Ok, so kinda slow posting about this, but better late than never right?
A little over a week ago, I went to check out The Bauer Experience with a few friends. They had some elite level equipment to try out on the ice. There was helmets and gloves (X:60 and TotalOne) to try out. I picked the TotalOne gloves, the helmet w/o a cage t try. But the headliners of this were the APX skates and sticks.
As anyone knows, skates don’t just fit when you put them on fir the first time. They need to be heat molded and worn for a few ice times to become broken in. Having said that, it obviously wasn’t as comfortable as it could be. With that aside, the APX skates were unbelievable! I didn’t find myself needing to adjust to them. Skating just felt very natural. The weight was not like anything I’ve tried before. It was like wearing running shoes. Even our hard-to-impress “tier 1″ buddy fell in love with these skates. Said it only took him two minutes to get used to them. Nice skates. You really get what you pay for in them. The thing is, not a lot of people can afford to spend that much on skates. Most guys I know spent less on their entire set of gear (including skates), than the APX skates alone. Retail for these skates + taxes is almost a thousand dollar bill!
Don’t want to take out a small bank loan for skates? Mid-range models certainly aren’t a bad alternative. I recently got myself a pair of the new Bauer X5.0 skates. They are part of the same line as the APX, just not as fancy (or expensive). Great skates, and a nice upgrade from my old Bauer Vapor XVI skates. They are still very light, and quite sturdy. Blocked a few shots off the side of the skate, and did not feel it as much as I should have. Even after trying out the best skates Bauer has to offer, I still like my mid-level skates just as much as before. Elite level skates really are the “creme de la creme” or however that saying goes, but going for something a little lower on line is not a bad way to go. It’s a heck of a lot cheaper too.
Once we got on all the gear, we headed out to the rink. They had around 100 sticks lined up against the glass, and they were all APX, with the odd TotalOne in there. Every blade pattern, flex, and length was there to try. I tried out the grip, and non-grip version of the APX. Now, this stick is a beast! Super light, nice flex and well balanced. Felt good control when taking shots, and even clocked a 78pmh slapper. Yeah, not that impressive, but last time I had a radar on my shot, I got 50. They had someone there run us through some quick drills, to get a feel for the skates and stick. After that, they had two shooting lanes setup. One with the radar, one for accuracy shooting. Nice way to test out the sticks. I’m probably going to buy one of these bad boys. Dare I say, I might even like it more than my TotalOne, which I thought was the best stick out there.
There were a few nice bonus’ to this event. When we got there, they gave us a Bauer lanyard. Trying out the APX equipment on ice for free was pretty awesome. After we finished, they gave us a Bauer Vapor fitted hat and a puck with tape on it. I assume they want to give the impression that APX will make you perform to a new level, and get some other pucks with tape on it (first goal, hat trick, etc). Last, but definitely not least, they had Cody Hodgson of the Vancouver Canucks show up to skate around. When we got there, he was already on the ice and passing the puck around with a little 6 year old. He also played keep away with what seemed like a whole team of kids:
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150407805170480
This tour is almost done, but if your city is on the list of upcoming events, it’s worth checking out. Looks like Toronto, Calgary and Texas are up next.
