Hockey Equipment. Sticks and Skates
Sep 30 '01
The Bottom Line A great sport.
Here I hope to provide you with an insight into one of my favourite sports, Ice hockey.
In the game you need to wear much protective padding and equipment.
Here is a guide to the equipment I own, have tried or have used at some point in my life. The info has been compiled at several times over the past 2 years.
SKATES.
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***EASTON***
***Before I start, If you want to see one of the best FLASH websites around visit www.easton.ws
It is by far the best website I have seen using this tool....***
Anyway, on with the skates....
My GRAF Skates have finally lost out to a newcomer to the skate market.
Easton.
Easton used to make skates many moons ago but drifted away and into Sticks only.
Now they are back with other items of kit and the skates are superb.
Ive gone for the Z-Air Skates which I will review here.
Look.
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Wow! They look fantastic! Modern skates seem to have skipped away from the hard black nylon coated design into this shiny grey plastic coated stuff. Its meant to be more scuff resistant and it seems to work. The old Nylon design seems to scar easily.
They are mainly Silver and Black with the Hard coat toes for protecting your tootsies and a grey/silver Composite nylon/kevlar side panel. If you do take a knock from a blade, it should just brush off and carry on.
Blades.
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Good old stainless steel is the way to go here. The Titanium idea for holding the grind longer seems to have gone from the market and hard steel has come back.
The carrier for the blades is based largely on the TUUK layout for those of you that used to wear Bauer skates. Not the ugly ICM blades that came on other brands.
They may not be TUUK's but they sure look like them.
Whats better than TUUK's is that you can tighten these blades from outside of the carriers. There are tightening screws at the side of the blades. Handy if you need to replace a broken blade and saves having the whole carrier drilled off the boot. I know, I have had this done when I cracked a blade stopping a puck. Expensive if it needs doing.
They call their new blade "Parabolic Razor Bladz"
They are apparently lighter faster and stronger and allow the steel to arc during turns. Sounds more like flexible blades rather than stronger ones!
Tongue.
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They sey its "Anatomically designed" which basically means it follows the shape of your shin. Rather than sitting in the middle, it almost wraps around your leg. This does help with skating at the old tongues used to fall to the side and lose you precious speed.
Its very thickly padded too so its nice and comfy.
Footbed.
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Hmmmm....Not convinced yet. I used to own a pair of Micron 10-90's (ahhh, remember them?) in 1991 and they were possibly the best skates I ever owned. Most comfy and most sensible in skatig angle. They made you stand on your toes and lean forward whereas Bauer skates sit you on your heels.
These are somewhere between the 2 and take some getting used to. Not really described as a Forward's skate or a defenceman's either.
Its all in the angle of the footbed. Sure its comfy but the angle it puts me at? It needs some getting used to.
Support and comfort.
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It is a very comfortable boot. "Break-in" time (the time it takes the boot to mold to your foot) is almost nil. Thats because it uses Thermo fit Gel in the ankles. You pop them in the Skate Oven at your local Skate shop and they heat them up. You pop them on and the stuff sets around your ankle.
Cool.
There are Air foam Latex ankle pads too (whatever they do). It makes up the entire fitting system that they call I-deal.
If you dont want months breaking in your skates with blisters and bruises, Easton are a good choice.
Extras.
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Ive never heard of drainage in a pair of skates before but these claim to have it.
Skates get full of water when you have been on the ice all day or played a few times a week. You need to dry them out in the airing cupboard if you want to get them ready for the next session.
These skates claim that the "Dry Flow" system expells excess moisture and heat form the skate keeping it lighter. Only time will tell.
Overall Performance.
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I must admit, it is a great skate to wear. I expect more of the pros to start using these because they are comfortable, provide unrivalled support and are very VERY light to wear.
The blades seem very good and look very nice, as does the entire boot.
The only bad thing is the footbed but that is personal preference.
The main drawback that affects all skates in the UK is the Price. Imported from Canada, expect to pay somewhere in the region of £350-£400 for these skates.
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***MICRON***
Did anyone have a pair of Micron Mega 10-90's??? They were the best boots I ever owned along side my Daoust!
They were a top end boot that was extremely comfortable. The inside of the boot was soft cow leather that had memory fit pads on the inside that "memorised" the shape of your foot so it fitted snugly every time you wore it. This took some time to bed in so they felt a bit alien for a while. Never lend your skates out or they used to come back unmolded inside as they had "memorised" someone elses feet!
They had TUUK blades which were cool looking and also the best around. They also had a power clip on the out side that was meant to give you extra power when skating. Personally I think this was a gimic!
It was a shame when they stopped making these as they were the best skates around. My friend Glen still has a pair and still skates on them despite being 10 years old.
Simply the best!
No one knows what happened to Micron but I expect they were bought out by Bauer or CCM.
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***BAUER***
Bauer. A great Canadian tradition. What else can be said about them? Well quite a lot actually as I have had eactly 12 pairs of skates now and I have had 4 pairs of Bauers.
My first pair of Skates were Bauers.Perhaps i should elaborate on the numbering system on Bauer Skates. The higher the number, The better the Skate is. i.e. 7000 are the top skate and 25 are the most budget of budget! In fact, its just a coincidence but My first pair of skates were named the same as my present hockey team, Bauer Charger! (hence, the name!)
Bauer Charger were a entry level skate. Their designation was Bauer 35 I think. They were a black Nylon cloth boot with a plastic back. Not very supportive to the ankle either which is very important.
I had another pair in between but my next Bauers were Bauer 100 Supremes. These had better support but were not in the same league as the top level skates.
My next boots jumped me up to the top level skate of the time, the Bauer 3000.
This had excellent support and seemed very rigid. It was a Nylon cloth boot again and had a set of TUUK blades which are the market leaders in blades.
I found them a bit to narrow which seems to be Bauers downfall. They suit people with Narrow feet.
The top of the range skates nowaday in the Bauer range are split into two types.
The Standard range top skate is made from Graphite Composite and has the designation Bauer 7000. It is lightweight but very strong. It is actually heated in an oven to help "Mold" it to your ankle shape as the heat makes it supple for your foot. This can only be done on a few models so dont go trying it on yout Bauer Tubos guys!!!
The other Range are called Vapors. The Vapor 10 are the top range boot here. I had the next one down which was Vapor 4 for 6 months this year before the eyes popped out of them. They were also the most uncomfortable boots I have ever worn and I have worn a few!!!
If you have average to wide feet, steer well clear of Vapors and even think twice about any of the bauer range. The Vapors are also a very ugly 2 tone boot.
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***DAOUST***
501 is synonymous with skates as well as Levis jeans!!! The Daoust 501 has got to be the best performance skate of all time and It rivals my old Micron 10-90s. I owned a pair ofd Daoust for about a year before lending them out and never getting them back. Truly a travesty of justice!
501 were comfortable, strong and extremely agile despite being quite heavy. They had Titanium TUUK blades which were meant to hold the edges of skate grinds when they were sharpened, longer. I dont know if they did as I was forever getting mine done.
The only problem I had with these were the outside supports went on both boots. This made them weaker around the ankles and I even manage to sprain my ankle in them in the end. What I do remember about them was that they had extremely big padded tongues in them. Quite comfy.
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***GRAF***
I have just bought a pair of Graf 709's on recommendation from a teammate. They sure do look the biz!!!!
I bought a pair of Vapors about a year ago and they crippled me by being extremely uncomfortable.
With all of my moaning about them, a teammate and good friend recoomended his boots to me. He said that they were extremely light easy to skate in and the "break in" time was "non existant". He said He just got in them and skated!
Trusting him and needing a new pair, i bought my 709's and man, am I pleased!!!
What is different about them is that they have varying levelys of support for you depending on what stage of break in you are at. For a new pair, you want a nice flexible pair that have some give in them. So you simply remove the support from the back and put a less supportive one in. They come with these optional supports so you can change them whenever you want. They were designed like this so recovering professionals could return from injury and do light skating in a softer boot.
Great idea and they sure feel good to me!
£245 is not a bad price for them too!
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***CCM***
I bought my CCM Pump tacks in 1993 and I was still wearing them until a week ago! 7 years on the ice is a record for my skates even if 4 of those were spent off the ice more than on.
CCM are a famous name in Hockey and their skates are great. They made a skate called the Ultra Tack during the 80's which were meant to have an indestructable support as it was made out of a steel bar! Not very practical in todays lightweight sports world.
In 1992 they introduced a boot that rivalled the ultra tack of 10 years before with the CCM REEBOK PUMP TACK. At the time Reebok were making pump trainers that were meant to give you better support and bounce. Well that is exactly what they did in skates. You put the skate on, then pumped the support up around your ankle. It was really comfortable to wear on the ice and gave me many years of pleasure and scored many of my 90 odd career points.
I have just retired them from long service for a pair of Grafs. We shall see if they do as good a job.
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***NIKE***
Nike Jumped two footed into the skate market when they bought Cooper ( a famous kit manufacturer) a few years ago. Now cooper did not make skates but made some excellent kit. So why did Nike think they could suddenly make skates too?
They couldnt and their first sets of skates were heavy, poor quality and of poor construction.
They later released a new line in skates called Ignite which are marginally better but my friends that have them all complain about the weight still. They are a very typical expensive nike trainer. Very brightly coloured ( well, White) and very flamboyant but they dont do a lot.
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STICKS.
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***EASTON***
Now once opon a time, little men skated around frozen ponds with bits of lumber hacked from trees in their hands hitting a little bit of vulcanised rubber around.
Well as time went by and the equipment improved, the bits of lumber hadrly changed. They were given a carbon fibre coating for strength but that was it.
It took an invention from Easton to change it all. Their invention was simple.
What happens when you break the paddle of your stick? You throw it away. What a waste of stick, someone thought. Easton then came up with reuseable stick "shafts" and replaceable "paddles".
Basically the bit of the stick you hold, the shaft, is just a hollow aluminium tube with a wooden paddle in the end. To take the paddles in and out when they break you simply heat the stick, it expands and releases the pressure around the paddle end. Slot in another paddle, wait for it to cool and contract around the paddle and hey presto, you are ready to play again!!!
Nowadays, this technology is used by about 90% of the players.
The all wooden stick is still preferred by some but this idea leads the way!
Its all thanks to Easton. At £60 a shaft and £15 a stick compared to a £40 wooden stick, its not long until it pays for itself.
These stick do bend after a while and come in different flexes for different players. Stiff flex for people wh like a rigid stick for slap shots of Extra Flex for people who want some whip in the stick for Wrist shots.
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***KOHO***
At some stage of your career, you must have owned a Koho stick. They are the ones with the 3 coloured stripes (usually Red) around both ends of your stick and Were called Evolution. They are possibly( along with the Orange Montreal Sticks) the most famous wooden sticks around.
I dont used the wooden sticks anymore but I had one for a couple of shifts in a recent game after my Easton Paddle went CRUNCH!
It was suprising how easy it is to stick handle with these sticks. The passing is much smoother and recieving passes is much softer. It does not go pinging off your paddle the way a Aluminium stick does.
They make a black striped Evolution too that was reinforced with Fibre glass but If I remember rightly its much more expensive.
Not a bad stick for £28.
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***TITAN***
In the days before Aluminium took over as the new way forward for Ice Hockey Sticks, all wooden sticks were what we used to propel the little Rubber disc around the ice at speeds approaching 100 miles an hour.
Now stick come in varying strengths and flexes.
These helps different types of shot in different ways.
For a "Slap shot" type of player, you needed a very stiff stick. This is where Titan were leaders.
For a "Wrist Shot" type of player, you needed a stick with plenty of whip in it. Something like a Koho.
Titan are still a big favourite with the "wooden stick" brigade. In fact, they also make paddles for the aluminium shaft and composite shaft player.
the one big drawback with their sticks are their longevity and ability to withstand the rigours of time.
Sticks are going to break. we all know that but so quickly?
The old Titan sticks used to last a while and them one day, BOOM! they would splinter like you have never seen a stick go.
Now that is quite dangerous on the ice. I think it was because they didnt put enough laminate on the shafts or the wood was too brittle in construction.
With the modern paddles, they pretty much do the same thing.
whereas the competition tend to "blade break", which is when a paddle snaps in half or cracks, the titan paddles snap off clean at the end of the shafts.
This makes changing the paddles very difficult as you have no leverage getting the old stub out.
Saying this, it may be something to do with the distance they travel from Canada. A lot of canadian players swear by Titan paddles, preferring them to Easton or Louisville.
Maybe they dry out in transit on the planes in the freezing cargo holds and this makes them brittle. I dont know.
All I know is that you are wasting your money on Titan if you want a long lasting stick.
They are very stiff though for a booming shot.
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I will add to this as I write more about the different products related to Ice Hockey.
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andycharger
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Location: Chelmsford, Essex, UK
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