Patrick

I thought the same too but that liner doesn't pack much even with baking and with skating 5 time a week for 2 months. Which is a good thing for longevity of the skates but do not count on making significant length space with it. If you like the skate just go up 1/2 size. We learned from it.

55 minutes ago, mr_shifty1982 said:

Heat molding won't change the length of the skate just the fit. The toe won't start shrinking in lol so if you're touching, get a half size bigger and go into a store if you can to try. 

55 minutes ago, mr_shifty1982 said:

Heat molding won't change the length of the skate just the fit. The toe won't start shrinking in lol so if you're touching, get a half size bigger and go into a store if you can to try. 

So I agree with the above comment. We did bake a Graf Pro G skate thinking that it would add some length by compressing the back of the ankle area and it didn't do enough. I would go a half size bigger.

Anybody knows the weight of the fusion 2 glove? I am looking to replace a Warrior G4 glove.

Sold.

Should I leave it here for people to see details and photos about the skate model in generalor should we erase the thread?

1 hour ago, RichMan said:

Mine lasted 10 years before I started to feel the puck a bit more but it didn't bother me. Had to chuck it as it became victim of mould due to a basement flooding. Would of bought another one but my budget was not up to it.

Sorry that's the moisture got to it. Great to hear that you got some good used it of it. My son was willing to trade extra weight for protection and longevity and I think this is what we got. Once broken, the mobility is great, which is something we did not expect. We got our on Sidelineswap with a significant discount. I hope you find another one.

2 hours ago, RichMan said:

What a beautiful throwback! Reminds me of my first Brown unit I owned, except mine was used and yellowish lolll

Oh the childhood memories 

My JB503, that strongly resembles the JB500 shown above, was not all that heavy, maybe 6-8lbs. Clearly it wasn't loaded like your 2200. That is A LOT of extra padding.

And we all know that breaking in a Brown takes a while but well worth the effort and time. Once really broken in they actually feel like a sweater as most of you say of the Vaughn units, but maybe like a nice thick wool sweater  

I bought it new for my son during lockdown from a guy that needed to unload it. It was broken within 2-3 practices and mobility is excellent. Keep in mind that during practices he gets way more shots than during games. So if you play games only, it might take longer.  He loves it and he likes the peace off mind of not having to worry about any pain. After a year of intense use, the protection hasn't changed and i can tell this will last a long time.

As far as the weight goes, I wanted a baseline measurement during the off season when they unit is bone dry. He is practicing almost everyday and sometime twice a day, so monitoring if the unit has time to dry and doesn't become waterlogged seems likes good idea. I was also wondering if salt from sweat could build up to a significant degree.

4 hours ago, Chenner29 said:

Are you sure it's not reinforced/Russian spec? IIRC the grey shoulder cap under the floater is an external cue that it's built that way

If so 9.3 lbs is pretty normal for that build

Thanks. It is Russian specs. We bought it brand new from a guy that said it was. I thought at the time it was just a bit more padding at the shoulder. I did not know it made such a difference. My bad and thank you.

I have a JB 2200 protector size large.  I let it hang dry after every ice touch. At the end of it's first season, it started to feel heavy and needed to be cleaned.  I let it soak in a bathtub for  couple hours with clothing detergent then rinse it out and let it soak again in clean water. I then took it out and let it dry for 2 week in our dry California garage. It has been dry for many days but it still weight 9.3 lbs. On the Brown website it says it should be under 6lbs.  What could be going on?
 

1 hour ago, ilyazhito said:

Wow, the skate to shoe fit is really all over the place. I'll have to go to the Gardens Ice House in Laurel or Pure Hockey in Sterling just to size myself.

That would be best. There is more to skate sizing than just foot length.

17 hours ago, ilyazhito said:

The recommended size for me in Bauer was 7.5, but I fit better in an 8.0. I believe I would also be in an 8.0 if I went with CCM, so I'm surprised that my Graf size would come out to be just a half size less than my street shoes. 

Bauer recommends on their chart 1.5 down from U.S.your shoe size an Graf 1 down from your shoes size. But since you only go down 1 with Bauer....You would have to try in person.

10 hours ago, ilyazhito said:

Interesting. That means that in my case, Graf would only be a half size down from my regular shoe size. 

I was told that Graf is usually .5 bigger than Bauer. As far as street shoes goes, I can't tell. In our case, My son wear a size 10 shoe and fits in a Bauer 8.5 fit 1 and a Graf 9.0 Regular. I don't fit people on a regular basis, I am not an expert in the matter. I can only speak of my son's experience.

2 hours ago, ilyazhito said:

That makes sense. If I ever need new skates, I'll look for a pair of size 8s then. 

If you wear a Bauer 8 and go to Graf, I would ger a size 8.5 in Graf. 8 would be too small. My son's wears 8.5 in Bauer and True and a 8.5 in Graf are way too small even in a performance tight fit. Another, goalie coach from Canada who  I spoke to had the same experience for sizing.

4 hours ago, ilyazhito said:

How do Graf skate sizes compare to standard shoe sizes? BTW, I wear a Bauer Elite skate in Fit 2, size 8.0, one size less than my normal 9D shoes. 

My son and I can fit in this one. We both wear a US size 10 shoes and Bauer fit 1 size 8.5. It seems that those would be a bit long for you. Here is also a picture of the box size chart. However, we had ordered a size 8.5 in the same skate and it felt way, way smaller. Those seems to fit the typical Graf sizing of the past which is you chose one less than your shoe size.

Latest Graf goalie skates Pro G model. Brand new, never sharpened, never baked. Great skates, carbon fiber, Very light. Warranty returns. Already had a new pair when we got those back. Included high performance foot bed. Fits more in length like a Bauer 8.5. $525 or best offer and you pay shipping. We live in Petaluma in the North San Francisco Bay area if you live nearby we can arrange for a meeting somewhere. Those are already on Sideline swap at this address if you prefer this way of buying. You can make me an offer there as well as this is a safe way of buying.

https://sidelineswap.com/gear/hockey/goalie/goalie-skates/4544062-graf-new-pro-g-hockey-goalie-skates-size-9

We need full coverage of the upper leg front and back and groin as high as possible. We had a close call last month. A player ran over my son during a practice and a skate blade found it's way inside his pant inside the leg. We were wearing Daredevils pants and the skate hit the groin area about half an inch below where the protection stopped. He got cut a bit through the protection. I cannot imagine what could have been if the cut has been half an inch higher,

So i went and bought a pair of those Sync pants. They are good but I wish they were less expensive. I would also like if they would run a bit lower on the lower leg so there would be no gap between them and his cut resistant socks.

https://www.syncperformance.com/products/cut-resistant-base-layer?variant=32099587981374

I have a few 8mm sockets as well and the wall seems too tick to fit in there as well. Anybody found a  solution or do I have to buy the True/Step tool to do it>

12 hours ago, SaveByRichter35 said:

There is a semi local shop to me in NYC that has been a Graf dealer forever.  If you need someone with a little more insight you could always give them a call.  West Side Skates

I might. Very appreciated.

11 hours ago, bunnyman666 said:

Did you ever remove the blade and sharpen in a blade carrier? I do that a lot and have found I get better results.

Yes, it's better but when you put it back in the holder the slight twist of the blade change the blade angles again.

12 hours ago, bunnyman666 said:

Frankly, if it were me, I would put a CCM XSG holder on my Graf skate and call it a day.

That's what I would do too if the skates were sized right. He can use them but they cause some problems that could be bad for the longer term.

My son went from a Graf DM1050 8.5 to the Graf Peakspeed Pro G in size 8.5. He plays 16AA.

The boot and liner are really nice. They are light and comfortable from the start. and the I had some reserve about the holder and steel and it works well for the most part.

However, we had 2 issues that you must be aware of.

Sizing:

We were advised at Goalie Plus that the sizing was exactly the same. It is not. We should have got a 9. Another gentlemen from another store warned us but since he is wearing an 11, I though it might have been a problem only in the bigger sizes. I followed the seller advice. It feels so much smaller in length and in width as it is barely usable.  We baked them and use them since October in the hope that the liner will pack. It did not.

Holder:

I could never get a good sharpening on them on our Spark machine. I could get an even edge in the front and middle but not at the heel on my edge checker since day one. I did not know if it was the blade or the holder. We went to MonkeySport in Irvine, CA and Mark the manager confirmed that the holder was off and did straitened it quite a bit but it is still off and will need to get remounted. I will probably get it remounted next time we go to Southern CA. I don't know if it is an isolated case or a frequent problem with the quality of the holder mounting. I did not contact the Goalieplus nor Graf/Vaughn about it as we don't want to send the skate back in the middle of the season and argue about whether it was the blade or holder and it was our fault or theirs and all.....I try to contact Graf and Vaughn before buying and i wasn't impressed with their customer service. They would not answer any questions and referred me to their resellers who practically don't know anything about the skate because nobody has seen it in store even less try it on the ice. If you buy from any online store, it ships directly from Graf.

For that reason, at the end of the season we will have the skate remonted and sold because of the sizing issue. We can use it but it is way too tight. I am not sure if we want another Graf this time as a size 9 or look for a one piece True skate.

On 3/20/2020 at 10:50 PM, OceanMon said:

Hi Patrick

Thanks for your message. 

I have been contemplating on how I could reduce the chances of concussion....and I could only come up with trying to avoid the puck.   I read somewhere that I should try to get it square in the cage to distribute the impact.  Makes sense, but also seems crazy. 

Your tip of tucking in the chin makes a lot of sense as the head and body would act together as one body of inertia.  Thanks so much for this. 

On 3/21/2020 at 6:16 AM, SaveByRichter35 said:

Take it to the cage???  Who told you to do that??  Try catching the puck first and foremost.  Avoid the puck to the head if you can.

I agree with SaveByRichter that you should try to catch and avoid the puck. Also, if you play with your hand on the side of your body instead of in front of you it makes it too far to catch a puck going toward your head.  Only a small movement of your hand can cover or catch a puck going toward your head. You can see this article show a photo that illustrate this.

https://www.megagoaltending.com/2017/01/04/glove-positioning/

In the second photos you can see that hand position. You can try as a dryland activity to have someone shoot gently some tennis ball toward your head and catch them with your glove and you will see how little movement is needed when your glove position right.

If you can't catch it, try to duck or tilt the head sideways but do not turn your head away because the side of the helmet is not designed to deflect pucks and the impact is going to be worse.  At last, as mentioned earlier in those case when it just happened too fast having your chin tucked will make a huge difference. Deflections happen so fast that you cannot possibly catch or avoid them all and some will hit you in the mask.

At last, the mask protect you better against puck impacts then against elbows and shoulders from players....

On 3/17/2020 at 11:04 PM, OceanMon said:

hi guys

just placed my order for a full Kevlar mask. However, reading other forums, I notice that there is a theory that heavier masks provide better protection due to higher inertia. 

I think you are referring to a post I contributed to. Mask padding might influence more the risk of concussion than the weight itself. I was just comparing if all things were equal (padding, geometry, material of the shell), except the weight. Unfortunately, Mask of different weight even from the same brand come with different padding material which makes comparing impossible outside of true impact testing.

The strength of your neck muscle as well as the way you position your head prior to a hit would affect how much your head would get accelerated by a shot. My son was given the advice to tuck his chin more into his chest and it reduce the feel of the impact by a lot. It increase the rigidity of the neck by tensing the anterior muscle of that area.  He would still feel it badly if he gets hit while looking around a screen. 

I am really not sure if the slight advantage of a heavier helmet for impact would be offsetting the disadvantage of the additional strain it could cause on the cervical spine. So there are probably other factors that are maybe more important than the weight your helmet alone.

I hope this help.