Kgbeast

They came out today a different team. A day and night defensive effort and a much better offensive coordination. They had to win this game and they have their 3:0 road to the final spot in semifinals. Unfortunatelly, this means that young Team NA going to have to step down and hang it up this time around. For team Russia, their next game will be a face off with the toughest opponent in this tournament Team Canada. If Russia continue to play in the same way as today they will have a good shot at this Cup. We shall see, if anything, it should be pretty interesting.

I agree on Team NA. They are pretty awesome talented. Their speed and stick skills are some of the best and they definitely can do very well in the finals, but before that, in my opinion, they need to figure out how to control their emotions and pace the game. They get crushed by mishaps too fast. I saw it happened in game against Russia and again against Sweden. Once they grow to be more accepting that it will not always go their way, and that they need work hard the entire game not just 10 minutes in the first and 10 minutes in the last, they will be taking this Cup for sure (if Russia remains disorganized tonight as they were in all of the previous games).

I got no real impression from the USA vs Canada game last night. To me it was the game that was entertaining and borring all at the same time. After the initial exhibition game, I was expecting more and this was pretty underwhelming. It looked like USA team basically played a weak game and Canada stayed a couple of points better, but certainly did not go out of their way either. I would have much preferred if Canada wiped the ice with US team. As I believe NFL coach Wooden said once "You must play to the best of your abilities, not to the best abilities of your a opponent".

I guess, I have used this wording in a way that made you to believe that the dent was permanent or a QC problem.. This is not what I was trying to say, I was just trying to illustrate that once skates are heated to 160F, they are pliable enough to squeeze the heel with fingers. That said however, I am not saying that there are no unhappy customers. Quite obviously, there are. All I am saying is that you experience shows that majority of customers have coal face about these skates and in my experience shows majority are happy. This is all a personal experience and personal bias and opinion thing. I doubt you have conducted a world wide poll to determine the accurate statistics. In my opinion, poor marketing is why their skates are not at the top. And this is my opinion and yours is probably different. As far as customer support and QC goes, the Graf Canada is the sole perpetrator in lack of that and it is gone now and we all can move on. It is literally is a dead horse beating at this point.

... and how about that Bob? If you are goalie, you should go to the town he lives in and try some of that water he drinks :). Team Russia still in the game just because of him. It almost seems they gave up on defending their zone and just assuming that he will take care of it. Best goalie of the tournament this far. This also was the first game when Datsyuk brought back some good memories as well. Team NA had their first real stressful situation. I could see the frustration and the scatter. But they got back together towards the end. I do not think Matt Murray did bad job. 3 out of 4 goals were pretty tough, I doubt Gibson would have done better against those, but Murray got a bit unglued after the second pucks and, emotionally, was a hot mess after the 4th goal. it was a good call to get him replaced and give him a break. If it was an exhibition game, I would have left him in there to cook some more, but NA had a good chance to retake the game, so It was a good call. I was a bit surprised that NA could not capitalize in 6 on 4 shooting gallery at the end. I think the emotions and frustration got back to them after Bobrovsky shut down few good looking shots and the fact that they could see time slipping away. I strongly believe that after this experience, team NA will be better for it and we will see the next level of their game next time around.

...and how about Bob? He is the #1 reason, Russia is still in the race.

All I (and few other members) ever heard about Graf from anyone is positive. All that Chippa, Monty, and Vet heard was negative. There is a number of members that are highly negative about Bauer and then there are those that believe that Bauer is the bees knees when it comes to customer service and quality of the product. No body will convince anybody through ragging on the board. If you like Graf support Graf, if you like Bauer support Bauer. There should be no mud slinging. I personally do not care who thinks what about Bauer or Graf. I have not seeing any quality issues and every question I have asked from Graf was answered in a acceptable maner. I have the same to say about CCM and Easton... it is just Graf skates fit my feet better.

I did bake my PK3300 as per the instructions in an improvised convection oven, which is regular electric oven where along with the skates, I threw in a fan and a digital thermimeter. I was able to maintain between 156F and 163F for 4 minutes. Yes, skate was not a playdough, but it became soft enough for me to be able to squeeze the heel to a visible dent. After baking, the most noticeable change was to the padding and forming oh the heel bone pockets. I am not sure if they are moldable enough to cure a poor fit though... just like with most other skates.

Yes, Ove put two pucks in the Sweds net in the last 5 minutes of the game after Russia pulled their goalie out. One thing Russian team is good for is in the unusual match ups such as 6 on 5 or 3on3 OT. Last night when they got extra guy in, Sweds could not get any handle on puck even just for the purpose of throwing it out of their zone. Ove got his usual spot shot in as well as he gloved another puck in which was waived as no goal. He also put quite a bit of hurt through his signature hits which were quite entertaining to watch. It was a good physical and fast game, Sweds just had their chit together in a more effective way. Both teams showed very good defensive skills. You should check this game out if you get a chance.

I had the same feeling watching Russia vs. Sweden last night. Russia just could not keep tge puck in the offensive zone to save their life. We'll see how they go against NA tonight.

This was some game. Team Europe handed Team USA it ass. 3:0 and not for the lack of trying on part of USA. Team Europe was able to defend against Team USA quite effectively. Although Europe goalie Halak have not seeing a ridiculous amount of rubber, the 11 power play shots sent his way, we're successfully intercepted. Quick had a pretty good game, and all 3 pucks that he was unable to stop, were a result of exceptional plays put together by European team and were pretty much unstopable. I did sense a hint of team USA playing with a lot less heart than when they played Canada. So to me it was not just a case of team Europe stepping up their game, but also the case of team USA stepping theirs down. Team Europe, a team previously thought to be sub-par, has definitely shown that they can puck with the best of them.

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.