flip12

Bourque was using what looks very close to the P89 before those two were drafted. That’s why I was thinking it might have something to do with him. I can’t find pictures of either T. Drury or C. Darby with blades that look like P89s.

I’m curious about the origin of the P89. It looks like Mogilny used it at some point, but he also changed things up more than anyone I’ve ever seen. Ray Bourque’s game used sticks look very close, at least in the blade face. I’ve never seen how deep or what type of curve he used though.

I have Easton’s version and Bauer’s. Bauer’s is slightly more closed and rounder at the toe, but only very slightly. It’s an awesome curve. The rocker is underrated. It matches my Kovalev Pro stocks, except he had a lower section shaved off the heel and his blade was about 1.5 inches longer. I love how it’s just enough curve to help you out but not too much, where it gets cumbersome, like I feel with my Malkin pros or E28.

The mid-tier skate has been getting stronger and stronger, much like the mid-tier stick. Going up in price from what in the early 00’s was the top end ($400 for skates, $150 for sticks) gets you reduced weight and the latest set of tech/gimmicks (depending on how you look at it) but the performance is usually elsewhere: technique and tuning spec to what your body needs. I suspect the TF7 is merely exposing this effect, forcing a Warren Buffet low-tide on the marketing of skates.

SVH said the front holes line up ok on one side and not the other...can't remember if it was medial or lateral.

How do you mean?

Yeah, absolutely no need to open that can again. I was just confused because you asked @Coldclay and I came by saying, here's a test it did not do particularly well on. That's it. You happen to disavow that source, but that's totally up to you.

What?

Didn’t fare well on VT Hockey Star test. https://www.helmet.beam.vt.edu/hockey-helmet-ratings.html

Awesome! If leaving the holders on, I’d do it the way you did, to get a truer wrap of the foot.

@JSchultz, I’ve mostly seen the shrink wrap method applied to the ankle and heel areas of the boot. The holders might get in the way, but perhaps you could have them removed for the baking process. I want to rebake my MLX with the shrink wrap method to get an even snugger fit but want to do the opposite of what I’ve seen most people do. I want to shrink wrap from the forefoot to the heel lock area and skip the top three eyelets because I use a deep ankle aversion in my stride. I molded them by just lacing them up that way last time, skipping the top 3 eyelets, and it was the best I’ve tried. It’s easier to remove and reattach the holder on stock MLX holders though because they’re fastened with Torx screws instead of rivets.

It could be you’ll feel better on a longer radius, say 11’. I think there’s a link between the aggressiveness of the boot and radius. Since the boot allows for more range of motion, your sense for the ice might be more in tune with a longer contact strip. It’s worth trying at least.

What’d you get? What coffee do you use?

True boots are not only softer but also lower cut. The closeness of the fit after molding means they don’t have to go up so high to provide comparable support to what the other brands achieve with higher cuts.

Looks like a vanilla PM9/E4. The pro part could just mean it’s a non-retail build. Makes sense if it’s for a team order. What about the top sticker? Does that have more info?

Can you post some pictures of your Spooner curve?

Good points that there are density differences in a lot of the materials. I love clarino, but would consider the mesh liner if the price made better sense overall. I was just curious about the tongue specifically because it’s much easier ho change than any of those other components and SVH‘s Instagram Live story featured the two tongues’ differences in one segment. As I mentioned in the recent Drew Doughty Lacing Pattern thread, I’m very focused on tongue performance now that I’ve experimented with swapping tongues in my Grafs and MLX. I couldn’t get my MLX to feel and perform naturally until I paired them with the softest tongues I have. That and a 1” roh were amazing together. But the more I’ve tinkered with various skates, the more I’m beginning to think it’s the fringe components—the tongue, the pitch and steel properties, boot cuff height and throat flare—that are the most important, that is, the bulk of the boot itself is of least importance. That’s why I was curious about the tongue weights.

P28s and PM9s are often quite different in lie. P28’s quite a bit higher. They both say lie 5, but that’s an extremely sloppy measure. I searched again after posting. I haven’t really looked at sticks in the post-COVID19 months. Maybe their stocking has dried up due to the slowdown. Due to the prevalence of lefties, there are naturally fewer right handled sticks to choose from on PSH. But PM9 has been in such low demand they can sell for really cheap on eBay and other online marketplaces. @chippa13‘s right here. Have you considered Base? They make good sticks for the money. They’re not for you if you want the latest marketing tricks, but they make solid sticks and you have the options to get what you want. Too bad you’re a righty because they have the Darby for lefties. It’s a great blade if you like the PM9, but are wishing for a little more fun: very close in lie but more rockered. More curve and more of a mid curve amd more open but still delightfully mild. It’s actually very close to Kovalev’s Pro pattern—you have lie for almost any distance close in your feet or far from your body—mixed with Lemieux’s curve. It’s even harder to find than the PM9, unfortunately, as it’s only ever had flashes in the pan at retail.

What weight difference is there between the TF7 and TF9 tongues?

There’s usually a lot of that pattern available on Prostockhockey. What specs do you prefer, hand, flex, shaft shape? It’s good to narrow down your final selection by asking them about the actual make of the sticks as it can differ from what they’re dressed as.

Looks like Doughty started skipping the top eyelet in March 2008 and added the shot blockers in April 2012.

He does go tongue under. If you search him on GettyImages and sort by oldest first you’ll see he was lacing loosely to the top until partway into his rookie season in the NHL and then started skipping the top eyelets. He continued with that setup for a while before adding the shot blockers. My guess is it was the best way to add protection to an otherwise prone area, since he had a few inches of ankle protected only by the skates’ tongues, while avoiding adding too much bulk, since mobility has always been one of his key assets. Speculating further, maybe he lets the top of the shot blocker flap out to avoid messing with his forward flex. I’ve tried a lot of different tongues in my skates and have surprisingly found that tongue stiffness is one of the most important factors to how a skate feels and responds. My preference is for the softest tongue possible if the boot has any stiffness at all. My Graf 701s have minimal stiffness, so they pair better with a stiffer 703 tongue.

I was just thinking that. I've been good at hunting Grafs from Germany, and some of the guys on my club want to try something other than Bauer or CCM. One wanted me to watch out for a pair for him. Now True's got a great skate for beer leaguers whose partners might balk at a summer vacation invested in a new pair of skates and I'll recommend TF7s instead of ancient Grafs for him in particular. This is considerably more palatable in every way.

Good question. He says it's for the stock skate and not the custom skate. He's holding and demoing with the TF9 shell in that sequence, so it doesn't seem like the fibreglass/composite difference comes into it. https://www.instagram.com/tv/CCofN_xDATP/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link Question about how to bake starts at 25:27.

New bake protocol is 5-6 mins. total (you could flip at 2.5-3 minutes). SVH discussed it in the Instagram Live from last week. I’m super excited about my next skates. They’ll either be 7s or 9s but the TF line for price and features is insane. I’ve been skating in MLX boots and needed some time to figure out the ankle function that felt most natural, but they’re awesome in fit, performance, and protection and they’re also just built on a stock foot form.