flip12

@SolarWind a lot of people report going to a shallower hollow on Scott Van Horne boots, as the more direct energy transfer makes for more direct edge application: the same hollow on a two piece skate tends to feel shallower than it does for the same skater in a one-piece. How stiff are the tongues on the 100K? Tongue stiffness can have a surprisingly large influence on forward flex. If it’s too stiff in combination with the stiffness of the quarters for a particular skater’s feel preference it can get in the way just like using a 120 flex stick if you’re more geared toward 80.

CCM doesn't have a patent on one-piece boots overall. They have patent over a particular method of construction. So does True. So does Bauer: they own the Mako and MLX IP. There is no should/should not, only personal preference. One could work with you and make a recommendation if you're not sure. But there's no blanket statement about what to do. Kovalchuk: wrapped upper eyelets but creased to hell. It's always worked great for him. Shane Wright, the complete opposite (at least in Bauer, haven't been able to find a clear shot of his Trues that isn't too dark to see any detail). It's all up to the skater and the skates having a good relationship. Your images didn't match at all what I was expecting from your description. That's a bit of wrap, but nothing crazy. Looks very normal. Just a slight inclination from the sidewalls toward the midline of the boot.

@nystromshairstylist Would you do a lengthy review of them? A lot of members on MSH are curious about Graf's recent work, but not many are confident enough to take the plunge. Some pictures of the quality of construction and detailed analysis of why they're great for you would help potential buyers evaluate whether or not a new pair of Grafs might be for them.

Just in general or was it at any particular weak points? Just curious because it hasn’t happened to me, but I have nowhere near the exposure to skates and skate parts and what stresses they go through that you do.

I love that holder. Nice geometry.

Does any shop have this set up where you can shoot with your skates on?

What about the rest of the boot? If it's just the tongues you don't like, have you considered swapping the tongue? The last "innovative" Bauer tongue I had was in my Vapor 8's and I couldn't stand the lack of flex so I sliced the top layer of pleather, which made it much better. That's not an option in this case, but if you have old tongues lying around, it might be worth the try.

His stick is long compared to a lot of 90’s stars, and they managed to shoot with hands closer and further apart (see Coffey, Sakic, Bure, Kovalev, and Fedorov amongst many others). There are too many variables to just look at stick length relative to height and say how one’s hands are forced to be when shooting. Matthews has a rather upright stance, for example, which probably contributes to his hand offset.

Everything is old Jofa though, just redressed a bit to make different elbows seem distinct. They’re actually all just copies of those established archetypes (Jofa 2-piece and 3-piece). They may have miniscule differences but there’s nothing new under the Sun yet.

I agree I’d go with one of the existing integrated solutions available: cage, bubble, or combo. It’s hard to agree this is “ultimate protection,” what with those gaps for a stick or something to wedge into or latch onto, and there’s no chin cup. It also performs poorly on the mirror test, especially from the side: I’d wager that’s one of the more important deciding factors when it comes to the market’s acceptance of new product.

Give me balance over minimum weight any day.

Did you try the lipstick spot check Van Horne shows in a video? Put lipstick on the sore spot of your naked ankle/foot, put your skate on and then press your foot up against the skate. Because it sounds like it’s an area where your ankle is moving back and forth in the skate, try to replicate that motion with and without the tongue in place. I’m wondering if it could be the edge of the tongue, as the TF9 tongue lacks the usual plush felt around the edges like a traditional tongue would have.

With Clarino-lined skates, would one’s socks weigh more at the end of the game?

But for future proofing CCM is better than the lineup name in big text. As a counterpoint which I always read as “All Out. Oh CCM.”

The part in bold sounds like a generalization to me, but to each his own. I suspect some others may have read that that way as well, which could be why there’s been some speculation on why you’re afraid you might boot or bottom out in 100Ks. There’s nothing wrong with knowing what you like in a boot, but asking if a boot generally behaves such and such a way under certain circumstances sounds like blaming the arrow rather than looking at the archer. Attributing performance to equipment is probably the number one fallacy of hockey equipment marketing, so it’s important to stamp that thinking out as much as possible.

True, it could be you have invented a particular method for bottoming out. I'm not quite sure what you mean, can you elaborate on your technique?

Bottoming out is rather a balance issue than a boot issue. If you’re over the right part of the blade it’s not possible to bottom out, given your edges and the ice you’re covering are in working condition.

What do you mean?

Isn’t that just the gravity of the marketing black hole? On the one side it’s all negative spin, as a marketing attack on the competition. On the other it’s all positive, as marketing propaganda masquerading as “promotion.” What about this flexible Mako sole? I’m still interested in finding sources for it. So far it sounds like I missed some of the marketing behind the skate or that that element was absent in Easton’s representation of the design. I know nothing about bobsledding, so that line of thought provides just as much insight.

Even under the foot? I know it was softer up high, but I thought it was meant to be stiff and resist flex between the towers of the holder. That’s supposed to be the benefit of the monocoque shell: more stiffness under the foot to resist torsion and provide sharper response. I won’t say agility because I see that as a function of an individual player in an individual skate on an individual blade geometry; way too many factors to attribute a change in one to make an effect overall.

I missed this being a feature of the Mako. I thought its shell was meant to be stiffer, resisting torsional rigidity to make it more responsive. Was it just the midsole that flexed like this or the shell as well?

I thought they were new ones designed to best fit their footscan matrix.

Today’s 3-piece elbow archetype is also Jofa. Alpha DX looks closer to a Jofa copy to me than a return to the Projekt pattern.

Interesting. How do you mean?

Was going to say the same as @Vet88. The two Projekt releases seem to be Warrior’s only iconic elbow, but they abandoned it in favor of the standard Jofa copies. Sher-Wood’s Code V looks like a pretty faithful rendition of Projekts though: