route, instead now we go with the custom SMUs that blend the top end and one or two models down features into a sub $600 skate so he can carry two pairs. He's currently got the Jetspeed Control SMU and the Jetspeed 385 in his bag. Would have walked away from this mess a while ago but the Jetspeed boot is the best fit he's found and when the eyelets aren't failing it's a great performing skate for him. I haven't priced a full custom option but up to now that's the only way I'm aware of getting good eyelets on a Jetspeed boot at any price point in the lineup. Excited to see that the AS 3 Pro finally brings the good eyelets to a retail boot in the CCM lineup for the first time in a while. colins

My son plays Junior hockey and he gets max about 3-4 months out of a new pair of Jetspeed series skates with the stamped eyelets before they start failing and pulling out. Very excited to see the new AS 3 Pro comes at retail with no stamped eyelets - they are all like the 3 in the pic above. I've been pushing him to move away from CCM skates because it's such a hassle to deal with the failing eyelets mid season, or go full custom at a cost of over $1000 CDN, just down to the cheap eyelets that don't hold up. colins

Retail skate from CCM with no stamped eyelets - now we're talking! Those eyelets have me legit excited, hoping to see these on the Jetspeed side soon. Awesome looking skate - I'm old school too but given the way things are trending I think CCM did an awesome job on the overall look of this skate. Are the fit of these still similar to the originals Tacks reboot? For a Bauer guy coming over, these would be the choice for someone who's foot fits a Supreme profile? colins

I have those exact eyelets from Blademaster, and the washers and a press, and they don't match the heft of the top two. If I try to install the Blademaster eyelets without washers they barely catch the material and they are pretty thin. They're the best I've found, for sure, but they don't match the strength of those factory eyelets I'm talking about. The factory ones need no washers and catch plenty of material. I'm talking about the top two and very bottom eyelet on these skates: On custom CCM skates you can have all eyelets like those 3, from top to bottom - I'm just wondering how to get the equivalent after the fact on a lower model retail skate without having to spend over $1000 on custom skates. colins

Does anyone know if there's any way to buy a retail pair of CCM's like the FT490, but get the eyelets all replaced to be the eyelets they use for the custom skate option? Basically look at the top two eyelets on any top end CCM skate - how can you get those for the entire boot? What type of machine is required to install those eyelets and where to source the eyelets themselves that CCM uses for the factory custom skates?

I think the difference between the two is the defacto retail footprint Sher-wood gets by being front and center in every Canadian Tire, SportChek and ProHockeylife. I get it that this makes it 100% a Canadian specific play right now and it's not seen as any big deal south of the border, but the Canadian hockey equipment market is a great place to refine and mature your product line before branching out to a more global approach. I maybe miss making the point that Canadian Tire, SportChek and ProHockeylife covers the vast majority of the retail hockey equipment space in Canada. In most towns or cities the only other store you will find selling hockey equipment is a Source For Sports franchise or a Play it again Sports. The split between CTC and non-CTC hockey equipment sales by dollars and volume in Canada must be something like 75%/25% like a previous poster mentioned. That's a wild ass guess, but based on my travels around Canada in hockey areas that's likely not far off the mark. This isn't a couple of franchises in a few US cities selling Tron gear. This is coast to coast blanket coverage of the entire hockey equipment market in Canada. From Wikipedia, there's 503 Canadian Tire stores and 409 FGL branded sports stores in the country. So Sherwood gets defacto top tier access to close to 1000 retail locations without lifting a finger. For casual players and the low end or beginner mom or dad will take you to Canadian Tire to get outfitted for hockey as there's one of these around every collection of even the smallest communities, and several in every city. Once you get serious and need higher end gear you head to a SportChek or if you're in a larger city you're lucky enough to have a ProHockeyLife which has an almost complete inventory of every hockey retail product available from Bauer/CCM/Warrior/True/etc. Now... you're Sherwood... you don't have to convince these retailers to carry your product, or to display it prominently, you get that for free up and down your lineup because you have the same parent company. And this works for you coast to coast from a town of 500 people to a city of 3 million. Your distribution channels and marketing is covered. To screw that up you'd literally have to hire the wrong people that don't know how to make a competitive product. If you hire a few of the best talent away from Bauer/CCM/Warrior/etc you have a retail playground to start small(ish) and grow and expand your lineup. From a parent company with very deep pockets. And now you're taking profit away from Bauer and CCM and putting it into your own pockets.

Hey I'm not going to take anything away from Bobby Ryan, incredible story and wish him all the best. But in today's game they need a McDavid, MacKinnon, Barzal, Pettersson type - someone the young kids are out trying to imitate on the ice. But you're not getting one of those guys without deep pockets and a truly elite product. Much easier to get a top name if they product does actually outperform the competition. And get them in the hands of the kids coming up, the NCDC, NAHL, USHL, CHL and CJHL teams - sponsor more leagues/teams so the kids moving up into the pro ranks are coming from your product to begin with. It takes time, money, and good execution but the roadmap is pretty simple when you think about it. They have the time and money given the deep pockets of the parent company. Let's see if they can execute.

I think they're maybe wasting their time with the Code V stick given the ugly graphics and lack of reviews that say it performs like a top contender, but have a look at their marketing push behind it, top of the front page on prohockeylife.com right now, and drawing heavily on Sher-wood's Featherlite legacy. Video here: https://www.prohockeylife.com/pages/sherwood-code-v-hockey-sticks I think they're still off the mark with the Code V but if they keep this up and the next revision is a top performing stick that looks great, they sign on a top player in the NHL as brand ambassador, there's little reason they can't become a lot more relevant over the next couple seasons given their deep pockets. I personally would love to see it happen. Really haven't liked the moves by Bauer with their patents pushing 3rd party steel away from their Edge holders, or their latest top end glove and protective releases that seem to have jacked or kept prices at all time highs while reducing materials/features/quality. I'll check back in two years from now and eat my words if they're gone or less relevant than they are now, but I'm hoping that's not the case!

That can change over time with the right team making the product decisions. If you're Canadian Tire, SportChek & ProHockeyLife, and your in house brand can provide you with product to compete up and down the lineup vs. the inventory you buy from CCM/Bauer/etc, it's a huge advantage. They'll having staying power and supply chain advantages, at least for like 3/4s of the Canadian market, that should keep them afloat and relevant for years. I don't think they should be thought of as a small player these days - they have a huge financial backing and competitive advantage by being the house brand for CTC corp now. They just need to hire the right team.

I think you could be missing something here. Surely Sher-wood has to be one of the largest hockey equipment manufacturer in the market right now? Like any reboot I'm sure they'll have some missteps, but I wouldn't count them out by any means. FGL Sports who owns the Sher-Wood brand also controls ProHockeyLife, Canadian Tire Corporation and SportChek. That gives them a huge percentage of Canadian hockey equipment sales and retail market right off the bat. While Bauer continues to raise prices on their high end gear while cutting corners on materials/quality, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Sherwood brand become a legit player that if nothing else, should help keep CCM and Bauer honest.