** NHL & Ice Hockey Discussion **

[rjk]

I'm about to drop some serious cash when Bauer release the roller hockey version of their 1x skates. Only justified by the frequency that I play. My Ice skates are some second hand cheapo jobbies I got off eBay.

I started off playing inline again with about £400 worth of kit
From there I have added bits of kit intended for ice. It can be do e cheaper if you're on a budget. I was lucky as a kid as my dad lives in the states so gear was much cheaper over there. Wouldn't like to pay for a kid to play though. Forever growing out of kit...

Now I get most of my stuff from hockeymonkey as its loads cheaper than UK stores.

It's not the cheapest sport to play. Especially when you factor in breakables like sticks, travel and rink time.

 

[Banzai_Joe]

Yeah, my lads most expensive skates to date were £520 (ccm midnight). His sticks are around £200. He hardly ever breaks a stick. could be the quality...or just luck. ☺
I've seen the result of taking a slapshot on the ankle whilst wearing cheap skates.
Yeoowwzers! Nasty.

 

[dr_volki]

it's not the cheapest sport. but you certainly don't need to buy the most expensive stuff either, unless you play in the pros.
talking sticks I need to buy a new one, mine snapped in training the other night

 

[Banzai_Joe]

yeah, i guess its like most other sports where the better a player is the more they can appreciate the difference between the qualities of kit.
I think hockey players, possibly above most other sports have such tactile feedback from their gloves, stick and skates down to the minute differences that they'll know if something isn't right, especially if the grind on their skates is ever so slightly different to what they're used to.
As for sticks, due to massive sponsorship deals a lot of the NHLers have a room full of $100 sticks that are ultralight and have amazing flex levels, but are designed to only last a couple of games. They're built to score goals, not withstand shots. Crazy!

 

[dr_volki]

yep I know. only piece of kit I wouldn't be cheap on is skates. but even then depending on the level you play you won't need £500 skates

but yes sticks aren't built to last. most sticks for NHLers last for a couple of periods


and here I am crying about my £70 stick that was a year old that snapped

 

[rjk]

I know I don't need £500+ skates. I like playing hockey and for once I want to own some top of the range skates. I have no other justification than that really.

I think you can get away with cheap everything but there is a huge difference in a £50 stick and a £200 stick. I started back with a cheapo Nexus which was ok. I recently got the new 1x stick and the difference is night and day. accuracy, release, puck feel. its hard to quantify until you use both back to back. I occasionally take my cheap nexus sticks out for a shift and my shooting is very inconsistent.

my only advice would be to avoid buying sticks from anyone but a main dealer as I got stung with a counterfeit 1x originally. Felt fine for a few sessions and it was really light and whippy as described above but snapped very quickly. I emailed Bauer who confirmed it wasn't legit. Got the money back through paypal but wouldn't risk another ebay deal on a stick again.



also...

 

[dr_volki]

I know I don't need £500+ skates. I like playing hockey and for once I want to own some top of the range skates. I have no other justification than that really.

I think you can get away with cheap everything but there is a huge difference in a £50 stick and a £200 stick. I started back with a cheapo Nexus which was ok. I recently got the new 1x stick and the difference is night and day. accuracy, release, puck feel. its hard to quantify until you use both back to back. I occasionally take my cheap nexus sticks out for a shift and my shooting is very inconsistent.

my only advice would be to avoid buying sticks from anyone but a main dealer as I got stung with a counterfeit 1x originally. Felt fine for a few sessions and it was really light and whippy as described above but snapped very quickly. I emailed Bauer who confirmed it wasn't legit. Got the money back through paypal but wouldn't risk another ebay deal on a stick again.



also...

how good is your skating? top of the range skates come with a lot stiffer boot than others. saying that I always wanted the mako skates (but the mrs would kill me if I buy them)
don't get inconsistencies with my shooting but I don't know never had a £200 stick. always used the same type of stick and curve. luckily demon extreme have a sale by the looks of it.
my old stick was V1E I think might get this one instead
https://demonxtreme.com/product.php/11091/easton-v3-one-piece-roller-ice-hockey-stick

 

[Banzai_Joe]

Laddo uses the Total series of sticks; TotalOne and TotalSupreme. Tends to use a 87 flex on a backstrom curve iirc. He also has a 105 flex supreme which we got for £100 instead of £240, but its never even touched the ice in 2 seasons.

Waiting for him to become a proper man before using that!

 

[rjk]

how good is your skating? top of the range skates come with a lot stiffer boot than others.

Its perhaps the strongest part of my game if I am being honest. My current skates are quite stiff already [Mission AC4 *fit like a Bauer Supreme] but the fit isnt great and there is a lot of empty space around my foot in the boot which isn't there in my vapour ice skates.

I have had a lot of success with www.monkeysports.uk recently. got my ice shorts from there for £45. They were £80 in puckstop.
Their delivery times are decent and their stick prices are loads cheaper than in the UK. everywhere seems to have an easton sale on at the moment so youre probably in luck.

Laddo uses the Total series of sticks; TotalOne and TotalSupreme. Tends to use a 87 flex on a backstrom curve iirc. He also has a 105 flex supreme which we got for £100 instead of £240, but its never even touched the ice in 2 seasons.

bloody hell, I'm 6ft and 85kg and I use an 87 flex, I dont think id be able to flex a 105.

Tried an 87 flex Supreme MX3 and the blade felt very soft and the stick didnt load up how I wanted it to. I think the low kick point sticks suit my shots much better than these mid kickpont sticks. I used to use an Easton 'Z Bubble' when I was a kid so that is probably where the low kickpoint preference comes from.

 

[Ev0]

I'm a bugger for looking at new kit all the time, been a lot better the last few years but used to always be looking at sticks, skates (inline) and gloves. Thankfully didn't always buy so in the last 7 or so years since I started back up again have only had 2 pairs of skates.

Took a 12 year break and decided to start up again so went to the hockey monkey store whilst on honeymoon and just bought a kit bag and filled it.

Need some new wheels at the moment and so tempted to just get a new pair . I've never got on with the fit of them (Alkali CA9), had them 3 years and tempted by the Missions based on the Bauer Supreme boot. Picked up some Supremes cheap for ice whilst in the U.S. last year and the fit feels so comfy. The Alkali have a funny shape on the footbed which I keep meaning to attack with the heat gun to see if I can mould it out, but some days it just makes my feet feel like they are on fire.

Helmet is the other thing I don't like cheating out on, my old Vector 10 lasted me a good while until some of the helmet fixings just corroded away so that was a good excuse for a new one

Other than that and a couple of pairs of gloves still using all the kit I bought 7 years ago.

Except sticks of course, ended up with a little collection of those, and a few broken ones I don't have the heart to throw away. Wish I'd bought more TPS R8 sticks when they were getting rid of them all, best stick I ever used

Got another hockey trip to DC coming up in a couple of months, started to become a frequent habit now as my wife is equally obsessed with watching it.

 

[Banzai_Joe]

Well, bugger!
My lad decides to tell me last night that he needs new gloves......and cage.
He'll be 18 in January so he needs a visor as well. He has to use a cage when playing for u18s, but a visor when playing for u20s and ENL.
Doubt i'll get much change from £200.

 

[rjk]

Need some new wheels at the moment and so tempted to just get a new pair

Labeda addictions. they are expensive but they are easily the best I have used. When you are in the states, grab some of the Addiction signatures if you can. they are slightly grippier. cant get them over here.

Well, bugger!
My lad decides to tell me last night that he needs new gloves......and cage.
He'll be 18 in January so he needs a visor as well. He has to use a cage when playing for u18s, but a visor when playing for u20s and ENL.
Doubt i'll get much change from £200.

hockeymonkey is your friend.

bauer HDO visor is £73 on puckstop. £43 on hockeymonkey.
cheapest bauer cage on puckstop is £32. £23 on hockeymonkey.

The Supreme gloves I am eyeing up are £170 on puckstop. £120 on hockeymonkey.

The price differences are laughable really. Puckstop don't even try to be competitive as they dont have a direct competitor in the UK so they just try and make fat margin.

That said, I will probably pick up my skates from there as I want to try a few pairs on to get the best fit and their range is huge.

 

[Banzai_Joe]

Used to use Puckstop as my lad played in sheffield for 3 seasons. They are cheaqper than Nottingham Ice Locker, but we get 10% discount for being a team member.
My lad got almost a full set of kit including bauer nighlight skates from hockeymonkey. When he got to New York, all the kit was waiting in his apartment. Now that is quality service. His nighlights cost around $230. They were £530 in Ice Locker!!!

What's the shipping costs and timescales on hockeymonkey usually like?

edit: laddo just rang me. Hanging his nose over the new Bauer MX3's at £170. But he'll get ENL team discount of i believe 15% plus vat off (so i've been told).

 

[rjk]

What's the shipping costs and timescales on hockeymonkey usually like?

every time I have ordered from them I have had it via UPS so decent tracking and about £10 for a huge parcel. arrives in about 5 working days.

 

[Banzai_Joe]

every time I have ordered from them I have had it via UPS so decent tracking and about £10 for a huge parcel. arrives in about 5 working days.

That's pretty good going. I guess only issue is if something goes wrong.

Well laddo does get cost, plus 15% discount plus VAT knocked off too. Which to be fair is a huge saving.

edit: £200 (£170 elsewhere though) gloves, got them for £132. Not bad

 

[xGBHxPegasus]

(Technically games/Hockey)

Anyone get NHL 16? Fancy a few 6v6 games and 1v1 but rather play as some OCUK guys than randoms

 

[byeo]

Ron's a great guy and a great coach. My lad played with his lad in conference when Ron was coach. He enjoyed it so much that we moved him to Sheffield for 3 seasons. Only came back to Nottingham cos it would have been too expensive to go to Sheff 3 times a week.
Whilst always a panthers fan, Plommer was a legend too, great player and ambassador for the sport.
Even now my lad supports Steelers over Panthers.

Good lad Plommer was a right pain in the arse for opposition players, constantly winding them up/scrapping with them.

 

[Banzai_Joe]

He was like Rick Brebant!
That guy could play....and fight too.

 

[rjk]

NHL 16 game thread in the console section. I'm ps4 and rjkoneill if anyone wants to add me.

I want to try and make a few Manchester storm/ notts panthers games this year. Anyone been to watch the storm yet?

Looking forward to October, the info coming out of a lot of training camps so far looks very interesting. Especially from the teams who have had shakeups on the rosters this off season.

 

[Ev0]

Labeda addictions. they are expensive but they are easily the best I have used. When you are in the states, grab some of the Addiction signatures if you can. they are slightly grippier. cant get them over here

The Alkali's came with them, haven't decided what to get yet next though