IPv6Freely

Varlamov is the only reason it went 6. They generated absolutely nothing for two games and waited for a mistake to be made to pounce. Worked once, failed the second time.

I’d go Tampa in 5 if it wasn’t for the injuries. They are a pretty badly beaten up team right now. I doubt we see Stamkos unfortunately. Maybe if they get down in the series and need a boost. They barely managed to get past the Islanders and even that went way farther than I think it would have if they weren’t so beat up. They LOOK tired. If Dallas wins, it will be because their backup stands on his head and because they’re definitely fresher. Head to head on paper I don’t think it’s even close but I could see this hitting 6 or 7.

Oh, I'm sure that has something to do with it as well. No question. No, I haven't tried rebaking. I could do that I guess. No specific part causes pain, it's almost like my foot is being compressed because I actually have to tighten the laces now due to the padding feeling like its compressed over time. I didn't used to tighten them at all. Just barely snug. Either way, these are 5.5 years old and I want to go cowlingless anyway. I couldn't be happier with how well these have held up and yeah I probably could make them last longer if I put some effort into them, but... why not? 🙂

Well, it's time to retire my VH. I was hoping to wait until there were TF9 goalie skates, but oh well. I don't know if it's the 50lb weight gain (after losing 70lbs a couple years ago), the time spent off the ice because of quarantine, or if the boot is just breaking down, but man my feet hurt every time I'm on the ice now. Gone is the feeling of a snug but well fitting hiking boot. It almost feels like the padding has thinned out over the years and now I once again have to tie my laces to something more than just barely snug to feel locked in. Tying the laces tighter means it pulls the boot facing closer together making it almost feel like it's compressing my foot from the sides. After about 30 minutes the pain goes away at least. It's been a good run. I bought them in mid-2015. They have held up incredibly well with almost no wear at all. I think 5+ years of skates I've worn on average twice a week is pretty decent. Absolutely no complaints. I think the plan for now is to actually try the new CCM goalie skates thanks to the 90 day guarantee, just because I've never tried them before and they finally dumped the cowlings. But realistically that's a total shot in the dark and I'm expecting to be ordering new True customs in the near future. It helps that a new Pure Hockey has opened up in my town... TODAY! No more driving to Anaheim!

Crazy. Vegas just wasn't able to score. The offence dried up completely. Never in a million years would I have picked Dallas to be going to the cup finals.

He is. Full stop.

Still the best shoulder pads I’ve ever worn.

Guys, wrong thread.

Well, a user called “hockeyshield” who has zero posts starts a topic asking about playing with facemasks instead of using the one that exists already. You moderate a forum long enough you see patterns that raise red flags.

Diana Rigg

Merged into the thread where we've already been discussing wearing masks while playing because a) that seems appropriate and b) the original post is pretty spammy.

I would say the Lightning have the better offence, defence, and goalie. The Islanders do play a tighter system though. I definitely don't think the Islanders would beat Vegas, though. Maybe Dallas.

Full custom should almost always be a last resort but you just get to a point sometimes where you’ve wasted so much money trying things that didn’t work out that you should have just invested in the first place.

I can’t even get true skates on my feet without a bake! True did foot scans before anyone else did (for custom)

Agree, let’s get this back on the rails. I get why it’s relevant to discuss the likelihood to have success at retail, but at this point we’re really just going in circles and not really getting anywhere.

K

Sorry, what info are you referring to? Who is saying a bake does nothing?

For sure. It's becoming less and less common but there are still plenty of people that think that baking skates does nothing besides help them break in faster and "don't want to wear them out prematurely" But my comment wasn't really about that so much as just the idea that baking True or Mako was an absolute must to get the fit right. If that ever becomes the same for Bauer and CCM then you won't see stores unwilling to bake before purchase because it will just be normal and generally required. So in some ways, True is being the Apple of the hockey world by being willing to be kicked in the face or bitched about in the process of pushing tech forward (I recall when the first MacBook Airs were obscenely expensive because laptop SSDs weren't really a thing yet, but they bit the PR/backlash bullet and put them in anyway. Prices went down as it became more common, and now we're better off for it in the long run.) If True can figure out a model where pre-sale baking is sustainable, then it may become commonplace. They just may take a lot of shit in the process, hiccups, etc. Or it could blow up in their face, True fizzles out or just goes back to custom-only, and we continue on the same path of nothing really changing year to year. If there weren't so many people willing to forgive a bit of a cosmetic nightmare (I never experienced this personally but many many people did) for something that is unbelievably comfortable they'd likely already be dead as a brand.

Yeah I was going to add that in there as well but couldn't come up with the right wording. "Floor model" discounts for skates baked > x number of times, or some such.

True skates MUST be baked to fit correctly. Asking "will it help" doesn't make sense, because it's not an optional thing. Let's use another example of something heat moldable - mouth guards. Would you buy a "boil-n-bite" mouthguard, and just pop it in your mouth? Or would you actually follow the fitting process? I mean, you technically CAN skip the heat molding in both cases, but you can't complain about them fitting poorly if you do. Anyway, as for the baking discussion - I was actually specifically NOT talking about demo stock. I'm talking about the actual product. Here's the scenario in my head: Let's say True determines that their skates can be baked 8 times before they break down prematurely (who knows). Tell the customers their skates should never be baked more than 3 times This gives the retailer 5 attempts at selling that pair, which seems reasonable to me (but obviously you'd need to determine what is a typical number of times a specific pair of skates are fitted for customers before somebody buys them) If you hit the "retailer bake limit", the pair gets sent back to True like any other warranty claim (obviously with a note that they aren't ACTUALLY warranty skates) How many pairs would be sent to True if it was rolled out in this way? I have no idea, and obviously they'd have to figure out all the numbers and stuff. I'm just throwing ideas around - I do not know how the manufacturers operate nor how a retail store operates. Don't @ me about it - I don't actually care that much. Either way, I think it's on True to figure out how to make sure these things are being fit correctly, which means educating retailers on the baking requirements, or else True retail skates are doomed to fail. They're already behind the 8-ball just because they don't say "BAUER" on the side. I do also wonder if at some point Bauer and CCM will start making skates that also absolutely must be baked to fit them correctly as well. There still seems to be a significant chunk of the population that still thinks baking skates is just to help them break in faster.

WHOOSH

I feel like this is something that should be put on True. Once a skate is baked X number of times (to be determined by True), the item should be sent back just like any warranty return. I don't know the logistics of it, but it could be worked out. I recall this was a problem with the Mako as well. Retailers not willing to bake them during a fitting. I personally couldn't even get Makos on my feet without baking so they would have lost a sale there for sure.

Fantastic news. The reality is that nothing changes in this world unless rich people start losing money, so hopefully we start to see some real change. Very proud of the players on all of this. The Mets/Marlins did an amazing job tonight as well.

Wait. True skates are an obscure product? Or The TF7/TF9 specifically that only just came out?

They do look fairly similar for sure, whether thats a coincidence or not.