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I want to post my experience transitioning form my older VH skates from 2013 to the new version that I received a month ago. My original pair fit my feet perfectly right after the first bake. I baked them put them on and skated a few hours later with no issues at all. The only thing that I did to adjust the fit was get a set of Graf Sidas insoles. The truth is that my original pair still have some life left in them but I wanted to get a new pair and keep the other pair as a backup. This way I am never without skates if something needs to be fixed or whatever. I ordered my new skates on 09.24.2015. Standard black skates with the new toe cap,new tendon guard and tan clarino liner. No additional options. Luckily for me one of my feet fit under the threshold for junior size skates and they only charged me $600 for the new pair. I wasn't expecting that and didn't even ask for that pricing but the invoice was made out for junior size skates so I didn't argue.The new pair came on 10.08.2015. I did the same routine as before. Baked them and used them a few hours later. I had a new set of Graf Sidas insoles made for the new skates as well. The skates were made from the exact same measurements as the first pair. They fit perfectly after baking. Or so I thought. On the ice my feet went numb right away and there was pain in the ball of my right foot. These skates seemed to have much less volume than my original pair. I tried loosening the laces and while this worked for the pain and numbness the boots felt too sloppy and loose for me. I tried to use mc88's method of using a heat gun to adjust the lower eyelets so the tongue would sit more flat but this did not work for me. Same issues as before. Another issue I was having was that I could not get proper knee bend. It seemed as if the boot was cut higher than before and the top of the boot was farther up my ankle. I tried not lacing the top eyelet and this did help some but I was still having the other issues still. I emailed Rob and explained the situation I was having and suggested that the new thicker tongue may be the culprit. He agreed and said he would send out a new set of the thinner tongues at no cost. The thinner tongues arrived about a week later and I re-did the baking process. What a difference. I skated that night and had no more numbness or pain. The only issue I had now was that the tongues seemed to be a bit too thin as my skates loosened up as I was skating. My next time out on the ice I added the red insole along with my Graf Sidas and that issue was gone as well. The skates feel exactly as my first pair did. Perfect!! The new pair of skates definitely seem built more solid than the original. Its hard to explain but they just have more of a solid feel to them. They do weigh a bit more as well. I think it was about 90 grams or so more per skate. Generally the finish of the new skates seem to be better than my original pair. The stitching seems better and there is no excess glue anywhere. Happy to answer any questions about the difference between the newer and older version.

Well, that was a rough night. We lost 4-3. My team thoroughly outplayed them, but my friend played great. They scored first, a bomb from the point that went bar down. I maybe should have had it, but still an unbelieveable shot. We tied it on a rebound a minute later. The second goal I definitely should have had. Their player came in and undressed my defenseman in the faceoff circle, so I didn't have time to come out and establish position on a breakaway. He deked me and i bit, and pulled the Forsberg on me. I was not in the right place or moving the right angle to make a play on it. It didn't matter what he did, I think he was going to score. What a mess. Another rebound, another tie game less than a minute later. Third goal was a play where their player got a shot and 2 rebounds before putting in the third. He came in from the front, and shot low. I made a left pad save and wanted the puck to go to the corner, but it hit my boot instead and came right back out to him in front. Another shot did the same thing, and the next went off my shin to my left and he jammed it in around my pad. I should have had better rebound control. His shots weren't really hard or they would have deflected off my pad further away from him instead of right back to him as he was moving. Fourth goal te same guy came in at the faceoff circle to my right and moved to the middle forehand. I thought he was going to shoot so I guessed and he cut backhand across my defneseman. I couldn't move across as quickly as he could. He shoveled a backhand on net and I dove and got a piece with my glove, but it hit the wrist instead of the pocket and bounced in. We scored on a scrum in front to get within one. But with me pulled at the end, there was a huge scramble in front of their net and the puck just wouldn't get home. I know the loss was on me. My teammates said no, but I know they were discouraged. Everything was so rusty - crease movements, hand positioning, shuffles, butterfly slides. It all felt off. I'm sure that's to be expected after being off for so long. And I know that I'll get better as I play more consistently again. The good news is that this league is awesome. I was pretty unsettled because I felt horrible about leaving my other team midseason. But this one game washed that all away. Both teams passed the puck all over. It was great team play through the whole rink, even break outs. My team hustles and backchecks harder than most beer league teams i've ever seen. The puck movement made me want to play out instead of goal. And they are all a good bunch of guys. The game was fast and competitive, and yet friendly and casual. The crazy thing is apparently there is bad blood between my team and two guys on the other team who had caused problems on my team last season and then switched. You never would have known. There wasn't even a hint of it. I didn't find out until after the game. Contrast that to the other league where the cops had to be called last night because a fight broke out in the handshake line. One player separated his shoulder after being punched in line, and a player was arrested because he removed a guy's helmet and hit him with it. He is looking at charges and a possible jail term. Clearly I made the right choice.

Did you rebake the skates or was it fine just chucking them in?

Oleg Znarok

I can definitely attest to the comfort of these, I've been on them 3 times and no pain in any of my previous areas in other skates. I have noticed some performance increases with these but still to new to really give info. I would recommend going with the LS2 holder and the Step Steel for that reason of getting Step Steel quality, also the edge holder didn't have any relevance for me as I've never broken steel and I live close to my sharpener. I didn't include any upgrades such as the added shot blocker or upgraded tongue to the boot when I ordered mine based on info given to me by the person that did my tracings, so far I'm glad I didn't as the boot is right up there in construction with any top of the line retail skate. That brings me to another point, if your somewhat hesitant about spending that kind of money on something you've never seen before you can check VHs website for a fit center near you and go check the skate out first and have your tracings done there if that's another area your unsure about. But definitely read through this thread and take it for what is worth, a lot of great info!!

Strapping on the pads in game for the first time in a long time tonight. After the situation in the rink I mentioned the director of earlier became intolerable, I learned of a team at a different rink in need of a full time goalie. I took it as an opportunity I couldn't pass up and left my team mid-season. I feel really badly about it, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do. If I waited until the season ended, I'd end up playing months worth of miserable hockey and may even miss the chance to take that spot. I know it's a crappy thing to do. Rink management created a situation where I don't want to give them any more money (I paid for the games I played) and I don't wan't to play 2 of the other 4 teams in my division because there's a safety issue. They already caused 3 of my teammates to quit this season. Unfortunately, that rink is 5 minutes from my house and the new rink is 25 minutes. I'm kind of nervous. I haven't played in a game in a looooong time. The few times I've played in a clinic recently, i've been terrible. I'm not comfortable in my new pads at all, It's a new team that won the Championship last season with one of the best goalies in the league. He moved to a different league and the guy he got as a replacement wasn't good enough so they didn't want him. So there's some pressure. Plus, I played 3 games (skating out) last night, including one that started at 10:30 getting me home after 1. And to make it the worst, of course the first game I'll be playing is against my best friend in the other net. So if I suck I'll have to hear about it. Maybe I'll just fight him at center ice on the opening face off so I get kicked out and don't have to embarrass myself. lol

Played for the first time in my new max+ baked as directed and these are the most comfortable skates i have ever skated in and ive been playing for over 20 years im in love !!

One problem I see with a lot of refs is that they just show up at low level games for the paycheck. If you are going to do that stay home. When these refs are there they give no respect to the players or game so they get very little in return. They don't talk to players and explain what they did wrong, most just yell "go to the box". If the low level guy doesn't understand what he did then he can't correct it. If the player argues, explain that you're not going to be talked to or treated that way, call the penalty and skate off. To many refs think it's a war of words. It's frustrating for players to get called for a penalty and then the next guys gets off because "he can't skate well". A penalty is a penalty. You don't have to call them all, just be consistent. Control the game before it starts. Go to each bench before the puck drops and tell them civilly what you expect and what you will not tolerate. It is by no means an easy job, especially because it is a fast and emotional game. The best refs are the ones who do it because they love the game and communicate with the players. If there is a scrum for the puck tell them "keep it moving", if you see a penalty that you're not going to call tell the player "watch the hooking" or "watch whatever". Same for the crease action. It helps to hear "out of the crease". Part of reffing low level games should be helping to teach the game. And it's always nice as a player for the ref to say something positive to them occasionally "nice goal", "nice breakout". Give respect, get respect.

I would tell guys up front that I was a hard ass and was going to call everything I saw. I also tried to take the instigator in just about every situation I could, rather than just match up minor penalties on both teams. It didn't take long for guys to figure it out and the games I worked were generally pretty enjoyable. The only guys that complained over the long term were the ones that committed a penalty on pretty much every shift they took. Pushing, shoving, bumping; that's just hockey, deal with it. Slashing, boarding, cross-checking, go to the box. I also told guys that I would tell them why I made any call if they asked, but I wasn't going to argue with them. And "WTF" does not qualify as a question, that qualifies as another two minutes.

LOL. I appreciate that. It's just frustrating when I get "scolded" after the game by players due to all of the calls I supposedly missed. *rolls eyes* If they wanted me to call everything I saw, the entire game would be a powerplay/penalty kill.