The hockey equipment workshop...

As many of my friends know, if I'm not on my motorcycle, I'm out at the hockey rink either stopping pucks or shooting them at the net. Now, having a tight budget and playing this very equipment-oriented sport usually doesn't mix, but when your other half works at the rink, a lot of stuff can be repaired or installed without the need to pay for those services. It also helps that he's awesome with a sewing machine.

So here's a couple of the fun alterations and projects that we've done in the past few weeks.

Project 1: DIY goalie pad knee stack upgrade

Problem: Goalie pad does not provide enough support while in a kneeling or "butterfly" position. At times, the knee area will directly hit the ice. Examples of said position are below.

Solution: restuff current knee stack/padding area and add an additional stack.

Step 1: Remove laced-in knee stacks. The original, single stack in my set of goalie pads was  stuffed with a single thin foam pad and an air bladder. With time, the air bladder completely deflated and rendered pretty useless as you'll see in the next photo.

The removed pads from the original knee stacks. The ones to the left used to have air in them but now are just flat.

Here's the removed knee stack (side view).

Unlike regular knee stacks that are just straight pieces of high density foam, this one actually has a pocket. I'm replacing the air bladder with more foam.

1" thick foam keeps everything nice and propped up.

Here I am cutting away with a plastic knife, the best tool I could  find to split this giant foam block.

Step 2: Create new knee stacks. Here's Matt sketching out the stacks on marine grade vinyl. The black strips are velcro. Essentially he's replicating the original knee stack with a pocket except making it bigger to allow for better knee support.

Here he is cutting away...

Here's the finished products stuffed with foam. Metal eyelets were installed afterward to reinforce the holes that were punched and lined up with the lacing pattern on the goalie pad.

Project 2: "Time Capsule" Hockey Skates

These Flite Ultimate hockey boots are circa 1996 and are brand new. In fact, a skate blade has never been fastened onto them. I've had them in storage for eight years and now they're going to be put to good use. Thanks to an eBay sale, I was able to get professional grade skate blades and holders very cheaply. Now to put one and one together...

To prepare the boots, Matt had to align the skate holders and then drill pilot holes. The holder is then fastened on with steel rivets. Here he is with the rivet press.

Here's the final product. All it needs is a sharpening and a test drive. We're gonna party like it's 1996.