Sports Product Review

If you’re looking for the perfect gift for the baseball player, baseball mom or baseball dad in your life, (hint: Fathers Day is just around the corner), why not consider something unique and personal that they’ll treasure forever. A gift from Silver Diamond Jewelry (www.silverdiamondusa.com) is a great choice.

Hand-crafted necklaces, pins, key chains and tie tacks (pictured), made from sterling silver can be customized with your player’s number, creating a unique and attractive memento. Men and women both will appreciate the styles available, the quality is tremendous, and Silver Diamond’s prices are more than reasonable. Sister company Silver Ice Jewelry produces the same great items, but for those who chase the puck instead of the horsehide.

When looking for that perfect present, it’s nice when you’re able to hit a home run. In a world of ordinary, a gift from Silver Diamond Jewelry is out of the park.

Source: Silver Diamond Jewelry

The utmost in portability and fun comes from our friends at Rage Cage, (www.ragecage.com). Rage Cage for lacrosse and Rage Cage for hockey mean you can have a high-quality net wherever you have a spot to play. All Rage Cage goals are one-piece collapsible units which setup in seconds, for easy transportation and storage.

My son and his buddies on the street have a roller hockey game at the end of the cul-de-sac every day after school. Prior to owning the Rage Cage a couple kids had cheap nets around a PVC pipe frame, and they hardly ever went out and played. They’ve taken a new passion for the sport in large part because the Rage Cage hockey net gives them true-to-life action. Because the net is made of heavy-duty steel, and thus is somewhat weighty, they’ve even devised a couple ingenious methods of transporting it down the street and back. Sometimes they use a skateboard to push it back and forth, other times one kid will lift the folded net and another will push him on his skates up to the garage. Once inside, its compact design means it only takes up about as much room as a child’s bike.

The Rage Cage is the hockey and lacrosse equivalent of the portable home basketball goal. And soccer is coming soon. No longer do kids need to go up to the school fields or the community center to play. Now, instead of taking your game somewhere because of the available equipment, you get to bring the equipment where you want to play.

Source: Rage Cage

For the no-nonsense netminder in your family, there may be no better way to protect the dome than with a custom-made, state-of-the-art quality goalie mask from Pro Masque, (www.promasque.com). All Pro Masques are hand-molded in their own factory, not mass-produced overseas. The ultra-strong, lightweight shell is reinforced with Dupont Kevlar, the same used in bulletproof vests. The combination of fiberglass and Kevlar makes the shell very rigid, thus creating a totally non-flexible barrier around your face. And since we first reviewed Pro Masque they’ve added several new styles, including the one worn by Dwayne "Roli" Roloson of the Edmonton Oilers.

But Pro Masque doesn’t stop at strength and durability. Comfort is key. The "PRO-AIR" fitting system allows you to insert the air tube through the cage into your mouth, and by gently blowing up the air bag, customize the fit to your own preference. You need only do this once, or whenever you want to change the fit. Whenever you put the mask on your head, it automatically returns to the original fit.

Maybe best of all, the customer service and personal attention you’ll get from Matt at Pro Masque is second-to-none. Pick up the phone and you won’t be put on hold and asked to dial an extension. You’ll talk to the guy who built and designed your custom mask, of which they only make about 300 each year. This is a family business and the passion for what they do comes through. If you take your game seriously, or just want everyone to drop their sticks and gape at you in awe as you take the ice, Pro Masque is standing by, waiting to take your call.

Source: Pro Masque

For decades, hockey players have taped their own grips onto their sticks. Why? Conventional rectangular sticks are created in cookie-cutter fashion, without regard to the hands they are made for. Wouldn’t it be remarkable if something came along that eliminated the need for painstaking shaving of the stick with a file and forming the grip with tape? Wouldn’t it be awesome if there were a product that could be installed quickly, and was more comfortable and more effective than conventional tape? There is. And the folks at Oggie Grips, (www.oggiegrip.com) want you to try it.

One time on the ice is all they ask. And they swear you’ll be hooked. We tried out their Classic and Ergo Grips (pictured) and have to say, we agree. Oggie grips insert into hollow composite sticks and give you an unbelievable hi-tech grip that is more comfortable than tape. But beyond comfort, most players complain that once they cut their stick to size, they lose the original flex. Pop in an Oggie grip and the flex is back, better than ever. The proper flex within Oggie Grips is achieved by the use of grooves that run down both sides of the grip as well as the composite material. This is not a kick point, which is typically found near the blade of the stick, but a flex that properly arcs out the curve within a stick shaft when a player shoots.

Oggie offers another option as well, which they call their Sticky Grip Foam. Sticky Grip allows you to create your own grip using various die-cut shapes to form a desired pattern under the comfortable, cushioned foam wrap.

Hockey nuts, I know. You tape. Tape has worked for years and you don’t see any reason to change, do you? I wonder how many goalies said that same thing when the first masks were invented. Things do change. People get smarter. Technology improves. You can move with the times or get left behind. Oggie Grips would like to bring you along for the ride.

Source: Oggie 

As you may know from reading Sports Product Review, we love to bring you solo training devices that your kids can use to improve skills while having fun. If you have hockey players who don’t know what to do with themselves until the deep freeze turns their outdoors into a rink, get them the Tape-2-Tape and they’ll have a stick in their hands 365 days a year. (www.tape-2-tape.com)

With Tape-2-Tape, your future Crosby’s can train without a partner. Get started by passing into the rubber band and it simulates real game situations because the puck is always moving. Practice passing, receiving and shooting anywhere and anytime. Working with the Tape-2-Tape will turn an average stick-handler into an expert in no time. This durable device is easy to set up, easy to store, and will reduce wear on valuable sticks.

The Tape-2-Tape is a great device for anyone who wants to improve hockey skills, even when the only ice for miles in your freezer.

Source: Tape-2-Tape