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Femtosecond posted:Going to buy new skates today but I don't really know anything about skates so I'm going to bring in the ones I've been using for the last few games (borrowed skates that feel slightly too big) and ask what I should get that is at least as good but better fitting. Velocity are Vapors now. Just let them fit you and see what feels right. What store are you going to? Minto Took posted:Scrimmage sucked last night. tl;dr: It's pretty demoralizing to get out-sprinted by a dude in his 70's. Efficiency is everything -- work on your stride a bit as I'm betting that's the only thing he has on you in terms of strength or stamina.
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Sep 14, 2013 19:35
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A guy in his 60's signed up for the instructional league this fall.. his son has been in it for a couple sessions, I guess dad wanted to try it too. At any rate, this guy has unbelievable hands. He's not fast but he's got that ability to predict what someone is going to do before they do, and once he's got the puck no one can get it away from him. I've been on a team with his son, he claims that for his entire life he's never been able to get the puck away from his dad. I hope I can make kids cry themselves to sleep when I'm 60. 
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Sep 14, 2013 19:36
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sellouts posted:Velocity are Vapors now. Just let them fit you and see what feels right. What store are you going to? A dedicated hockey only store in Surrey, BC. I'm assuming they'll be more knowledgable than a big box sports store.
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Sep 14, 2013 19:43
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You'll get taken care of. Just don't feel the need to overspend if you're just starting out.
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Sep 14, 2013 20:17
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Idunno man. Skates are the one thing I don't really hesitate to drop some ducats on. As long as you at least enjoy ice skating, they should last for a good long time.
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Sep 15, 2013 04:55
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Reading through this thread convinced me to go over to the pro shop at Canlan in Romeoville (SW Chicago) to buy some skates and actually try to relearn all the skating I had lessons on back in the late 80's. Thankfully I never lost going forward, I can swizzle like mad, and still have a bit of forward crossover ability. Stopping, backwards skating, and crossunders are just gone. Even if I never get in to hockey I've got my own skates and can hit public skates at Canlan, Inwood (Joliet), or the place in Orland Park without dealing with poo poo rentals. First night out with the skates was at a Friday night public skate where there was a solid 45 minutes of barely anyone on the ice. I don't think it ever got over ten people. I had no problem with this since it afforded me the ability to stand in the center of the rink and try to get a feel for shaving ice with these things. Ended up being way harder than I expected, but it could just be getting used to the skates. I believe they're at a 7/16th cut, but I'm not recalling right now. Still breaking them in, but so far they're no worse than my work boots. I also noticed that I could get up to higher speeds then I could reliably turn at. It may have been the lean I had going on, because I felt like I was losing the inside edge on my outside foot. It all felt good for a first session on the skates and I didn't fall even when I was at top speeds, so no complaints. I might even be out there again tomorrow. I did pick up a cheap wood stick and ten pucks when I grabbed the skates. Nowhere for me to set up outside with the house I'm at, but the basement is a smooth concrete floor and has concrete walls up to about seven feet. Shoved some stuff out of the way and got a bit of a lane to try to get a feel for stick handling, passing, and psuedo-wristers. Too late for me to get into any adult classes, so public skates are my best option until I can afford to get a hold of more gear for S&P sessions.
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Sep 15, 2013 07:32
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^^^gently caress yeah, new hockey dude. Keep working at it and you can get into a real league sooner than Xzzy! First game of the new season and we had a couple of new faces in the locker room, one of which was Communist Kangaroo! This season it seems I'm gonna get full time at center as we have an abundance of left wingers and I'm decent to good at faceoffs. Since I didn't get my first goal last season until our second playoff game, I thought I'd get the AAB@C experiment off to a good start with a dirty goal that slipped under the goalie's glove. All night I was winning faceoffs to about where I wanted them and learned from the ones I missed. Hell, even got a faceoff on my strong side in the offensive zone and decided to just take a shot. Goalie didn't even know what the gently caress to do and dove on it  .
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Sep 15, 2013 07:43
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Dangerllama posted:Idunno man. Skates are the one thing I don't really hesitate to drop some ducats on. As long as you at least enjoy ice skating, they should last for a good long time. I don't think it's prudent to spend a lot of money starting any hobby and with skates I know plenty of dudes better than me in far worse skates. I don't know anyone who has been better than me because of their skates. If it fits well, it doesn't matter, especially starting out. If it doesn't fit well, sure, spend the money to make it fit well. But that's just like my opinion, man. (And if you're going to do this, do it as smartly as possible which is almost never by walking into a big box retailer. But I am a buy skates once a decade or more used from eBay and then skate barefoot in them aka a gross person. )
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Sep 15, 2013 11:02
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AboveAndBeyond posted:First game of the new season and we had a couple of new faces in the locker room, one of which was Communist Kangaroo! For my first game ever I: got a few chances on the net, took out my own defenseman while chasing the puck, and accidentally forced offsides on my team three times. I also look like a lost puppy when they pick faceoff location after whistles.  I had fun with a hockey
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Sep 15, 2013 13:06
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YeehawMcKickass posted:Reading through this thread convinced me to go over to the pro shop at Canlan in Romeoville (SW Chicago) You should sign up for their sunday morning instructional league, because it owns. Though I think there's a wait list for it right now, the fall session just started last week. AboveAndBeyond posted:^^^gently caress yeah, new hockey dude. Keep working at it and you can get into a real league sooner than Xzzy! t  t
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Sep 15, 2013 13:21
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There are lots of very expensive skates, there's also lots of good stuff for around $200. Go try on every pair of skates you can afford, pick the comfortable ones.
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Sep 15, 2013 15:09
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sellouts posted:I don't think it's prudent to spend a lot of money starting any hobby and with skates I know plenty of dudes better than me in far worse skates. I don't know anyone who has been better than me because of their skates.
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Sep 15, 2013 16:22
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coldwind posted:That, plus you have to consider your weight, how much you skate and how well you skate. A novice skater who weights 110lb and skates once a week is NEVER going to break in an APX skate. Or even a $300 skate. When I was having all my foot problems half the people I talked to claimed my skates weren't broken in at all, despite having scuff marks all over the place from pucks and sticks or whatever. To the point I'm not even sure what "broken in" actually means. 
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Sep 15, 2013 16:59
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There's an old Czech (or something) saying: "I'm too poor to afford cheap stuff." I'm not saying go out and buy top-end everything, but also don't go out and drop $150 on a pair of Skatey McSkaterson brand ice skates because you're "just not sure if I'm going to be into this whole hockey thing." Get what's comfortable, but don't not spend an extra $100 just to save money either. I know from experience. I bought a pair of CCM 452's when I was first learning to play. A year later I was out buying new skates because the ones I had offered no impact protection and way too little overall support. I also had to replace the blade carrier several times, meaning I was eventually paying way more than sticker just to own a pair of 452's. Meanwhile, my wife's got a pair of 852's that she bought at the same time. She doesn't play or skate really, but now she's got a quality skate that's going to last her the rest of her life, while I wound up basically paying twice for skates. It's funny, because I see the exact same thing all the time in the ski industry. People cheap out on ski boots and invariably come to regret that decision. Skates are a buy-it-for-life kind of item. Worst case, you do get really into hockey and need a new pair in another two or three years at the earliest. As for every other piece of gear? Yeah, if you don't stick with hockey you'll never use any of it again. So beg, borrow, or steal. Except your jock. Buy that new. waffle enthusiast fucked around with this message at 17:51 on Sep 15, 2013 |
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Sep 15, 2013 17:44
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I think that's pretty much the best advice anyone can give--have the staff fit you into a bunch of different skates within a broad price range, as many as possible, then decide which one feels most comfortable. Whatever that pair costs, so long as it fits in your budget, is the pair of skates you should buy. But make sure to purposefully be ignorant of price as you're trying them on. Obviously product quality and durability matter, and this can be attached with price, but--well personally I think unless you're getting bargain bin skates you'll be fine in this regard so long as you take good care of them. Making sure your foot feels comfortable in them is what's most important.
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Sep 15, 2013 18:27
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coldwind posted:That, plus you have to consider your weight, how much you skate and how well you skate. A novice skater who weights 110lb and skates once a week is NEVER going to break in an APX skate. Ur, my APXs felt "broken in" as soon as they baked them. NHL players go through high end skates monthly, you don't really break high end skates in so much as "wear them out". The outside is rock solid composite; if it's flexing it's broken. Also they're on clearance pretty much everywhere right now and I love mine.
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Sep 15, 2013 18:47
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Dangerllama posted:There's an old Czech (or something) saying: "I'm too poor to afford cheap stuff." I'm not saying go out and buy top-end everything, but also don't go out and drop $150 on a pair of Skatey McSkaterson brand ice skates because you're "just not sure if I'm going to be into this whole hockey thing." Get what's comfortable, but don't not spend an extra $100 just to save money either. I know from experience. I bought a pair of CCM 452's when I was first learning to play. A year later I was out buying new skates because the ones I had offered no impact protection and way too little overall support. I also had to replace the blade carrier several times, meaning I was eventually paying way more than sticker just to own a pair of 452's. I've seen things go the other way, too, with guys going through multiple pairs of $400 skates in their first 6-9 months of playing because their heads were turned by branding and/or they didn't get good assistance to choose a correct fit when they bought. I'm still wearing my 10 year old kids' Bauer Supreme 5000s that cost me $150ish new, more than anything I think it's a testament to the guy who fitted them for me.
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Sep 15, 2013 20:29
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I don't think folks who want new skates because "OMG THIS IS THE SAME PAIR OVIE WEARS!" are going to listen to much skate buying advice anyway.
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Sep 15, 2013 21:00
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Breaking in skates used to be a pretty in depth thing. They weren't molded to your feet at all so you basically had to wear them until the material (especially on the laces and around the ankle bones) formed itself to your feet over a lot of hours. I wore skates in the shower, spent all day Saturday wearing them around the house with wet socks, etc etc. Thermoforming made all of that unnecessary and now skates are broken in as soon as they cool down from the oven. Kids today don't even understand how good they have it. Kids.
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Sep 15, 2013 21:31
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bewbies posted:Breaking in skates used to be a pretty in depth thing. They weren't molded to your feet at all so you basically had to wear them until the material (especially on the laces and around the ankle bones) formed itself to your feet over a lot of hours. I wore skates in the shower, spent all day Saturday wearing them around the house with wet socks, etc etc. Seriously you aren't a real hockey player until you've almost broken your ankles trying to go down the stairs with your skates on to break them in and getting tripped up by the family cat. 
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Sep 15, 2013 21:45
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Topo actually became a vet because of the one time she stepped on the cat doing that. True story.
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Sep 15, 2013 23:33
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Cat just has to learn to keep its tail up going in to the dirty areas
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Sep 16, 2013 04:28
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 Whatever old people, thermoforming skates is the way of ~*the future*~I'm 30
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Sep 16, 2013 07:14
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Back in my day we tied two rocks to our feet and used a turtle as the puck ( who would gripe about how his job sucked after each goal) yabba dabba doo
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Sep 16, 2013 13:05
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EvilTwig posted:Back in my day we tied two rocks to our feet and used a turtle as the puck ( who would gripe about how his job sucked after each goal) That bitching was always 10x worse after a slapper from the blue line.
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Sep 16, 2013 13:09
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Sunday's game was a fun one. It was tied 1-1 for most of the game because the other goalie was really playing well. I managed to put the game winner in with 1:52 remaining in the 3rd. I was able to carry it through the neutral zone and split the defenders before ripping a high hard wrister from the high slot. It handcuffed the goalie between his glove hand and his helmet, he got most of it but it trickled over the line before he was able to reach back for it. I was also knocked over by one of the defenders right as I released the shot which was going to be a penalty if the puck hadnt gone in. One of the guys from the league snapped a bunch of pictures from the game and managed to catch me right before scoring the second goal.  After that the entire team was really pumped up but we still had a little under 2 minutes to play to finish the game off. The other team pulled their goalie for the last minute. With the game on the line their extra skater tee'd up a slap shot and not one but two of our guys completley sold out to block it with a few seconds to go in the game.  I also put the first goal in by following a play up the ice and jumping in to poke a rebound in. multi goal games as a defenceman 
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Sep 17, 2013 19:43
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I love how the guy trying to block the shot in the back is basically just screening his own goalie. Getting GWG goals owns though, nice job! Nice pics too. On Friday, I played my first game for my third team (yes, I have a problem). I scored the team's first goal of the season. My other wing ripped a bullet of a wrister from just inside the blue line while I was screening the goalie. I put my stick up and tipped the shot right into the bottom corner for the goal. Pretty neat goal.
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Sep 17, 2013 22:15
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There is nothing I hate more than defensemen who pinch and get burnt every single time.  Leaving me to fend off 2v1 and 3v1 every time the other team breaks out of the zone. We usually run 4 D (myself included), and the other 3 did this all 3 games. I'm the new guy on the team this year and didn't want to come across as the dick who is telling you how to play. I'm completely for pinching when you are sure you can get the puck. But literally every time the puck came up to the zone, these guys stood still and tried to stop the puck / player as they were moving out of the zone. That was the story of my weekend. We had an ice breaker tournament before our ASHL starts up for the season this weekend. Lost 2 of 3.
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Sep 17, 2013 23:33
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It took me a good three or four games of messing up pinches before the coach pulled me aside and explained how it works: if the guy is fumbling for the puck and/or is not heading up ice, pinch if you think you can beat him. If he has the puck under control and he's skating towards you, just bail out and play defense. Was simple advice that helped me a lot. I still get burned, but it's due to being slow when skating backwards more than anything.
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Sep 17, 2013 23:38
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Heh. Things I don't have to worry about now that I'm only playing drop-in. "I'm the last man back and he's coming up the boards with speed? I'm pinchin' like all hell." This also accompanies the standard 4-1-0 forechecking system employed by most drop-in teams. #darkjerseys
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Sep 18, 2013 17:34
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We're getting demolished, 9-5. I'm on my keister after getting body-checked and I ask the ref "where the hell is the call?" "Do you want me to call that slash on you earlier?" he replies, indignantly. I don't respond, but now I feel myself get white-hot with rage. I think to myself "that guy who checked me? I'm gonna gently caress his poo poo up." Well, while I'm getting, he's picked up the puck and is at center ice near the boards. I'm about 3/4 of the width of the rink away from him. I'm seeing red, I lick my lips...I sprint as hard as I can. He looks up and sees me. He may have peed himself a little, but I'm not sure. But I imagine he said to himself "gently caress this," as he dumped the puck into the corner. I instinctually chase the puck. He has ensured his safety for just a little while longer. I calmed down pretty soon after that, realize it was dumb to go chasing this guy when it's the ref that's the biggest poo poo pile and even so, I really don't want to injure anybody. I guess my point is, gently caress the ref. gently caress that officiating. If my slash deserved a minor, I should have got the drat minor. That check for sure deserved a minor and when I didn't get it I got pissed and when the ref got all pissed back, I got even angrier. That is just...lovely. He's a lovely ref and I hope I never see his rear end in skates ever again.
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Sep 19, 2013 05:14
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Hmm..sounds like you should play on the beer league team I just quit. Hockey is serious business. And if beer league refs don't make sure justice is served then you should definitely take matters into your own hands. Otherwise, women and children will laugh at you, and you will die alone. People will visit your gravesite just to laugh at your lack of manlyhood. edit: Sorry, but bitching about bad refs and retaliation are two of my pet peeves. You want Bill McCreary to ref your game? Go pro. Otherwise consider the non-call the cost of doing business. If the ref is really that bad, then lodge a complaint with the league. waffle enthusiast fucked around with this message at 05:54 on Sep 19, 2013 |
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Sep 19, 2013 05:43
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I see where coldwind is coming from. If you don't get angry about getting boarded in beer league you're some kind of saint and good for you, but most players would prefer the refs call penalties rather than let tempers flare.
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Sep 19, 2013 06:14
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I would tell the official sure, whatever it takes to get blatant boarding called because thats more dangerous than a slash. If you want poo poo changed in your league develop a rapport with the officials, always approach them with a cool head, apologize when you need to and more often then not kill them with kindness. You'll likely feel better at the least if not have your occasional criticism have a little more weight with them.
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Sep 19, 2013 06:47
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I'm with Sellouts. If you think it's a problem just politely ask the ref to "look out for [infraction] I don't want my buddy hurt" or some such. If the ref gives a drat about you (because hopefully you're nice?) then maybe they'll have their eyes on it next time and agree with you. If they don't agree with you? I dunno - part of what makes the game interesting I guess.
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Sep 19, 2013 06:56
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Where did coldwind say he got boarded? In any event, if you feel the ref is calling an unsafe game, then let the league know. Screaming your head off or – worse – retaliating isn't going to make anything better. It's just going to escalate the situation. When was the last time someone got checked/slashed/slew-footed in retaliation for something they did and thought to themselves, "Hurf durf, Ok I guess we're even now." Discretion is the better part of valor, people.
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Sep 19, 2013 18:13
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Board the ref.
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Sep 19, 2013 18:15
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So far in my short season the ref mandate seems to be: - Only call trips and boarding, ignore all stick infractions. - Attempt to call a puck over glass penalty even though we're not in the NHL. - Lots and lots of "abuse of officals" penalties.
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Sep 19, 2013 18:21
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Henrik Zetterberg posted:Board the ref. Isn't the sneaky way to go about it to ring the puck towards a ref? "Sorry about that man I was trying to get it to a teammate who was thirty feet behind you."
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Sep 19, 2013 18:33
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coldwind posted:He has ensured his safety for just a little while longer. hahaha he sure did!
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Sep 19, 2013 18:59
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