Gear Sightings 2008-09 Gear Sightings

[Xyphereos 0]

Wow, I was wondering how he dealt with those skates. I never really liked them.

[DarkStar50 679]

Plus, everyday in the locker room he looks across the room at Malkin's gear.

[Xyphereos 0]

Yeah, I was thinking he would switch over to bauer (hopefully he doesnt go with Malkins god awful visor sure its protective but come on!)

[raygunpk 0]

I'll bet he will. Word is he is not a fan of the Pump skates! And he still uses the Sher-wood blade, 1 each period.

He switches a blade each period?

[DarkStar50 679]

Yes, I read that over the week-end. A year ago the Pens were at West Point for a 3 day camp. My friend is the hockey ops/equipment guy at Tate Rink for Army. he said Crosby checked about 200 blades with the rep there. Good, bad, bad, good, good, good,.........

[AnthonyJTa 0]

Yes, I read that over the week-end. A year ago the Pens were at West Point for a 3 day camp. My friend is the hockey ops/equipment guy at Tate Rink for Army. he said Crosby checked about 200 blades with the rep there. Good, bad, bad, good, good, good,.........

From what they show in the new Crosby dvd... he's very anal with the sticks, and gear. I think they mentioned he makes them change the steel every 2 weeks, and requires extra loc-tite so he hears no click. He also requests his sticks do not travel/not kept w/ the goalie sticks.

[Xyphereos 0]

Thats ridiculous, why would he use a blade a period. Do wood blades die that fast?

Yes, I read that over the week-end. A year ago the Pens were at West Point for a 3 day camp. My friend is the hockey ops/equipment guy at Tate Rink for Army. he said Crosby checked about 200 blades with the rep there. Good, bad, bad, good, good, good,.........

From what they show in the new Crosby dvd... he's very anal with the sticks, and gear. I think they mentioned he makes them change the steel every 2 weeks, and requires extra loc-tite so he hears no click. He also requests his sticks do not travel/not kept w/ the goalie sticks.

Is that like a superstition thing or something. Also how is the dvd?

[VakarLajos 5]

Yes, I read that over the week-end. A year ago the Pens were at West Point for a 3 day camp. My friend is the hockey ops/equipment guy at Tate Rink for Army. he said Crosby checked about 200 blades with the rep there. Good, bad, bad, good, good, good,.........

From what they show in the new Crosby dvd... he's very anal with the sticks, and gear. I think they mentioned he makes them change the steel every 2 weeks, and requires extra loc-tite so he hears no click. He also requests his sticks do not travel/not kept w/ the goalie sticks.

makes sense a bit. E-Pro screws come loose pretty easily.

I'm pretty sure not having his sticks near goalie sticks has to be a superstition. I can't think of any reason that having your stick near a goalie stick would change the way it functions.

[AnthonyJTa 0]

Thats ridiculous, why would he use a blade a period. Do wood blades die that fast?

Yes, I read that over the week-end. A year ago the Pens were at West Point for a 3 day camp. My friend is the hockey ops/equipment guy at Tate Rink for Army. he said Crosby checked about 200 blades with the rep there. Good, bad, bad, good, good, good,.........

From what they show in the new Crosby dvd... he's very anal with the sticks, and gear. I think they mentioned he makes them change the steel every 2 weeks, and requires extra loc-tite so he hears no click. He also requests his sticks do not travel/not kept w/ the goalie sticks.

Is that like a superstition thing or something. Also how is the dvd?

It's decent... especially if you're a Crosby and/or Pens fan. It's just basically a video chronicle of the entire season last year. If you see the dvd, and see his jock shown at the end, you'll see he's very meticulous and borderline crazy with the gear... the cup looks older than him. I mean, do you really think changing the blades every period has to do with functionality, or just a routine thing for him?

[Xyphereos 0]

It would be really wasteful if it was a routine thing, I hope its functionality.

[VakarLajos 5]

It would be really wasteful if it was a routine thing, I hope its functionality.

A nice idea would be to sell them and give the profit to a charity. You'd get a whole lot of Crosby game-used blades to sell.

No clue what they actually do with them though.

[dalebert 8]

Take the tape off and give it to him the next period telling him its new? :lol:

[Rustpot 1]

It would be really wasteful if it was a routine thing, I hope its functionality.

A nice idea would be to sell them and give the profit to a charity. You'd get a whole lot of Crosby game-used blades to sell.

No clue what they actually do with them though.

What was all that talk of Crosby using sticks until they're dead? He might just be switching, checking them later to put back in the lineup.

200 blades coming in is rediculous. Not only is that a massive order to ship at once, why would SWD run it all at once? Probably his season supply and checked them all up front so he's not down to 15 blades and finds 10 bad ones only to be fucked in the stretch at the end of the season.

[Xyphereos 0]

I dont think so, if that was the case couldnt he just check the blade he is already using?

[JR Boucicaut 3795]

It's wood - there are going to be imperfections in the final product. It is standard fare for a player to go through his batch and reject. I've done it with my TPS customs.

[Xyphereos 0]

I was thinking more along the lines of changing a blade each period, but it is professional hockey and he most likely has a lot of wear on his blades, even after one period.

[krwwc6 0]

I swear I remember reading a while back that crosby is one of the easiest players to deal with. He lets his equipment go forever until it is practically unusable anymore. I guess whoever said that must have been using internet sarcasm.

[cammerz12 0]

maybe he is just particular about his stick blades. i remeber reading somewhere, forgot where, but he said his blade is practically straight and its the the sher wood pro stock ?guy lafluer pattern? and he mentioned how its gotten straightet and straighter

[Homersonic 7]

Oops i meant far left is a lefty. Any answer on the gloves?

Which ones? The 3 guys have Reebok 9k pro, the right guy has CCM V10.

CCM Vector buckets seems to be gaining popularity, as well as the U+. Well liked product or lots of cash rolling out of CCM?

TBL: your pic there of Vinny looks like a different graphic than the other two posted where "Dolomite" and green stripes were in the taper. Think they're testing 2 graphic packages or rolling out another stick? WARRIOR block graphics seem absent as well.

Reebok/CCM is starting to roll out 4-roll gloves with Vector 10 graphics as well as Reebok-logoed 4-rolls. There are a few guys in the Q who are using 4-rolls with V10 graphics, and Lapierre is using 4-rolls as well.

[DarkStar50 679]

For the record, when Gretzky was using Titan sticks during his Oiler days, he went through sticks like water. Once he went to LA and used the Easton shaft/blade combo, he went through even more blades on a game-to-game basis. He just always wanted a fresh stick or blade to play with. Before OPS and when pros were getting woodies, they always rejected a certain amount of each dozen sticks they got. Like I said about Gerry Cosby's, the shop used to be filled with reject Koho, Canadien, Titan, and Sher-wood Ranger player patterns back in the 80s. The Devils used to practice at this dump in Totowa, NJ called Ice World. The pro shop was filled with player reject sticks. The Koho warehouse was on Long Island in the 80s. We used to special order a player pattern stick by the dozen if they had it. The warehouse could never promise that the pattern you ordered would match the one you have since players were constantly switching patterns. All the stick whores on MSH missed the golden age of pro patterns when wood was king!

[habsfan87 0]

why do we see prostock sticks in any store, because of rejections. I think with the ops' it's more curve/flex things than anything.

[Rustpot 1]

why do we see prostock sticks in any store, because of rejections. I think with the ops' it's more curve/flex things than anything.

Construction defects in the shaft and blade, wrong finish (player asked for Z-tac or something), grip, balance, or a set of demo sticks from a company trying to get a player/pushing a new stick that don't get used.

I'm sure there are more. If I were an NHL guy I can't imagine how anal I'd be considering what level of retentiveness I'm at right now. Certain things just get in my head, like when I see a pile of identical sticks on the wall at a LHS and there's 1 or 2 with the graphics misaligned, drives me nuts. Or when the brand new shaft has a small burr or paint bubble that's where my bottom hand is.

[AnthonyJTa 0]

All the stick whores on MSH missed the golden age of pro patterns when wood was king!

I remember the small shop here in Massachusetts where I bought my Koho Vector shaft, and brown Ultralite used to have bins, and bins of Easton pro return wooden blades for $12. I remember buying tons of them for ball hockey.... damn I wish that place was still open. I think I even got my 'pro return' Berard Koho woodies there too...

[chshockey30 0]

when i went to the redwing's sales this year there were tons of datsyuk's stick that have never been used

I asked the guy about it and he said it was because there was little defects about them, curve is a little off, length is wrong, pattern is off, just normal little things most of us wouldnt even notice

I would believe this is how most NHL players are.

[Fletch 219]

Interesting stuff, DS50 and Defiant....I love those little stories about the pro life.