Tales from the beer league part 2

So we had our Puck Norris academy on Friday night which was a good skate. Got a few apples and a goal to end the night. Good to see the crew after the holidays. After I cleaned up and headed out the door though it dawned on me as I was in my flip flops that it was really freaking cold. So cold in fact that my hair froze in the 30-45 seconds it took to walk to my car and toss my back in. Chicago winters man

Last night we had a league game and it was a pretty good show. All of us were skating hard and working the other team pretty well, but they had a guy who just wanted to cause trouble. He started coming across the middle and definitely tried to Scott Stevens me on a pass through the slot. Got a lot of my head and I wasn't too happy about it. Refs didn't call anything. Later in the same period though he full on cross checked a linemate in his chest and laid him out flat in the crease. Ref's decided to send em both for roughing on that one. The oaf even had the temerity to argue with the ref on the call, and then the scorekeeper. Fast forward to the second period and he gets undressed by a sneaking in D man and proceeds to drop his stick and just grab him by the head as he's going by. Of course he's mouthing off when the whistle blows trying to get a retaliation and the Ref starts yelling at him that he's done. So finally the guy gets off the ice and the ref comes to the scorekeeper and says #40 GFO! So we're all confused that there's not even a PP but at least the jackwagon is gone. After a few more shifts the ref is over by our bench and I calmly asked him what a GFO is and the ref says "Get the **** Out". Anyway we tied up the game late for a 3-3 tie and it was a good skate otherwise.

Not much to report on my end, I think we have a consolation playoff game this Thursday, then the new season starts in a week or two? I'm trying to get in permanently on a mid-week pick-up game so I can get an extra skate in, I find it really helps with the stamina and what skills I have left.

Lil beedee is still chugging along with her two different hockey programs. We thought her final Ducks one was on this past Sunday, but I guess they have one more? Oh, and I finally was able to get her to wear some Kings socks!!!

Lately I've been on a quest for new skates. So far I've tried the CCM FT485 (regular), got them baked, used them twice, but the pinky-toe area is just bugging. Plus, I think they are a smidge too long. My Bauer Vapor x2.9 Fit 2's arrived on Saturday, the toe cap area is much better, no rubbing or pinching at all! Feels just like my previous Vapor x500's (which I sold over the weekend). However, I'm a little concerned they might be too long also, once baked and broken in. I'm going to try out at Supreme 3s in a Fit 2 as well, Hockey Monkey didn't have them in stock in my size when I went there on Saturday. I also tried on a True TF7, CCM RibCore, CCM SuperTacks, CCMFT485 (in wide)....which was way too wide. True's felt so/so, but I hear they do feel like the until you get them baked. RibCore's weren't too bad, its their "wide" skate, similar to the Nexus. The SuperTacks felt pretty good, no toe cap rubbing at all, a nice and snug all around fit, wider than the CCM FT485. I imagine the Supreme 3s will fit similar to the SuperTacks. CCM has a 90 guarantee trial period, Bauer doesn't, however Pure Hockey says you can try Bauer for up to 30 days and return if they don't work for you. Hoping to make a decision this evening, as I'm really tired of the search (and driving to Pure Hockey).

Missed a few games past couple of weeks. But my team made it to finals. 13-1.

Im gonna be gassed but playing D has been fun and its forcing me to skate better. Might skip a season and work on my skating as i want to keep playing D!

Beedee update us when you find some good skates. Im in the market for some skates as well currently have CCMs and they fit good had to size down 2 sizes.

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Originally Posted by xLAxKingsx

Missed a few games past couple of weeks. But my team made it to finals. 13-1.

Im gonna be gassed but playing D has been fun :yourock: and its forcing me to skate better. Might skip a season and work on my skating as i want to keep playing D! :8smile:

Beedee update us when you find some good skates. Im in the market for some skates as well currently have CCMs and they fit good had to size down 2 sizes. FWIW, my street shoe is a 9, I wear a 7 in Bauer and CCM.

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I skated pick-up at Lakewood on Sunday afternoon. The game was nuts, as there were some kids from the Long Beach State hockey team playing, and we only had 6 skaters per side, so we went 4 v 4 in order to have two subs! Those kids were flying, and then toned it down a bit to give us old fogey's a chance! I wore my brand new last years model Bauer Vapor x2.9's. They felt great, no pain at all. This may sound silly, but Im kind of bummed they fit so good because I wanted to try something else...these are basically my old Vapors, but 4 model years newer. Which isn't a bad thing, but I still may try the CCM SUPERTACKS 9380's, they felt pretty good in the store, and would break-in nicely I imagine. BUTTTT, they are $120 more than the x2.9's (which fit fine).

I'm on the fence again if I want to commit to a full season. I subbed with these guys for the last 4 games of the season and while its fun because my buddy plays left wing, a couple of the D that I play with bug. One is always complaining about everyone else's play, but never his own. And the other D thinks he is better than he is, and is constantly turning the puck over in the neutral zone when he tries to get too fancy. Just dump the damn puck, or pass it. And then he also gripes about people taking long ass shifts and says he is going to take the next guy off the ice, when in fact it would be me whom is next up. Oh yeah, the last three games the goalie hasn't shown up and its been a scramble trying to recruit one from a previous game that is going on the other sheet of ice, or our sheet 10 minutes before our game! #annoyingAF

I have found a couple of private midweek, recurring pick-up games that I am now in the inner-circle of! I might just stick to those and subbing. Less stressful if I have to miss a game since I'm not committed and paying up front (like a full season), and less drama. One of the games actually implements the buzzer at the two-minute mark for line changes. Both are $25 a pop, 90 minute sessions, v.s. $35'ish a pop for league play, plus the priceless drama and never knowing if your goalie is going to show.

Lil Beedee allegedly had her last Hockey Initiation 2 session on Sunday, but when I login to the DASH account, it shows they have one more this Sunday. #shrug The lack of consistent communication has been driving us nuts. Plus, her session last night was cancelled, but we didn't know because the coach didn't communicate to us that he was coaching a tourney for his 10u team...glad we checked the rink schedule to make sure it was or wasn't on due to the holiday!

And, Mrs. Beedee had her first ever playoff game last night. They are the #4 seed (a team of true rookies), played the #1 seed (team with sandbaggers) and were down 2-0 until the third period where they scored 3 unanswered goals and won! So happy for her and her team, even better since the other team had some sandbagging clowns on it!

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Originally Posted by beedee

I skated pick-up at Lakewood on Sunday afternoon. The game was nuts, as there were some kids from the Long Beach State hockey team playing, and we only had 6 skaters per side, so we went 4 v 4 in order to have two subs! Those kids were flying, and then toned it down a bit to give us old fogey's a chance! I wore my brand new last years model Bauer Vapor x2.9's. They felt great, no pain at all. This may sound silly, but Im kind of bummed they fit so good because I wanted to try something else...these are basically my old Vapors, but 4 model years newer. Which isn't a bad thing, but I still may try the CCM SUPERTACKS 9380's, they felt pretty good in the store, and would break-in nicely I imagine. BUTTTT, they are $120 more than the x2.9's (which fit fine).

I'm on the fence again if I want to commit to a full season. I subbed with these guys for the last 4 games of the season and while its fun because my buddy plays left wing, a couple of the D that I play with bug. One is always complaining about everyone else's play, but never his own. And the other D thinks he is better than he is, and is constantly turning the puck over in the neutral zone when he tries to get too fancy. Just dump the damn puck, or pass it. And then he also gripes about people taking long ass shifts and says he is going to take the next guy off the ice, when in fact it would be me whom is next up. Oh yeah, the last three games the goalie hasn't shown up and its been a scramble trying to recruit one from a previous game that is going on the other sheet of ice, or our sheet 10 minutes before our game! #annoyingAF

I have found a couple of private midweek, recurring pick-up games that I am now in the inner-circle of! I might just stick to those and subbing. Less stressful if I have to miss a game since I'm not committed and paying up front (like a full season), and less drama. One of the games actually implements the buzzer at the two-minute mark for line changes. Both are $25 a pop, 90 minute sessions, v.s. $35'ish a pop for league play, plus the priceless drama and never knowing if your goalie is going to show.

Lil Beedee allegedly had her last Hockey Initiation 2 session on Sunday, but when I login to the DASH account, it shows they have one more this Sunday. #shrug The lack of consistent communication has been driving us nuts. Plus, her session last night was cancelled, but we didn't know because the coach didn't communicate to us that he was coaching a tourney for his 10u team...glad we checked the rink schedule to make sure it was or wasn't on due to the holiday!

And, Mrs. Beedee had her first ever playoff game last night. They are the #4 seed (a team of true rookies), played the #1 seed (team with sandbaggers) and were down 2-0 until the third period where they scored 3 unanswered goals and won! So happy for her and her team, even better since the other team had some sandbagging clowns on it!

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Thats awesome to hear the Mrs heading to final! Wish her the best of luck on getting the W and chip!

Your experience with pick up game being loaded is what scares me away from going to them. I had 1 pick up game years ago and this was before I could even skate and i felt intimidated to play and kept passing up getting ice time. Only time i had a decent time with pick up was playing with the group here that use to play every once in awhile. Everyone was super helpful and let you play the puck.

I wish they had those vapors in my size! Is there really any upgrade from mid grade skates to top? Is there any advantage or is it really only worth it once you're a better skater?

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Originally Posted by xLAxKingsx

Thats awesome to hear the Mrs heading to final! Wish her the best of luck on getting the W and chip!

Your experience with pick up game being loaded is what scares me away from going to them. I had 1 pick up game years ago and this was before I could even skate and i felt intimidated to play and kept passing up getting ice time. Only time i had a decent time with pick up was playing with the group here that use to play every once in awhile. Everyone was super helpful and let you play the puck.

I wish they had those vapors in my size! Is there really any upgrade from mid grade skates to top? Is there any advantage or is it really only worth it once you're a better skater?

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I understand your concerns with playing pick-up. You really never know what you are going to get. This one had a bit of everything, a couple of rookie/tin looking players, then some more solid intermediate guys, then a couple really good guys in their 30's-50's that seemed to never tire, and the Long Beach State kids. Everyone kind of feels the room out and gives people a chance to carry the puck and make plays. Its not like the college guys were stick-checking the rookie/tin guys and taking the puck. If anything, it will kind of help your game to a degree playing with better players. My main issue was skating non-stop for almost 1.5 hours due to only having two subs. :rip_1:

Mid-grade to top level skates. Well, the top level will be stiffer, have better materials, overall the skates will be lighter too and that's about it. The top level skates won't break down as fast due to being stiffer, and the better steel holds edges longer, and glides better. All of which I'm sure I'd benefit from if I skated 4 times a week. Also, with Bauer, at the mid-intermediate level skate you are able to get a skate with their Fit System (which I'm sure you've heard of). CCM also has a three-fit system, but based off my recent research, the price point in which those are available are over the $400 mark. The CCM SUPERTACKS 9380 are only available in D and EE (regular and wide), same with the CCM JETSPEED FT485, and those retail for $359 and $379. With the Bauer, you can get into a Fit System skate with starting with the Supreme 3s ($359). Another brand to consider is True. True makes a great skate for $329, their TF7. Their TF9 is the next model up, $599. Hockey Monkey has them, Pure Hockey doesn't. They fit/size a bit weird, and you would probably have to go 2.5 sizes down from your street shoe. But most people say they are amazing once baked. I tried them on and they fit a bit wide in the forefoot area for me, and that was their "regular/d" fit.

Some people like to have the best, but I don't. I've never been one to get top of the line stuff in life, I always would find myself getting the mid-level option. Try on as many as you can in your price point, drive yourself crazy like I did trying to make a decision. Its hard to put brand biased aside, but out of all the skates I tried (lost track of how many), the Vapor x2.9 just felt the best. I guess if the Vapor aint broke (for me), don't fix it. :26smile:

We had our first game of the season last night, and in typical fashion as I pointed out above, our goalie was a no-show. :47smile: After a few phone calls, we weren't able to find a goalie to play on 20 minutes notice, so we skated with 6 skaters. Bless our Captains heart, he is pushing 60 years old and volunteered to be the slot/net minder skater. This was my former team we were up against, and really there was only one player to really watch, and he was douchin' it up, shooting from the red line and blue line right off the bat. One shot got away from him (so he says) and plugged our C in the gut. We were pissed and chirped the guy all night long. It was 3-1 them after the first period. But in the second period things started coming together for us, we had a TON of offense and I received a pass across the blue line from my D partner to which I one-timed (and really got a hold of it) a clapper past the tendie, just inside the glove side post. wavey: It was 6-3 at the end of the second, but we were firing on all cylinders and were getting a ton of shots from everywhere! Third period was more of the same, they were actually trying to be more cool about not shooting from outside and making passes to get the puck in the net from the slot area, which was cool. I had a couple end to end rushes that felt really good as I shoulder-faked a couple of their forecheckers in our end and the neutral zone, goalie made a great save on a high blocker writer I let fly from the high-slot on my of my rushes. We still had a lot of chances in the third but couldn't bury rebounds. And their douchey player scored one more goal on a shot from the top of the circles with 8 seconds left in the game. I proceeded to get the puck out of the net and gently tossed it to him and congratulated him on his hat trick....in a friendly manner, we both laughed about it.

The x2.9 skates felt good, finally went back to my old way of lacing them which I don't use the top eyelet. For some reason I was lacing them all the way up the last few times out and it was driving me crazy since I couldn't get the forward flex I was used to. The only bummer is the right blade/holder clicks when I walk. It is super annoying, the left one is fine. I know its not a huge deal, but its enough to make me want to swap them out for another pair...but I'd have to order them online. I want to give the SuperTack 9380 a try anyways, so I'll give those a shot and see how they feel.

Mrs. Beedee has her Championship game this Sunday evening and I think Lil Beedee finally has her last Hockey Initiation 2 class this Sunday as well?

Here is a pic of my new skate(s), don't mind Lil Beedee's art in the background on the front door.
https://i.imgur.com/m3DHaVe.jpg

came for the skates, stayed for the art

Oh hey, those are the skates I got!

I wish I could find a pair of skates that fit out of the box.

So I just finished a public session on some brands new CCM SuperTacks 9380’s. Man, they feel pretty different from the Vapors. I feel like they put me on my heels, felt very flat footed. The foot beds are terrible, completely flat with zero arch support…and I have flat arches. Will try them a few more times but as I have mentioned before, the Vapors just fit like a glove, no thinking about anything regarding them when I wear them. With these SuperTacks I could feel my toes brushing the caps, which some people swear by, but I’ve never liked it. Arches were on fire the first 15 minutes or so and my feet feel a bit fatigued as I write this. And the front of my feet kind of hurt from being so flat-footed.

The good thing is, CCM has a 90 day guarantee, so you can try them and if they don’t work, return them to the place you bought them for a refund. :)