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Gear Gotten Too Expensive?


TheGoalNet

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2 hours ago, coopaloop1234 said:

I sure don't remember any of the goalies I played with growing up ever doing private lessons, or even goalie specific exercises. 

Kids these days are seeing A LOT more pucks then back in the 90's. Sprinkle in the composite sticks and maybe some QC issues and voila, you've got a nice equation to break down gear quicker. 

You got a point....I had only had practices w a goalie coach in midgets (15-16 yr old) but nothing like is available the last several years. Practices were just fire pucks until the skaters' arms wore out. :). Plus, we had a season, not a year round season.

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On 10/15/2024 at 10:44 AM, coopaloop1234 said:

 Sprinkle in the composite sticks and maybe some QC issues and voila, you've got a nice equation to break down gear quicker. 

Wouldn't even say QC issues...

But generally speaking, gear that is heavy duty and lasts a long time is the absolute polar opposite of lightweight performance. People want lightweight performance, and there is a perpetual trade off between the lightest gear and how long it will last.

AAA 14 yr old kids are gonna want the Pro stick like Shadow, however if they wanted something that would last the longest they would buy a GSX.

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There's always tradeoffs and no solutions. 

I played a lot but usually not year round. Here I am with my D&R LG55s I bought in 1983 which cost $400 then. Obviously not light weight performance but at the same time, styles aside, I am not dropping close to a grand (good guess?) every year or so for pads. No comparison between mine and modern ones but I think I got my money out of mine through college, beer league, and drop ins. Now if you want to discuss dropping tons of cash on a sport, wait until your daughter takes up horse riding and you have the bad luck that she is good at it. Mortgage on 4 legs. :)

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18 hours ago, TheGoalNet said:

Wouldn't even say QC issues...

But generally speaking, gear that is heavy duty and lasts a long time is the absolute polar opposite of lightweight performance. People want lightweight performance, and there is a perpetual trade off between the lightest gear and how long it will last.

AAA 14 yr old kids are gonna want the Pro stick like Shadow, however if they wanted something that would last the longest they would buy a GSX.

I'm over here using my old foam core CCM sticks I got for $30 each on clearance! 🤣🤣🤣 2 Years going strong and the back up hasn't even hit the ice yet.

I remember lifting those high end composite sticks up in the shop and they were so light that I wont deny it... the temptation did creep up a bit! Well... until I had noticed the price then it felt like the stick weighed 1000LBs, right back to the rack! I'll sooner get Popeye arms and use foam cores than spend big $$$ on the lightest feather weight stick on the market.

Back in my inline days I actually bought a composite stick and that was still at the time where foam cores were still booming and I remember one week.... that is all it took with a slap shot on the shaft to bust that twig. Personally I would be a bit nervous to even bring a high end composite to a practice! So far I haven't been using anything but foam cores since, and they're dirt cheap. My shaft is pretty chipped up so at some point it will break too, but it has taken a lot of shots!

When the foam core gravy train runs out I'll head over to the GSX line or something at the bottom because I've heard from other goalies they last longer even if the weight / performance isn't the same, but for me I could careless.

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Youth gear is a season to season market mostly anyway. My kids don't play goalie, but every season I'd replace moist of their gear. Especially sticks, skates and gloves.

I think the manufacturers design their gear for this trend pretty well. The breakdown and release of the new version in that same gear line are almost the same time. Great engineering!

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1 hour ago, MTH said:

Youth gear is a season to season market mostly anyway. My kids don't play goalie, but every season I'd replace moist of their gear. Especially sticks, skates and gloves.

I think the manufacturers design their gear for this trend pretty well. The breakdown and release of the new version in that same gear line are almost the same time. Great engineering!

I help coach mite travel. Spending more time around kids, the little kids are even obsessed with getting new sticks or all they all notice when someone got new skates. It's interesting to see how players different from goalies.

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I had to talk down a mom recently from buying a custom stick for her son who's a first year U9 (I think?), she was asking what major brand offers custom stick in a 21" because True would only do it at 23" or something. 

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On 10/23/2024 at 1:38 PM, johncho said:

I had to talk down a mom recently from buying a custom stick for her son who's a first year U9 (I think?), she was asking what major brand offers custom stick in a 21" because True would only do it at 23" or something. 

Yeah, sticks these days are crazy.

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On 10/23/2024 at 1:38 PM, johncho said:

I had to talk down a mom recently from buying a custom stick for her son who's a first year U9 (I think?), she was asking what major brand offers custom stick in a 21" because True would only do it at 23" or something. 

Hockey parents are mega rich.

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27 minutes ago, MTH said:

Hockey parents are mega rich.

Yeah I mean this is coming off failing to speak to her before she ordered custom pads for her first year kid. She just assumed that everyone got new gear. I asked if she would adopt me, she said no. 

I think it's also that she didn't understand

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On 10/23/2024 at 11:00 AM, MTH said:

Travel mites on half ice? Fun times. My rink ran full ice (even the Olympic rink) for mites. Was a competition between the two fastest kids on each team the whole game.

Yup, that's why USA Hockey does not allow it. Unfortunately, Chicago area does AAU travel for Mites and it's just how the journey starts. I know other areas are more strict with the half ice only.

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