It is too expensive. 300 teams is unbelievable for your league. The league here does a draft, ranking the players between 1-5 in skill level, 5 being the highest. Things are pretty balanced, but still the cost is high. Not to mention the 1k you have to spend on decent equipment. I just had to get new elbow pads, $90 for the supreme 190’s. Absolutely the best elbow pads I ever had, but they cost more than the most expensive Turf shoe for soccer. That moment when you realize Elbow pads literally cost more than all of my Soccer equipment. 
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I’m paying around $180 for 8 weeks of an instructional course/kinda beer league combo. It’s good because you can work on the fundamentals and learn more about how to skate/shoot/play the game while still having fun with a real game later on.
I need new skates and chest pads soon, not looking forward to how much that’s gonna cost…
What are you considering for skates? Skates are something you don’t want to go cheap on, but is inherently frustrating when going cheap means don’t buy something at $200…
I just bought some supreme 180’s and so fat are fantastic. I was between them and the 190’s. However, I didn’t want that “flex tendon guard”. The guy at the shop said they have a ton of returned total ones/190 skates with broken tendon guards. The only other major difference was the steel, which is redundant as they can be changed out with the trigger design.
I’m really not sure. I’m basically just looking to upgrade from the hand-me-downs from my cousin that are too big and very very old. I don’t need anything ridiculously good, I’ll probably buy used. I certainly don’t want to drop $200 on skates…
That is going to be difficult. I got my 180s for $400 with taxes. There are two more expensive models above them. They were the best overall price point.
I have a pair of older skates that were two models down from what I have now and there is a significant difference.
Agreed never cheap out on skates, im also probably going to look at a new pair and maybe go with a guy here who custom makes them for your feet. They cost $1000 but he makes them for a lot of NHL players and I hear they are AMAZING. Also I play on 3 teams so skate about 90+ days a year, so I think they will be worth it in the end.
My friend who has played his whole life is getting a pair of these soon. He is always like, “Scotty, you should get the custom skates Subban wears”. He has had some Bauer supreme 190’s for 10 years and says that this custom pair will last at least 8-10 years for him.
I would consider the skates a long term investment, if you are going to play for awhile @fourthstartcg
Sure, teams still run the ball and kneel to milk the clock in the NFL but it’s mostly a passing league now. Several of the top teams prefer throwing the ball for first downs to run out the clock. And I don’t think the NHL is so much better as you say…
It’s fun to watch sure, but IMO the 1-and-done nature of NFL playoff, plus the relatively short season makes the games more intense and fun to watch compared to the other leagues. Most of the other leagues go with the best of 7 series format, which sort of makes each playoff game seem not as special. You can come out and play like shit in two straight games, go down 0-2 in the series and still bounce back to win the series in 6 or 7 games. In the NFL, you come out playing like shit in your first playoff game and it’ll be a long 8 months before you have a chance to start over and try again.
@smpratte Yeah, totally lame how LeBum James took the easy route and got his buddies to join forces, just because he couldn’t lead Cleveland to a championship his first time there. Definitely isn’t good for the league when just three players are able to continually take their team to the finals. However, regarding your dynasty comment, couldn’t the same be said of the other major sports here in the US/Canada? In the NHL, just in the past few years, the Kings and blackhawks have combined to win 5/6 Stanley cups. I don’t remember who the other champion was during that 6 year stretch, but basically two teams have been dominating the NHL for the past 6 years. Neither will win it this year obviously, but they’ll still have won most of the past 7 championships after this season ends. The NFL has been the same for the past 16 years, where a few teams have repeatedly made it to the Super Bowl and won, and I think the MLB is the same. I just remember the SF giants winning 3 championships in the past few years as well. So it isn’t just the NBA with the problem of teams seemingly achieving dynasty status rather easily.
Getting back to the topic, I think this nhl-pokemon thing is cool. Obviously the sharpedo sharks logo was a no brainer. Was worried the Sharks would drop game 1 to the preds but luckily they got going in the 3rd 
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The issue isn’t that dynasty’s exist, it is that players in the NBA are communicating with one another to build a dynasty in a contrived way.
As much disdain I have for the Blackhawks, It is impressive that they are able to win consistently with the salary cap. More importantly, patrick kane isn’t texting phil the thrill kessel or another solid player to come join the Hawks, and then having some concert/presentation talking about how many championships they are going to win.
Basically, what made the 90’s Chicago Bulls pure magic is that Jordan didn’t need to call his buddies to join the team. He worked with what he had, and made that dynasty within. He didn’t call up stockton, malone, payton, or any other superstar and have them join the bulls so they could win. I think I remember reading something how he criticized the miami situation by saying he wanted to play against byrd, not with him, as Jordan was unbelievably competitive. It is similar when people unnecessarily stack a team in a rec league, it completely ruins the integrity of the game.
As for the hawks and especially the kings, they are examples of how a dynasty should operate. The kings are odd as they did terribly in the regular season, in fact the worst team to qualify for playoffs, but went on to win the cup.
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Sharks got robbed… -.-
Capitals eliminated by Penguins, that’s a shocker. Russia will receive lots of reinforcements to world championships.
I wouldn’t consider it a shocker. Caps play wasn’t near what it had been during the regular season, they’re a great team but Pittsburgh was just better. They had scoring threats on their top three lines which screwed the Caps D, can’t exactly roll out your top pairing on Sidney Crosby if the second and third lines have Malkin and Kessel on them. Certainly didn’t help that Orpik was an idiot, first taking that cheap shot on Maatta and getting himself suspended, and then taking that double minor that arguably lost Washington the game.
12 years as a caps fan, we all were ready for them to rip our heart out, again. Realistically I don’t think Orpik being out was a problem, he was too slow in general and just isn’t what we needed. Give me Orly or Schmidt over him any day, just not Weber. The double minor hurt and so did the softie let in by Holts. Crosby slashing/injuring Alzner was a huge letdown and Nisky and Carlson can only play so many minutes. OT showed how gassed the team was, we looked awful in OT. I disagree about Pens being better overall, they were better in last nights game, but the series was even throughout. Good news though, at least Alzner’s ironman streak won’t be in jeopardy… HOLD ME 
Congratulations to the Pens on a well-deserved Stanley Cup championship! Although Crosby was great and definitely deserved the Conn Smythe, I think I would have picked Martin Jones if I had a vote. The guy pretty much singlehandedly kept the Sharks in every single game and was the reason they weren’t swept with each game being a 6-0 blowout.
I agree. I though the MVP would be a Giguere moment, but Crosby was Crosby. He is so strong on the puck.
I was excited for Phil the Thrill to get a cup. Sweet karma.
As a Sharks fan, I was hoping the Sharks would at least force a game 7 instead of losing at home but it is what it is. I thought the Shark’s chance to win took a huge hit with Hertl missing most of the series after getting injured earlier in the series, so winning 2 games wasnt too bad. Jones was a beast in some of the games, but Penguins scored the goals that mattered most. Crosby got the MVP based on name. He’s a great player but other Pens players had a bigger impact on the series overall. As for Jones, I think he’s got a good future ahead. Hopefully he provides many quality games for years to come!
Too bad NHL season is over now. The NBA is pretty much done (Warriors most likely finish off the Cavs tomorrow) and all that’s left is MLB… which is a bit boring for my taste. Just two more months until NFL preseason… a long two months imo lol.