A couple of the guys from the IW crew went to the Let’s Play Hockey convention a couple weeks ago to check out some new equipment and the Revision Variant Plus roller hockey wheels caught their eye.  So let’s take a sneak peek!

Revision has made some great improvements based around the original Variants making the Variant Plus wheel a top performer out on the rink.  Revision used a new and improved urethane on the outside of the wheel making them the fastest wheel on the market without sacrificing any durability.  At the Narch Pro Skills Competition, the fastest skater and runner-up were both flying around on the Revision Variant Plus wheels.  The Variant Plus went forward with the Torus Technology providing you with both maximum grip and speed with the different layers of urethane.  Revision improved the Torus Technology by designing a new and cleaner shape giving you more of a maintained roll and wheel flex control with your stops and cuts.  The inner Torus ring is made out of a higher rebound material than the original Variant wheels giving you even quicker starts, stops, and  turns.

The Revision Variant Plus wheels are the official wheel of the 2012 Narch Pro Champs, Revision Vanquish and the 2012 IIHF World Champs, Canada.  These guys took home the bacon while rolling on this great wheel.  It will not be hard to spot these bad boys either with a very cool, bright, look so keep your eyes open for the Revision Variant Plus roller hockey wheels rolling in very soon.

Hey there everyone, it’s the “sneak peek” season around The Warehouse and that’s just what I have for you today! I’d like to introduce to you the CCM RBZ 60 Stick. This new addition to the RBZ line has some of the same features found on the flagship RBZ stick with a few exceptions.

Like the RBZ, the RBZ 60 will have the completely unique “custom” kick point. This means wherever your lower hand loads the stick, the stick will flex at that point unlike anything else out. The IntelliSense Technology in the Bauer Vapor sticks are the closest thing to this custom kick point, but Bauer only achieved it by predetermining the Vapor sticks to flex near your upper hand instead of a variable kick point like the RBZ’s. This variable kick point makes this stick ideal for any player; from the quick wrist/snap shot style to the more powerful slap shot/one timer style.

As for the shaft, the RBZ 60 has less concave side walls (almost straight) than the original, so it will have a more traditional feel. The graphics are nearly identical, so you get top-notch graphics (and specs) at a great value. At this price point, it might be hard to beat the combination of lightweight feel and solid performance that the RBZ 60 stick has to offer. These bad boys will be ready to ship on November 16^th, so be sure to pre-order ahead of time at Inline or Ice Warehouse so you’re the first one to have it!!

A couple of weeks ago, the IW Crew got the chance to venture out to Palm Springs for the much anticipated unveiling of the new gear that will be released in 2013 at Bauer World. Bauer World is a week long event that gathers the world’s biggest Bauer retailers so that we can get to see and use never seen Bauer gear before it hits the shelves next year. It was also a great learning experience being able to personally interact with the very insightful product managers, picking their brains about the most specific details possible. The most exciting part of the trip was testing out the 2013 products, seeing and feeling the how the new technologies can enhance your performance.

The headlining product for next year is the Bauer Vapor APX2 skate. With an all-new Tuuk Lightspeed Edge holder with a quick “trigger” release and a brand new lacing system, expect this skate to make some noise in the industry. The Tuuk Lightspeed Edge holder is going to add versatility and reassurance to players everywhere with this quick release option. By compressing the trigger and using a wedging tool to pop out the end of the runner, it takes no time at all to do a swap especially compared to the traditional way that can take a player completely out of their game. This quick-release mechanism gives a player peace of mind knowing that if a runner breaks in a game that they won’t miss a shift. The Lightspeed Edge Holder gives the player an option to carry runners sharpened for different ice hardness too, elevating the level of preparedness just that much more. The holder is overall 3mm taller to provide a sharper and tighter turn by preventing the player from “bottoming out” when the boot meets the ice. While 3mm does not sound like much, after skating Easton RS’ and Bauer Supreme ONE100 LE skates a few days prior, the APX2 skate felt like it was the most aggressive skate of the bunch. Extremely tight turns were possible without much effort and leaning cross-overs felt much more gravitationally-assisted than usual. With the gain in distance you can lean one side or the other, it does take a little more distance to recover to a neutral stance but I definitely believe the positive outweighs the negative. The injected stability lacing system is an all new one-piece design that helps to maximize energy return and stability. Unlike the traditional design, this one-piece construction reduces the amount of energy lost providing more power through each and every stride. The one-piece eyelet system is built out of the same material found in the Tuuk holder making it much more durable and stronger than a single-eyelet system.

Earlier in 2012, Bauer made a move to purchase Cascade helmets in order to continue to expand and grow. While Cascade was leading the lacrosse market, their newer hockey department, which includes the M11 helmet, was co-developed by NHL legend and 6 time Stanley Cup winner Mark Messier. Bauer’s acquisition of Cascade brings Mr. Messier on board as well, which will continue to be an exciting journey for both parties. Mark was at Bauer World, hanging out and answering questions like the product managers.  The IW Crew got the chance to shoot some pucks and small talk with him, reminiscing on past times and getting excited for what’s to come.

The first helmets Bauer will release stemming from Cascade will be the IMS 11.0 and the IMS 7.0. These new helmets will have a more streamlined look than the original Cascade helmets with the addition of some of Bauer most popular foams. The IMS 11.0 is essentially Bauer’s spin on the Cascade M11 Pro helmet that uses the adavanced Seven Techonolgy™ along with the addition of Bauer’s Poron XRD™ foam that was seen in the Re-Akt helmets. The IMS 7.0 also incorporates the Seven™ Technology but not the Poron XRD™ foam and doesn’t have as much of a low profile as the IMS 11.0.

That was a quick peek at the 2013 Bauer gear, when it gets closer to their respective launch dates be sure to check back for even more detailed analysis and reviews of all the new gear coming out. Next week look out for more unreleased sneak peeks!

Jonas Hiller. Need I say more? Out of all the helmets in the NHL, I choose Jonas Hiller’s designs because of their simplicity, cleanliness and aesthetics. Let me start out by saying that I am NOT an Anaheim Ducks fan (in fact quite the opposite), but it was his simple matte black mask that first caught my eye back in 2010.

A lot of the goalies‘ masks today seem too busy and leave the viewer reeling and confused about where they’re supposed to look or the meaning behind the design. Hiller’s mask, on the other hand, had a fresh and clean look to it. The gold metal of the cage and screws contrasts the matte black perfectly for questionably my favorite mask of all time.

In November of 2011, Hiller had his mask painted for a noble cause: Movember. If you don’t know what Movember is or what it stands for, shame on you. All kidding aside, Movember is a month long (mustache growing) effort to raise funds and awareness for various men’s health issues including prostate cancer. “I just wanted to do something different,” Hiller said. “I talked to my painter [Alec Voggel] and he said, ‘Yeah, what do you think? We should just do a couple of masks this year. I sent him the whole theme about Movember and guys growing a mustache.” Now when you think of Ducks with mustaches, one name usually pops into mind: George Parros.  But…

Hiller had the ducks team at the time pictured on his helmet with either real mustaches or a photoshopped version of one better than they could actually grow. From this point on, Hiller kept Anaheim and his team on his mind (and his head) when it came to designing future helmets.

One mask lies between the mask that Hiller will wear in the upcoming (hopefully) 2012-2013 season. The 3D Wild Wing mask of the remainder of the 2011-2012 season.

This one is pretty self explanatory. A little busier than we’re used to with Hiller, but still remaining loyal to his team by featuring the Ducks’ mascot Wild Wing in a 3D design.

Ok, now the 2012-2013 mask. It features elements from all of his past helmets and in my opinion will be the sickest looking mask to look for this season. Sticking with the Matte black and metallic golds, Hiller came up with this beauty.

This side of the mask shows Hiller’s love for Anaheim featuring the Ducks’ Home Arena, the Honda Center, and metallic gold Ducks logos with a throwback Mighty Ducks logo.

The other side shows more love for the area with a typical Southern California surfer silhouette and then a shout out to his Swiss home country with the Swiss emblem at the base of the back.

Well this was my two cents about Hiller’s masks but I’d be interested in hearing your argument for another goalie’s mask.

The NHL lockout has left us all with a lot more free time than we would like. No longer the evenings and nights watching the various games or sitting in front of the computer setting the fantasy hockey lineups. Some of us spend their newly acquired time watching lesser sports or living in denial; pretending that EA Sports’ NHL 13 is the NHL season. Others of us though, are spending our extra free time conditioning and training for our own (non-locked out) season. I’d like to share a solid, hockey-specific leg/cardio workout that we did last night. This workout is best done on grass or a track. So don your apparel and head out there.

We begin with a few warm-up laps around the track to get the blood pumping. Following that, make sure to stretch out to ensure that your legs will make it all the way to the end of the work out. After you complete your stretching, set up a beginning marker and an end marker around 50 feet away. Then you run sprints from the beginning marker to the end marker. Run full speed until you reach the end marker and jog back to the beginning marker. Repeat this 10 times and then move the marker back 25 ft. Complete the full speed sprints 8 times and move it back again another 25 ft. Now begin the 100 ft. sprints for 6 repetitions. These sprints are beneficial to hockey specifically because you need to be able to sustain short bursts of speed for 30-45 seconds before going in for a line change.

Once the sprints are completed, move the end marker back to around the 75 ft. mark and hop on one leg to the marker, still jogging back, 7 times. Then switch legs and repeat with the other leg. This exercise works on balance as well as individual leg power and strength.

This next exercise we call hockey jumps because they emulate a players’ skating stride. Here’s how it goes: begin on one foot and jump side to side, moving slowly forward as you jump side to side until you reach the 50 ft marker. This video is an example of just the side to side motion.

Video:

When doing this for distance, move slightly forward with each side to side jump. Also, it helps with balance and launch to kick the leg that’s not on the ground past the leg recently planted into the ground (see picture below) Repeat this 5 times.  

Follow this exercise with frog jumps (squat jumps) to the 50 ft marker again. If done correctly, you should feel this exercise after the first couple jumps. Make sure to go all the way down so that your rear is almost touching your heels. Then surge forward in a jumping motion as far as possible forward and then repeat.

To finish the workout, do a few sets of lunges to both cool down and keep the legs working. I can tell you right now that this set of exercises works well as I can’t really walk correctly right now… But the pain is temporary and increases your game readiness and performance. Good luck in your hockey and exercise endeavors until (and hopefully continuing even) when the lockout ends!