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HawksGoalie33 · Pro Joined: 21 Apr 2008 Posts: 575

You can easily do it.

To confirm your belief, yes, a skate lace pocket has more give to it. If you took a standard nylon cord (the material your webbing is probably made of now) and held it between your hands and tried to stretch it, it wouldnt give much. If you did the same with skate lace, it would have some expansion to it. Same as when a puck hits it, in a skate lace pocket it will cushion the puck and absorb some of the impact.

A basic example of this... if you look at the before picture you can see the pocket depth on the glove (in terms of lace depth) was only 2-2 1/2" and when I pushed against it with the knob of my stick it didnt get much deeper.

Now, with no force against the skate lace it is about the same, but when I push the knob of my stick against the T as I did for the picture you can see the pocket expands to approximately 4-4 1/2".

When I played with it the other night I had a couple solid glove saves and it simply felt like a little tug, just like fishing.

There are two methods you can use.

#1 - Remove the lace from the trap on both sides and start fresh using this video:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-838272920428250802&ei=BNgQS5bMN6G8qgKC4s3zBg&q=goaltendah1#

I would recommend watching it a couple times to make sure you understand the rythme and then go to town. I would also, for knowledge purposes, watch it once either way as it is a very good video.

Using this method you will knot one end of the skate lace before starting and simply pull your lace against the knot fixing the pocket shape and depth as you go.

Note: because I was using skate lace that already has a molded tip on it I didnt need the tool he uses in the video (I used a set of needle nose pliers in a couple of tight spots to pull it through though).

#2 - Untie one end of the nylon cording in your glove and hole-by-hole, loop-by-loop follow behind it with the skate lace.... which is what I did.

I didnt know how much lace I was going to need (or if I was going to do a floating pocket) so I left both ends un-tied and messed with the depth as I went. The draw back to this is that you may get to points where you havent pulled enough lacing through the first time and need to go back hole-by-hole, loop-by-loop and feed more through to keep everything neat, which can be a pain.

Doing this is a little tricky. I was watching a game while I did it and almost lost my place a couple times from looking up to watch a play. It wouldnt be the end of the world since you would just un-do what you did and revert back to method #1.

The one thing to pay attention for in either method is where the current lacing starts and ends. The original lacing from my glove ran from the webbing down inside the thumb (which I could not access) and I believe ran into the outer binding of the thumb. I simply made sure to leave enough slack to knot this loose end off so the glove wouldnt come un-done if this was indeed how it was laced, and then knotted the new webbing at the same point. I highlighted the area Im talking about so you can see what I mean.

Before you knot off the lace all together to finish it off play with it a little to make sure it has enough give (remembering it will loosen up as pucks hit it over time, you dont want there to be gaps between the skate lace and the T itself).

Once you've knotted the lacing off at both ends leave about 1/4" or so of lace and cut the rest off. Then take a lighter to the 1/4" left over and the knot itself and melt the knot so it stays together.

All together it took me maybe an hour from start to finish, and thats with taking time to make it a floating pocket and playing around some.

It by far is a job you can do on your own.

Two things just to mention, first, I used un-waxed lace. I dont think it matters that much one way or the other. The webbing I removed was waxed so I guess its your personal preference. Secondly, some skate laces are thinner than others, again, I dont think it makes that much of a difference, but you dont want to get some silly cheapo lace that will easily wear down and fray and then break over time.

Lastly, if you have any other question feel free to PM me. I dont know how much of a help I can be without being in the room but if you have questions I'll do my best to answer them.
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you're only as good as your last save

thrashgoal35 · Squirt Joined: 09 Jan 2010 Posts: 1

personally, i am not a fan of smith pads. i use Bauer X:60s and they r great. i recommend those.

HotIce84 · Peewee Joined: 09 Feb 2010 Posts: 5 Location: Michigan

Hey real quick....I'm coming back to hockey after years off...need an answer, but don't want to devote a whole thread to 1 Q:

ATK is measured how? inside ankle to inside middle of knee, inside ankle to middle of outside(front) of knee? MUCH APPRECIATED!
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HawksGoalie33 · Pro Joined: 21 Apr 2008 Posts: 575

It can vary by manufacturer as evident by the differences in the Vaughn and Simmons sites...

...Vaughn has the measuring going from the middle of the outside of the ankle bone up the calf to the front of the middle of the knee cap...

...Simmons has the measuring going from the middle of the outside of the ankle bone up the side of the calf to the middle of the outside of the knee cap.

You'll notice either way you get the same measurement.

The biggest thing to note is that not all companies ATK is going to be the same. For example, I wear a 34" in Simmons where as I were a 35" pad in Vaughn. For that reason I would find the pad you want and measure for the company. I would also go to a local store and try it on in that size before you buy (even if you plan on buying elsewhere). I went to Total Hockey to try on Vaughns even though I knew I would be buying online.
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you're only as good as your last save

canadian_man_44 · Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2010 11:13 am Post subject:

Returning2MyNet · Minors Joined: 09 Mar 2009 Posts: 365

I would think not, and that he is just biased toward the BAuer name, cause the x60 is basically a copy of the Vaughn
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Gonz · Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2010 12:36 pm Post subject:

Finally, after almost an entire season, got my wife to take some pictures of my new gear.

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montreal961 · Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2010 12:51 am Post subject:

Niice

Up for a review?
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Gonz · Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2010 11:37 am Post subject:

Gonz · Posted: Fri Feb 26, 2010 12:12 pm Post subject:

HotIce84 · Peewee Joined: 09 Feb 2010 Posts: 5 Location: Michigan

I'll throw a couple pics of my new Sentry2 glove & blocker in silver w/black trim....AFTER I complete my mods in a couple days. Sewing awl, here I come...
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Knollie919 · Posted: Sun Mar 14, 2010 10:56 pm Post subject:

figured id start out my posting with a picture of my stuff

montreal961 · Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2010 7:11 pm Post subject:

Nice gear, what size are the pads?
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Knollie919 · Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2010 9:17 pm Post subject:

34+1s

ErsG31 · High School Joined: 07 Sep 2009 Posts: 15