Max: Here we pronounce both "roof" and "hoof" with the same vowel sound as that in "whom", while norteamericanos appear to use the vowel sound found in "crook".

Jackie: I don't think I've ever seen or heard rooves, though.

These are regionalisms. Like Jackie, I pronounce "roof" 'like' "whom"but "hoof" 'like' "crook." Unlike Jackie, my plurals are "rooves," like you, and "hoofs" like crook. I have seen "roofs" spelled "rooves" and even used it, until someone corrected me. I have never heard it pronounced with an "f".

Even someone I normally consider mellifluous, like Peter Jennings, sounds less than euphonious to my shell likes when talking about "hoofs"

This only shows that, like most real New Yorkers, Peter Jennings comes from somewhere else.