bringing back gear

[starsfan71 9]

I really liked the vapor 6 shoulders I've found a few but they need to mass produce them.

[DarkStar50 679]

CCM EP-1 Elbow Pads- rubatex foam donut inside with leather cover exterior, pro model short

Winnwell 2000 Helmet- the original with leather ear slings

Koho 221 Woodies- FinnLam 5 ply shafts, revolutionized wood sticks in the 70s

Sher-Wood 9030 FeatherLite Woodies- I still have my SOP

Daoust 301 skates with clear Tuuks- as worn by Gilbert Perreault

Victoriaville Custom Woodies with Banana curves

Cooper DG-32 Shin Pads- old school

Bauer Supreme Custom 1000 Skates- last leather interior skate with memory foam, beautiful felt/leather tongue

Pro-Tec wire face masks- featured cat's eye design, had to be 4 point mounted to helmet

Cooper Hockey Locker equipment bag- the first equipment bag with side skate pockets

Cooper SK-20 leather helmet- I have one of those, too

Northland Custom Pro Woodies- with lies stamped on shaft

Cooper AG-1 leather ankle guards, mandatory for defencemen in the 70s

[metalwinger13 1]

hey darkstar how bout some pics of these items? im kind of curious what these look like as im fairly new to all this.. kind of interesting to see what the old time shit looks like

[BuffaloKing 0]

I second bringing back the branches grinder! Was the Bauer "Air" series of high quality when it was released. I loved my Air 50's.

[Neal 41]

Cooper AG-1 leather ankle guards, mandatory for defencemen in the 70s

Ah yes! My pair finally just rotted a way a few years back. I stopped more point shots than my goalies when I had those on.

[xstartxtodayx 343]

My contribution...

Vic 4050 wood sticks.

I had a ton of these w/ the white shaft and would spray the blade black, they had such a great feel and were pretty light and flexy (which was great since I was a little weakling when they were made).

Cooper Air Roll gloves.

I know that Bauer makes something similar now w/ the 4 and 5 roll glove but it's just not the same, I always wanted those air rolls when I was younger.

First generation Easton gloves (not sure the model name, like Modano still uses)

They were really different than anything else at the time and were made like tanks, I remember a couple teammates in high school had them and it took them a season and a half to break them in. I'm pretty sure one of them still uses them now 12-13 years later.

Titan hockey sticks (I think they would be owned by RBK now, since they ended up as part of Jofa/Karhu at one point)

Yes, I used to love the ASD (I think) models, the ones Nedved used with the rounded edge of the shaft for your palm and squared on the other side. Those things were tanks but they were great, I think all of that technology went into street hockey sticks.

Cooper Hockey Locker equipment bag- the first equipment bag with side skate pockets

I had one of them for many years and loved it. I just got a Vapor XXXX wheeled bag and it has the skate pockets and the end compartment like the hockey locker did but it's no where near as good, it's way too big overall as compared to the original hockey locker.

[matix218 11]

I think CCM should bring back Tacks for sure.

The tacks skates were CCM's bread and butter for years and I was shocked to see them drop the line.

[hockeyguy39 0]

It's not equipment but I miss the Gaborik curve. :(

i saw a gaborik at a sports store not long ago

Actually, wish they'd also bring back the SLs and original Stealths (pre-CNT, pure black or black/silver).

I have one of those Stealth's, bought it a month ago, great stick even after using some 08/09 models.

I'd have to say Tacks skates as well, amazing skates.

ya i got one like a month ago love the stick

[westcoastsniper 0]

I too miss titan asd sticks, branches and louisville wood sticks man those rocked. really, if there was the glut of wood sticks like there was back in the day I would be buying those... they were awesome.

I remember liking the cooper gloves, possibly the last line before they were bough by bauer, they were flexy, sexy and fit extremely well.

i also remember liking the supreme line of skates, with the kevlar stitching as well as the tacks line as mentioned, the simpler ones, before they went into the FIT system of whatever the hell, they were just skates dammit! and you loved them because of it, not because of some fancy crap that sounds good in an ad.

also the cooper shoulder pads, forget model number, but they were mostly gray with small, blue plastic shoulder caps, blue writing as well. those were the best.

bauer supreme wood sticks, all black, nice long blades good feel I got the lindros curve and it was more heel back then, not this sissy mid curve that bauer tries to fob off on us...

I saw a guy using one of those koho revolution sticks the other day, with the one little fiber wire running the length of the shaft, man I don't miss those.

but yeah, I'm still of the opinion that hockey sticks reached their pinnacle in '96

[mack 44]

I miss the Koho ProFibre and Revolutions. And the old Titan C. Lemieux pattern.

[DarkStar50 679]

[quote name='westcoastsniper' date='Mar 6 2009, 10:36 PM' post='669084'

but yeah, I'm still of the opinion that hockey sticks reached their pinnacle in '96

'96? What about '86? Sher-Wood PMP 7000 and PMP 9030(a lighter model of all wood built on the 5030 lay-up), Titan 2020 and 3020(the red shaft version), Koho 221 (all wood) and 2210 Glassfibre, Canadien 6001 and 7001 Graphite, and Victoriaville Pro and Custom woodies. There was a lot to choose from and all curves were different in every dozen. That was a golden age of stick selection.

[Ital79 0]

I miss the Koho ProFibre and Revolutions. And the old Titan C. Lemieux pattern.

Oooo...the old Titan Lemieux. Ahh...that brings back memories. A heavy stick if I remember correctly, perfectly suited for administering pain and slashes. Damn, those things were tanks...

The Kohos were my fav though; had about 15 or so leftover from my college days before a retarded mutt ate most of em. I hated that damn dog, it also ate my Cooper Techniflex gloves, would piss anywhere it wanted, always got in the garbage, and was as dumb as genetically possible.

[westcoastsniper 0]

well unfortunately due to being only 3 years old in '86 those awesome sticks were mostly holding up tomatoes in peoples gardens by the time I could put them to good use. but ten years later, with the proliferation of aluminum and carbon shafts those dudes making wood sticks had to get pretty crafty to make a good product.

I distinctly remember the branches stick with the tiny weave on the blade and the slight gloss on the shaft, it was a thing of beauty for about 3 games then usually the shaft would go, but damn the amount of goals I scored using those twigs comparatively to other sticks of that era, so yeah, if branches were to start up today and put out a wood stick like that again, maybe some sort of carbon insert or something so the damn thing didn't snap all the time, I would buy the first pallet.

[DarkStar50 679]

Branches made up my custom replacement blades back then, mid 90s. I'll post a few pics. They were finely crafted rbs. They knew wood and fibreglass. They were primarily a canoe paddle company.

[Chadd 916]

Branches made up my custom replacement blades back then, mid 90s. I'll post a few pics. They were finely crafted rbs. They knew wood and fibreglass. They were primarily a canoe paddle company.

If I recall they got out of hockey because they were making a fortune on composite canoe paddles and they needed the extra production space to produce more. Great blades I still have a couple of my old customs from them.

[Ital79 0]

Branches made up my custom replacement blades back then, mid 90s. I'll post a few pics. They were finely crafted rbs. They knew wood and fibreglass. They were primarily a canoe paddle company.

If I recall they got out of hockey because they were making a fortune on composite canoe paddles and they needed the extra production space to produce more. Great blades I still have a couple of my old customs from them.

You know, small-ish companies like that never throw stuff away and I'm sure they have all the old tooling from back when they made hockey sticks. I'd recommend sending them a letter, saying their stuff/craftsmanship was phenomenal (which is was) and you are inquiring if they have any old stock lying around collecting dust in a corner somewhere. I'd also mention that if they were to ever produce hockey sticks again, you'd be one of the 1st in line and that you are glad they're still around making a great product.

Include your name, address, & phone #

At the very least, it'll make someone's day. Best case scenario would be a free t-shirt/hat and a letter saying thanks. Longshot; you have a dozen sticks waiting on your porch that are full of dust.

Just don't send an email - write a letter, put it in an envelope, attach stamp, give to angry postal worker....you know, just like we all did in the early 90's :)

[westcoastsniper 0]

would it be bending branches paddle company? http://www.bendingbranches.com/index.php

[chippa13 1844]

Branches made up my custom replacement blades back then, mid 90s. I'll post a few pics. They were finely crafted rbs. They knew wood and fibreglass. They were primarily a canoe paddle company.

I had them make a couple batches myself. Great stuff. I think it was the K-Lite blade model.

[Chadd 916]

You know, small-ish companies like that never throw stuff away and I'm sure they have all the old tooling from back when they made hockey sticks. I'd recommend sending them a letter, saying their stuff/craftsmanship was phenomenal (which is was) and you are inquiring if they have any old stock lying around collecting dust in a corner somewhere. I'd also mention that if they were to ever produce hockey sticks again, you'd be one of the 1st in line and that you are glad they're still around making a great product.

Include your name, address, & phone #

At the very least, it'll make someone's day. Best case scenario would be a free t-shirt/hat and a letter saying thanks. Longshot; you have a dozen sticks waiting on your porch that are full of dust.

Just don't send an email - write a letter, put it in an envelope, attach stamp, give to angry postal worker....you know, just like we all did in the early 90's :)

They announced that they sold the tooling as they needed the space to add more paddle tooling.

would it be bending branches paddle company? http://www.bendingbranches.com/index.php

That would be the company

[JR Boucicaut 3805]

Yep, still in business, still making paddles.

The TPS Pro Stock wrap was very similar to the Rhino wrap Branches used to offer.

[JohnnyCanuck 0]

Someone above had a good shout for the Cooper Air Rolls gloves

I wanted a pair soo badly becasue both Linden and Bure used them back in the mid-late 90's with the Canucks.

http://media.canada.com/eec3adc1-7c27-4a80...95007b/trev.jpg

http://www.canuckscentral.com/images/wlinden1024.jpg

http://vlady.blog.hokejportal.sk/files/blo...dy/228/bure.jpg

http://www.yardbarker.com/media/8/7/87c476...Bure-Vernon.jpg

I got a pair and they were awesome, but didn't last nearly as long as I would have liked and cannot be found anymore

[westcoastsniper 0]

Yep, still in business, still making paddles.

The TPS Pro Stock wrap was very similar to the Rhino wrap Branches used to offer.

Yeah I remember those as well, didn't louisville become TPS at least at the hockey level? I remember having one of the yzerman models white with the red lettering,(or was it red with white lettering?) damn I loved those too.

rhino wrap, that's what it was called, the little rhino near the bottom of the shaft. great stuff

[Monty22 835]

^^^I loved the old Louisville TPS wood sticks- used the Yzerman and Lafontaine patterns back in the day.

[Invert 13]

Cooper Techniflex gloves, I have always loved these gloves and still haven't found a pair I like as much.

[JR Boucicaut 3805]

Yep, still in business, still making paddles.

The TPS Pro Stock wrap was very similar to the Rhino wrap Branches used to offer.

Yeah I remember those as well, didn't louisville become TPS at least at the hockey level? I remember having one of the yzerman models white with the red lettering,(or was it red with white lettering?) damn I loved those too.

rhino wrap, that's what it was called, the little rhino near the bottom of the shaft. great stuff

TPS and TPX were/are two product sub-lines for Louisville. In baseball, it is TPX, in softball, it is TPS. Now at the time, there was a TPX and TPS line of hockey gloves, amongst other product.

When H&B were pulling out of hockey, they licensed TPS so that their name was off of it.