Kgbeast

Not going to be surprised that CXN holder and runners for it will disappear as Bauer has pretty solid line of holders and most likely, will not continue to support CXN. CXN has not been produced for very long time, so there is no real traction for that in aftermarket. If you can find runners, you probably should get a couple of sets to see you through next couple of years, My question is however, how sure are you that you will still use these Makos two years from now" Or even one year?. Everybody will drop a new line of skates probably as soon as year from now. Will you be looking at that or at clearances of the today's hot models?

The game was somewhat typical of Canad vs Russia. Canada came out blazing with lots of energy and talent. Russia started rather laid-back with barely noticeable presence of its superstars such as Datsyuk, Ovechkin, Malkin. Russia often starts slow and keep a rather passive game for a first period at least, but even taking this into the account, they sucked against Canadian offence in the big way. Russia played pretty disorganized and at a lower level than expected. Thanks for exceptional work of their goalie Bobrovski, it was a no complete double digits wipe-out. To me personally, this far Bobrovski is the super goalie of the pretournament games. I thought it would be impossible to outshine exceptional performance of Quick in Canada vs USA, but Bobrovski was almost laughing at the pucks thrown at him (i believe it was over 2 dozens of them in the first period alone). He would literally swipe the pucks of the air with his glove. At least two times it reminded me the fight between Neo and the Agent in the end of the Matrix when Neo came to his power. It looked like Bobrovski did not even look at the field or even moved, just casually extended his arm out and caught the puck. Absolutely spectacular. Whomever enjoys to see a goalie gets rained on with pucks and being able to deflect or catch basically 90% of them, this is the game to see. As the game progressed, gradually, Russian offence gotten better and better. But Canadian defense proved to be almost impenetrable. Price saw a dozen or so of pucks this game, and had some nice saves. A couple of iconic shots from Ove, one of which found the back of the Carreys net, and another two left two Canadian players limping for a minute. Towards the end of the game, team Russia was able to show a little bit of the game we would expect to see, especially in the overtime. A somewhat weird sequence of shift changes during the OT, I think ultimately costed Russia the one one one between Bobrovski and Getzlaf which did not work out very well for Bobrovski. Canada wins 3-2. A very well deserved win. Russia had a solid chance to take this game as they did dominate the OT but if they would have won it, it would have been solely on the shoulders of Bobrovski this time around. I must say, I am very eager to start watching the actual tournament. I anticipate it to be very exciting.

Yes, this what I was implying, that if skates are not heated correctly, they might not become as pliable as they supposed to be.

I have not attempted to bake mine. I did skate in them unbaked and they are prefect fit for me. I might just leave them as is. That said however, we have a somewhat mixed experience with baking Mako M8 (or M7 ) as well. It is known to be a very thermoformable skate, yet we have some posts here that it was not the experience of some. That guy too baked them longer and hotter and still have not gotten any good softness. So I am not sure still. That said, PKs do not appear to be any more thermoformable than techlite mesh skates such as Supra 535 or 735 so I would not expect playdough consistency from them.

I have posted the answer in "Bake Times" thread. Good luck.

Mako is 9ft, RibCor is 10'. Pitch of the holder is about the same. Ribcor boot itself appears to be tilted forward. It looks like M8 is more of a upright boot.

Moved....

I have put some feedback above

...moved

Not me, Vaughn did... I am myself is not sure about these heavy ass skates, but they are Cadillacs, I am sure there are some fans.

Got a little word from Vaughn. Expect an influx of Graf skates to some of the retailers within next few days. Focus is on PeakSpeed line, but also old favorites 705, 709, and 735 models. Vaughn is diving in this venture not only with distribution agreements, but also production and R&D plans. We might not see sticks and gloves, but we should see competitive quality made skates, exceptional customer service, and a pro shop. Only time will tell how good and successful the above will be, but both Graf and Vaughn appear to be pretty excited and optimistic.

Have you tried the http://www.espn.com/watchespn/ I know I had to activate it for my Roku and Android Phone app by loging in to my Satelite provider, but I do not remember doing that for my windows and linux laptops.

Got one more update from Swiss. They are gearing up to resume production of PeakSpeed line. Not only in USA, but they also plan to introduce it in European market as soon as October. It can be just PK7700 at first. Not sure about sticks and stuff. NA market should see a bit more of PeakSpeed I am expecting. Just want to clarify, I do understand that most of the board has turned away from this brand, I am posting for a couple of people who is still open to the idea of giving Graf another stab.

I am expecting to receive PK3300 tomorrow or Tuesday. Will come back here with my observations and comments.

This is another pre-tournament exhibition game that while was not a playoff finals all out, but much more than youd expect from an exhibition game. Both teams lacked deffence, but goalies were exceptional especially Bobrovski. Physical game with obvious desire to win. Team Russia looks very strong offensively, but if they do not get their deffence tighten up, I do not think they will be able to get the redemption they are after.

Just start watching the game on Roku WatchESPN.... Pregame time is quite a spectacle. Also it looks like olympic size arena. Will see how the game goes

Really enjoyed the game. Lots of talent, lots of heart. Watching this is as if watching a Stanley Cup playoffs. Carrey Price started a bit unfocused, but had some good saves. Quick is at the top of his game and in my opinion is the reason USA took this win. Canada outshot USA by a factor of 2. Quick has seeing lots of action, and let in just one goal. Reminded me Tretyak in 76 summit series against Canada. Great deffence from Canada which basically left Carrey Price untested comparing to Quicks game. Awesome game in my opinion, two top teams for sure.

I thought they did pretty good. Team NA is much deeper team though.

Management comes and goes... the management you referring to is gone now. I have noticed it as well. The clearances have a lot to do with it no doubt, but the brand recognition and respect is what makes people buy. if it was a clearance on Bob's Hockey skate brand, there would be no uptick. Actually, I have not seeing much uptick in Eastons that been on clearance as well. I am actually quite surprised with that come to think of it.

Every brand has at least one disapointed customer... I am not saying it is for everyone. I have owned 3 pairs of Graf skates and have not noticed shoddy workmanship in any of them. Will see if anything shoddy pops up on the pair of peakspeeds I should receive later this or earlier next week.

I agree with this except for need to ditch Graf name. Not sure why that would be necessary as the name is pretty solid and is well regarded. Agree with the point about bringing more value for lesser price tag. I think they did attempt that with peakspeed line. It is very conservative looking line, but have some awesome features from top to the bottom of the line and especially for junior and youth. Features such as lined box, moldable footbeds, moldable quarter, replaceable blades, flexible tendon guard, stay in place tongue. It also is one of the lightest lines if not the lightest. And it is priced cheaper than the comparable B/C. I think they started getting on the right track, just perhaps a little late. I also agree that it is in the retailers interest for these little brands to just to go away, but it is not in the consumers best interest. More competition means more value for the consumers buck and more incentive for the manufacturers to innovate and remain properly sized for the available market.

Not at all trying to make it seam as if EVERY retail (or non retail for that matter) customer wants Graf. I just think that perhaps 15%-20% would not mind to see what Graf can offer. This thread has many posts where members expressed some love towards the brand, I just put some updates for them.

My opinion is based on the assumption that someone like Carey Price would have a custom fit skate from Graf as well, which i'd suspect would fit as good as the VH he got now. If I am wrong, then yes, I would not expect him to go back, quite agree.

Carey Price appears to be a pretty die-hard Graf goalie, even with VH, he still keeps Graf cowlings. It is quite possible, he will go back to Graf if it becomes a solid brand. That said, with the collapse of Graf Canada, pros, goalies and players, who was wearing Grafs have switched mostly to VH and quite likely, without an endorsement, most of them will not go back to Graf anytime soon. That said, the new generation and non-pro goalies might flack over resurrected brand. I just see that both Graf and Vaughn are in decline, and this union might be just what both of them need to get back in the game in a significant way.

Yep.... Vaughn have not been able to secure much of a space in the goalie skates market. This could be a great opportunity for them now. Bauer is kind of in trouble, and Graf has a very solid reputation in goalie skate circuits. Vaughn has pretty solid protective gear "legacy" and Graf has the skates, seems to me like a match made to success. Other Graf product which is undervalued I think, is their underwear. Obviously, their footbeds and laces are pretty well regarded products and should move nicely if they become solidly available. As for the players skates, they do need to do some catching up although their G75 range is pretty nice. It can be used by Graf philosophy indoctrinated skater who wants to have more ankle articulation as well as the ski-booter for who they have G75-HI-EXTRASTIFF option, which probably can "cast" your leg better than any other skate on the market I think, their sticks got some traction as well, but they really need to work on their endorsement skills and try to capitalize of PeakSpeed development as there are some good nuggets in there. To me, all this is a good opportunity and timing for Vaughn to become a solid competitor to CCM and Bauer and normalize the market a little bit. This also can put Graf in much better standing in Europe if the partnership is mutual.