Back in November 2011, Easton made a huge stride in game-changing engineering for their skate department with the purchase of MLX Skate Technology. The MLX skates have been around for a while now, and we’ve seen many pro’s use their innovative design that targets the optimum skating stride. MLX founder Dave Cruikshank with his 16 years of speed-skating experience and research was brought on board with Easton as the Chief of Speed in the newly created Easton Speed Institute. The Speed Institute was designed to develop a new approach on making skates that optimize speed and to create the ideal “skater’s skate” like never before.  In 2013, we’ll be seeing the first-born baby of the Easton Speed Institute, it’s name, the Easton Mako skate. It’s purpose, to provide a player with the optimal skating stride utilizing strategies seen in speed-skating for over two decades.

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Alkali plans to start October off strong with the launch of the RPD line early in the month. We were able to take a close look at the new gear as well as play with some of it, so here’s the inside scoop on the RPD stick and skates in the lineup.

Let’s start with the skates this year: the top of the line CA9 RPD. While it shares similar features to the 2011 CA9 skate, Alkali made some impressive technological improvements. The main focus of the improvement are the carbon fiber fully reinforced heel & tendon pieces.

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Here we go again with another sad day for hockey fans. The 2012 NHL lockout has sure been unfortunate for players and fans alike with limited information as to if or when the season will start.  It’s been 8 years since the last 2004-05 NHL lockouts that canceled all of the games for the season and forced the NHL All Star game to be played in non-Winter Olympic years. Other recent lockouts happened during the 1992 NHL strike postponing 30 games and the 1994-95 NHL lockout with canceled a lot of the games shortening the season to 48 games without inter-conference games.

AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Darryl Dyck

Why is this happening? Well, the short answer is of course money. With many of the teams in the NHL lacking in finances and many others just breaking even, a majority of the revenues comes from the top ten franchises. The collective bargaining of five items that need resolution before the season starts are: Player’s Share, Salary cap “Floor”, Guaranteed Contract, Escrow Payment, and Revenue Sharing.

During the 2005 NHL lockout negotiations a salary cap was established ensuring a salary cap floor. A percentage of the NHL revenues were agreed upon and the player’s share began at 54% in 2005. As leagues revenues increased over the years the percentage has now reached an all time high for the 2010-11 season at 57%. The NHL feels that player’s share is too high and compared to other professional sporting franchises the percentage is high. Read more…

Hey what’s up guys, this is your newest web editor at Inline and Ice Warehouse Chase. I took a trip to Easton Headquarters last Friday to get an inside look at the RS II stick line. Upon arriving, I got to see first hand that the Easton staff literally eat, sleep and breathe hockey; I was honestly a little jealous but I can’t complain one bit working here at IW. Product Manager Mike Mountain ran me through the ins-n-outs of the RS II stick line, dissecting each and every piece of their design. His expertise and comprehensive knowledge made for a far more than an eye-opening experience.

Since I first started playing the great game of hockey, I have always used an Easton shaft or stick.  From the Ultra Lite Shaft, the Z-Bubble shaft, the first generation Synergy one-piece, the first generation Stealth one-piece, the S19 one-piece to today’s Mako one-piece; Easton has been held by my gloves for the 10+ years I’ve been playing. Read more…

Lets talk goalie equipment for a second… With so many companies and options to choose from it can literally make your head spin! I sometimes get the question, who is the best? Well, figuring out who produces the best goalie gear is like asking the question what fruit tastes better, apples or oranges. Finding the right goalie gear for myself comes down to fit, and that comes with years of experience playing the game. I’m guessing goalies will never come to an agreement on which company is the best, but at least we can figure out who is producing the most popular equipment in the NHL. After all these are the professionals and following in there footsteps is not a bad idea.

Source: Patrick McDermott/Getty Images North America

Goalie masks protect one of the most important parts of our body, our head! Goalie masks have come a long ways since first worn by Jacques Plante in 1959. Today, Bauer is the leading company protecting over half of the NHL goalies, 51 to be exact. Bauer’s most popular model is the Bauer Pro 961 goalie mask and is worn by such goalies as Henrik Lundqvist, and Miikka Kiprusoff.

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