colins

On hockeystickman.com the P90TM is described as the Max Height version of the P90T pro-Benn aka P30 curve. Which makes perfect sense. The P90T Benn is like a P88 in lie and closed nature from the heel to the mid curve. Then it adds an open toe kink, which is where it can somewhat be compared to a P29/P92/P28, which have more toe than the P88 does. If you love stickhandling/backhands and passes with a P88 but wish you had an open toe/pocket to work with for toe drags and shots where you pull the pull towards your body and snap it, the P30/P90T might be for you. But - if you like the high lie and curved rocker of the P29/P92, it's probably not for you. The real confusion comes in when you add the P90 and P90M to the mix. These are CCM specific pro-stock P92 and P92M max height clones. Real clones, not P29 "almost the same" curves. Like I said, curve names have really gone to shit. Having different pro stock curve names vs. retail curve names of the same pattern serves what purpose? It just makes everything more confusing. Burn it all to the ground and start over CCM/Bauer/Warrior/True/etc. colins

I haven't seen a P90TM but I assume it's the Max height version of the P90T. Not to be confused with the P90, which is a CCM P92 clone, sometimes referred to as the pro stock version of the P29. Curve names were bad enough when people referred to them by player names (which kept switching between vendors), but I'm not sure but it's getting worse now - I mean I guess the rationale behind the P90T name was 'T' meant 'Toe', BUT the P90T/P30 is more based on a P88 with a toe kink (in terms of lie and closed-ness) than a P90/P29. Good grief CCM! colins

This is where the numbers are pretty much meaningless. Bauer's P88 is a lie 6 but so is the default P92 but their lies are not even close to being the same. For comparison, in my experience, the P90T and P30 have a lie very similar if not identical to the P88. If you line up their rockers the shafts will be almost directly on top of each other. A P92 (the default 'lie 6' P92, not the pro stock P92 Lie 5) compared to the P88/P90T/P30 will be higher/taller. colins

If that's the case they run the risk of nobody wanting to buy (or counterfeit) a crappy product. Initial reviews and opinions seem to all dislike the bottom heavy feel of these sticks.

We've gone from wood / fiberglass to aluminum (shafts) to carbon fiber (with wood completely eliminated) just in my lifetime alone, so I don't think it's a stretch. I'll be surprised if it doesn't happen in the next 10-20 years. Having to buy a fixed curve at retail that can't be modified is a step backwards from where we were in the past, and we don't usually go backwards in features and stay that way for long.

I think the evolution of stick blade construction will lead to this eventually. And we'll look back in disbelief about the period of time between wooden blades and this future state when "you had to buy a fixed curve and couldn't even adjust it to your own preference". If a manufacturer can perfect this with a similar blade response, weight and durability to existing process, it would change the market overnight and all manufacturers would have to follow. At that point you could just sell two versions - a lie 5 and a lie 6 mid closed curve that can adapted to your preference by heating and bending. Bonus points if the material lends itself to sanding and you could round or square the toe to your preference. colins

And me to the list of never having heard that before. I imagine given @ZamboniFever previous experience in medical devices, producing sharpening wheels that don't measure accurately to the hollow they represent doesn't seem likely. Maybe @SparxHockeywould care to comment? colins

It certainly seems to be less common. I thought CCM had a good thing going with the P30 to differentiate from Bauer, but instead after just a short time floating the P30 in the market they seem to have gone the opposite direction and are now copying Bauer entirely with the P88 and the other max height trend. I think the P40, P46, P19 and P30 all had their following and now they're all missing or disappearing at retail. They just kept changing things so quick the last 2-3 years - how can you build up a base of users that way? It's sad that between Bauer and CCM now it seems it's a 3 pattern market at retail. If you're not a P29/P92, P88 or P28 guy, you're looking for custom or prostock. Which sucks because for custom it's $$$ and for prostock it can be hard to know exactly what you're getting with respect to the build and curve depending on where it came from.

I have one but rarely use it as it's stiffer than my preference and a crazy old school PP77 Coffey curve. That said, it's a great stick. It was top of the line for Sherwood when it was new. $140 might be borderline what I'd pay for one today given how long they have been around, but if you like super light responsive and durable sticks and it's your curve/flex, I don't think you'd be disappointed. colins

No it doesn't. A pass is a pass. And you get 320 per ring, however many 'pairs' you want to translate that to for marketing or whatever - it's 320 passes. colins

I don't know if I'd give up right away - most folks seem to report that the 70K starts off feeling the right size, but then loosens up a bit. If you bake and keep using them you might find they fit perfect. That "thick padding" is very thermo-formable.

My personal experience may be skewed by the fact that my oldest son owned and wore the RBZ and my youngest owned and wore the Tacks, and the RBZ's looked like trash after 1 season whereas the Tacks held up great. colins

I don't know if I agree with that. The Tacks in 2014 was the start of CCM making a mark in the skate department again. They were a solid skate all around. They've done something every year since to push the envelope, and deliver more features at the same price point vs. Bauer entries. I rip on CCM for their eyelets, but aside from that, their skate products are legit and have been for at least 5 or more years now.

Good advice to be careful with applying it. The CCM screws come with blue loctite from the factory. The loctite isn't exposed to the plastic, unless you put on a big blob and it seeps out from the threads/nut. Just requires a small touch, worked into the threads, and only if the factory stuff has worn off.

Ok, I've been using the blue loctite but I think I'm over cranking them with the T socket driver I've been using. I noticed it seems to cause the plastic by the runner to flare out ever so slightly from the steel right above the screws if you go too tight. colins

For the SB or E-Pro holder experts out there - is there a torque spec for tightening the screw/nut on those when swapping steel? I always cranked them pretty tight assuming that the are designed to bottom out on the depth of the screw, but is that actually the case? If you're just using a short screwdriver you're kind of limited anyways, but with a 8mm socket is there a risk of over-tightening and damaging the plastic in the holder? Bonus question - why do some pros like Crosby and like in the recent Subban locker room pic prefer the E-Pro over the SB 4.0? Is it noticeably stiffer? Also a different height, right? Just something they are used to as opposed to a clear performance issue? colins

Sounds like this stuff: https://www.jbweld.com/collections/epoxy-putty-sticks/products/plasticweld-epoxy-putty

For sure more like the 170, the tendon guard is cheap and the LS1 steel is junk. If I bought the S29 the first thing I'd do is swap the steel with some Step or at least LS3. The cheap tendon guard is harder to deal with - you'd just have to be extra careful taking them on and off not to destroy it prematurely. I don't think there's any doubt that CCM currently has the better value propositions in their line - if you have a foot that fits their profiles. colins

Supreme 180 (2 gens ago) or Supreme S180 (one gen ago)? In either case, the fit profile should be the same, my yougest son was in Supreme 180 before and has tried on the S29 (but bought the 2S Pro) and they felt very equally comfortable on his foot. colins

This is why it can be hard to tell visually. The outsole can be the piece misaligned. Not that the holder isn't too, but if you are just checking the holder relative to the outsole (which is what the eye is automatically drawn to) that's not the real story. Try measuring from the edge of the holder on both sides to the edge of the boot/heel on both skates and see what the difference (if any) is.

Went with the Supreme's after. The EE boot, like the scanner indicated. The Nexus would have worked too I believe, but they just weren't as comfortable all around - the Supreme boot was the best match for his foot overall. They didn't have a 2S in his size so we went up to the 2S Pro after they offered a price on them to make it a bit easier a decision. I like the construction of the skate, the injected eyelets and the Speedplate 2.0. I think injected eyelets can help with lace bite as they move the laces up closer to the top of the facing vs. traditional eyelets. I wasn't sure about the tongue but he's skated in them once so far and found them comfortable right away and if anything, I think the 2S Pro tongue would help prevent future lacebite as the inserts are so rigid they won't allow the laces to cut in. The LS5 steel I'm not sold on yet - seems to have a lot of burrs when sharpened and hard to get a nice clean set of edges on them, at least visually, it looks like the coating and the steel makes for a bit of an unclean edge no matter how much I sharpen and de-burr them. Maybe because they are new, I guess we'll see how that goes, but I think swapping the LS5 for StepSteel and keeping them as backups in going to be the plan for that. One other small annoyance - Bauer seems to over crank some rivets on the holder - the middle ones on the heel. You can see the holder is slightly pinched and deformed. They seem to have this problem across the lines - a pair of X900s I had last year were the same and after just a few months use the plastic under the rivet has cracked and a small piece of it has fallen off because of the extra stress and deformity. colins

Yes, his lace bite pain is almost entirely gone. Still a small lump, and he can feel a slight amount of tenderness when something is pressed against it and he flexes his foot up and down, but he can skate with the lace extenders in his Tacks and nothing is painful and it doesn't make the existing condition any worse. I suspect a couple more weeks of physio exercises, ice, massage/foamroller and it will be 100% gone. Maybe the bump will stick around, I know for some that never goes away. The Tacks are about a year old, ideally I'd like to find a boot that doesn't need any modification as his foot is still probably growing a bit at age 16 and this isn't the last pair of skates he'll need. colins

Single rate or dual rate spring, Hooke's law applies doesn't it? The spring in question is mounted at about a 45 degree angle, so the forces aren't vertical, but some grade 12 physics can work out the difference each extra couple mm of spring extension puts on the ring pushing back against the runner. I've never seen @Sparx Hockey Russell Layton weigh in on this, and I'm not an engineer. Russ designed the machine, if he says this is all wrong I gladly stand corrected. I'm just basing the above on my observations and experiments in using the machine at home the past three years. colins

Raise the ring to where it cuts the machine out. Lower it one step at a time and repeat until the first step where it no longer cuts off. Listen to the pass (any chatter? skips? changes in pitch?) and observe the finish (do you see horizontal ticks marks running perpendicular to the runner at the point the sound/pitch of the pass occured?). Now lower it 2 or 3 more clicks and observe the same. Are your observations the same or different? If different, what could account for the difference? colins

I tried my best but couldn't get a clean shot from my iphone with the lighting to show the hollow like that. My finish is similar, but you seem to have some distinct lines running the length of the runner there that I don't see on mine. Is it a new ring? colins