Nikwho

Funny... I wax my stick with Zoggs Sex Wax warm water/Tropical surf board wax. I imagine that it's the same stuff! LOL. Didn't realize that they market stuff to the hockey crowd now.

I know that this post is from 2017. But, this is the answer for YOU. Feel free to try any of the varied suggestions above, but if you want to really know how any of it works or effects your performance, make notes of what you ate before, and how you felt during and after the game. Little spiral notepad in your gear bag would work.

I prefer to not eat for a couple of hours prior to game. Hydrate well early in the day, and a couple of beers before the start of the game, plus a couple of beers after. I stick to Pabst Blue Ribbon as my hockey beer. It's the only time I drink it. I don't know when/where that started. I drink much better beer any other time.

Thanks! So, after one 'free skate', a 'sticks & pucks' session, an 'open hockey' session, and my first game in them last night, the tight heel went from horrible pain, to only slight discomfort. That's with about 4 hours of skate time in them. Considering how they felt at the end of my beer league game last night, I'm confident that these skates are going to break in very nicely! The pinching around my Achilles was so bad at first, I didn't think that the material would/could break in enough. Now, I'm convinced that it will.

I just bought a brand new pair of Graf Supra 735's. They came with a letter indicating that they were made in Canada. I went to them from a pair of bottom of the barrel CCM skates and are a huge improvement. I was worried about the profile, and reading about people needing to "relearn to skate", but I felt great on them immediately! I do want to look into having them profiled, but need to see if there's anything that I don't like, first. Anyway, I know(thought that I knew! LOL) that the 755's are a step up from my skates, but so far I LOVE my 735's, though they aren't broken in yet.

Hey all, I just bought a pair of brand new Graf 735's. Had them sharpened and baked them (baked at home, 175° for 5 minutes in convection oven). They are size 11.5 wide skates. My CCM regular width size 12 skates were WAY too narrow for my feet. I was nervous about the width of the 735's, as Grafs are known to be narrow. But, with the 735's being a wider skate to begin with, and being a Wide width, I am VERY pleased with the sizing of the skate and the width of the fore foot area! Feels great! THOUGH, after my first skate on them at open hockey last night, the soft areas on either side of my Achilles, directly posterior to (behind) my ankle bone was excruciatingly painful! Thought that my feet were going to be bleeding after an hour and a half session, but were not. Baked again today... 210° for 10 minutes. Any cooler/less time didn't seem to soften the boot. I feel like I could have baked even longer, but didn't want to push it. Feel like I'm at a point where I have the boot shaped well to my feet. It's just that the padding on the inside of the boot feels so tight on the back of my ankle! It's just padding, though! I'll try to upload a picture. So, do you guys think that this Achilles padding will break down enough to get comfy? I've heard that Graf skates take a while to break in. Think that it'll just take time? Or are these skates notoriously narrow in the back of the boot? If need be, I'll just throw some mole skin or duct tape over the back of my heal while they break in, and get through it. Beer league season just started, so I want to be able to play hard and stay on the ice as long as I need to. Thoughts?