Show off your Gear (Note: Any images posted here can be posted on @TheGoalNet Instagram)

[RichMan]

On 10/13/2023 at 5:46 PM, coopaloop1234 said:

Yo, Mr. Moneybags, why did you have to kill my dream so swiftly? 

[RichMan]

14 hours ago, bildeer said:

You jest, but you're entirely correct, as you likely are already aware. The modern game is extremely hard on the hips (and associated ligaments). There are goaltenders my age (under 25) getting hip replacements and dealing with other serious hip-related issues. They may have achieved that "sick butterfly flare" (that has much less bearing on how many pucks will be stopped than some believe) but at what cost? Maybe Giguere was on to something with his signature "jiggy fly". 

Bringing this back to equipment in an attempt to not stray too far off topic, but my equipment bag resembles something that was swiped from a locker room back in 2012. I never thought I'd end up being that guy wearing "ancient" (allegedly) equipment but what is also somewhat humorous is not only the realization of how little bearing what equipment equipment you are wearing (within reason) relates to success, and that they all do the same thing, just in different ways. Sometimes we forget how little what we wear has to do with the equation.

I'd post a photo of my equipment, but short of "downgrading" to a pair of 11 year old Graf 7500's last year (for $120!), nothing has changed  aside from the fact that my skating is better than it has ever been. 

I doubt VERY much that the way I played in my late teens would work well for me in today's game, so I had to adapt and learn the new school to keep up. And you very well know that beer league is the ultimate 2 on 1 - 3 on 1 school playground  

Edited October 15, 2023 by RichMan

[bildeer]

11 hours ago, FIFTY-SIX said:

May I ask what improved your skating?

From 2018 to last year I was in a pair of Graf DM1080's. I liked them a lot (and still do). I came from some Reebok 11k's that I had been wearing for a while that quite frankly had a blade with a length that resembled a pair of skis. I could shuffle and do everything else fine, but It wasn't until I switched to something with shorter blades (and a more aggressive profile) did I realize that I had been missing out on the ability to pivot and rotate the way I was now able to. 

Back to the DM1080's I was wearing: I never really had any complaints with them, but I tried some G7500's on a whim because I recalled that back in the day the people who wore them would never shut up about them. I gave them a try expecting to not notice much of a difference and would switch back to the DM1080s. I found that the former allowed more flexibility at the ankle, was more comfortable as a consequence, and lighter, which was nice.

It made movements feel more natural and quite frankly I didn't realize skates could feel that nice and give me that much control. I really wish I had known about these when I was younger, but the general sentiment at around that time was that "Grafs were for the old folks" and I never really questioned it further. 

Hope that is a sufficient explanation.

1 hour ago, RichMan said:

I doubt VERY much that the way I played in my late teens would not work well for me in today's game, so I had to adapt and learn the new school to keep up. And you very well know that beer league is the ultimate 2 on 1 - 3 on 1 school playground  

You're entirely correct with respect to having to adapt to changes in how the game is played. All I am stating is that those of us who were "born into the modern game" might stop more pucks, but I have reservations regarding the ability to goaltend for 40-50 years like some forum members have without needing hip resurfacing or replacements. There's stuff we can do to mitigate the effects of it before it becomes an issue, but I do not believe we really had a good grasp on the effects of it until a few years ago. For many, the damage has already been done. 

While this may or may not be a similar equivocation, I will bring this up just for the sake of it. I have an uncle who was fortunate enough to be drafted to the NFL and spent several years there as a defensive lineman in the 1980's. He's showing signs of CTE now and the league is paying out for the brain damage he sustained during his tenure there. While we know a lot more about traumatic brain injuries now than we did then, the damage has already been done. Unfortunately, they didn't make this realization until many of his former teammates (nearly exclusively linemen) began taking their own lives as a result of TBIs sustained during their careers.

While the situation with goaltenders hips obviously less severe, I really think it should be emphasized a little more than it is, as I really hate to hear about the guys I grew up playing with sustaining the kind of injuries that they do. 

With respect to men's league, yeah, the kind of stuff you'll see there is resembling of a shooting gallery at times. I honestly think it has the greatest variation in experience and skill level than any other group you'll play with, and that can make things very, very difficult at times. It's a different game out there.

 

Perhaps this may be a consequence of how I worded my last post, but the only reason I made the statement regarding equipment and performance, I shared this because there are some things that you don't realize until you've done it, and it wasn't something I realized until a few years ago. I made my comment because If you go back 10 years ago, aside from the disappearance of shredded foam, bindings, strapping and weight they are not really that different. Now if you are referring to the "Pre-Velocity/box pad" days, yes, they very much different.

 

Trying to stay in line with the thread topic, so I'll add a picture of an old leg pad, but when they were new. I swiped this photo from the GSBB many years ago before they took the site down. Dated 12/11/10. I would not get my hands on them until the summer of 2013 and wore them until the summer of 2017. I ended up liking the model so much (V4 7600) that I ended up with two more pairs, one of which I still wear to this day. 

(some of you may recognize these as DoubleG's leg pads that came with the single break instead of the double break it was ordered with) I still have them and have no plans on getting rid of them, although I did run them into the ground, so the don't look like they do in the photo anymore.

Edited October 15, 2023 by bildeer

[coopaloop1234]

Pulled the trigger on this stock Mach set. Been scouring Sideline for a while now and these popped up on GGSU today. 

$1850 CAD ain't bad. 

@TheGoalNet I'll take that jacket now. 

[A.YOUNGoalie13]

8 minutes ago, coopaloop1234 said:

Pulled the trigger on this stock Mach set. Been scouring Sideline for a while now and these popped up on GGSU today. 

$1850 CAD ain't bad. 

@TheGoalNet I'll take that jacket now. 

Nice set. Kinda a free agent type of look if you ask me. On a serious note, where is ggsu? Whenever I look it up online I can't get the site to pop up

[seagoal]

10 minutes ago, coopaloop1234 said:

Pulled the trigger on this stock Mach set. Been scouring Sideline for a while now and these popped up on GGSU today. 

$1850 CAD ain't bad. 

@TheGoalNet I'll take that jacket now. 

You gonna use the mitt all of a sudden?

[coopaloop1234]

5 minutes ago, A.YOUNGoalie13 said:

Nice set. Kinda a free agent type of look if you ask me. On a serious note, where is ggsu? Whenever I look it up online I can't get the site to pop up

@ThatCarGuy made fun of me, so I had to get an all matching set. 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/goaliegearsluts

3 minutes ago, seagoal said:

You gonna use the mitt all of a sudden?

We'll see. It wasn't like I couldn't use it fine, I just really preferred my Warriors. 

I'm not even 100% sure I'll stick with these Machs anyways because of the stiffness profile. 

But then again, I demo'd the Mach's after only two skates in a 3S set. Since I'm far more familiar with my US, I'm wondering if my experience and familiarity with a stiffer pad will extend itself to a better experience with these. 

If I do stick with them, I'll probably sell the glove and get an all black G6. 

Or I may just abandon it all. Time will tell. 

[ThatCarGuy]

2 hours ago, coopaloop1234 said:

If I do stick with them, I'll probably sell the glove and get an all black G6. 

Or I may just abandon it all. Time will tell. 

Or you could commit to it and get a full G6 set 

Edited October 17, 2023 by ThatCarGuy

[coopaloop1234]

3 minutes ago, ThatCarGuy said:

Or you could commit to it and get a full G6 set 

Nah. Warrior blockers are the weakest portion of their kits and I love my Mach too much. 

Plus I was not a fan of the G6 strapping set up. Feels like such a step back from what they've been using since the G3. 

[ThatCarGuy]

Just now, coopaloop1234 said:

Nah. Warrior blockers are the weakest portion of their kits and I love my Mach too much. 

Plus I was not a fan of the G6 strapping set up. Feels like such a step back from what they've been using since the G3.

I agree the blocker is the weakest part but I've gotten used to it and while I don't prefer it to Mach I can finally put them at equal. 

You know you could just wear G6 like G3 and G4 right? You don't have to use the calf wrap slots, the inner strap is removable and it comes stock with the wide calf wrap. That said I absolutely love the new strapping specifically because it makes the pads play like my super tight fit ccms did. 

Plus if you go for a full Mach set you'd have to leave the unmentioned group ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[coopaloop1234]

7 minutes ago, ThatCarGuy said:

I agree the blocker is the weakest part but I've gotten used to it and while I don't prefer it to Mach I can finally put them at equal. 

You know you could just wear G6 like G3 and G4 right? You don't have to use the calf wrap slots, the inner strap is removable and it comes stock with the wide calf wrap. That said I absolutely love the new strapping specifically because it makes the pads play like my super tight fit ccms did. 

Plus if you go for a full Mach set you'd have to leave the unmentioned group ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I mean kind of. I never used the slits on my G5 either, but for some reason the stiffer calf wraps, how they're placed even further out, and the down to the knee strapping just didn't have an immediately good feel in store. The G6 leg pads just didn't do it for me with the strapping changes. 

Honestly, my GT2 set was still my favourite Warrior set. It's too bad they abandoned that line, I feel like that's where they shined the most. 

And considering I still use a RX2 jock and RX3 C/A, I'm still allowed in. And let's be real, I'd replace that Mach catcher eventually. 

 

[Phil1p33]

Bit of an impulse buy but I've been wanting to get a set of Bauers for a long time now and a work bonus showed up that I wasn't quite expecting. Getting these on the ice tomorrow and I'm super stoked. I immediately like the blocker feel more than my 9X3 blocker. I've only ever been in CCM/Lefevre gloves so this Bauer one will probably take some getting used to, there's so many velcro points so I probably just need to adjust it a little to feel more comfortable. Pads feel like the perfect blend of rigidity/flex and I'm really looking forward to seeing the rebounds off these things as my last "hard" pad were the Axis1.9s and I felt like my EF5s had bigger rebounds. 

[ThatCarGuy]

56 minutes ago, coopaloop1234 said:

Honestly, my GT2 set was still my favourite Warrior set. It's too bad they abandoned that line, I feel like that's where they shined the most.

Ah there's the difference. I hated GT2 lol. Felt terrible to me in store and the added torsional flex to an already very flexible G4 pad felt rough. Never could get the thigh rise anywhere near the ice with GT2. 

I also agree the down to the calf strapping on G6 feels off. For that reason my knee strap is attached to the inner wrap. I feel like the stiffer calf wrap was definitely a miss and I could see why it felt awful with the wide calf wrap option because it wouldn't bend like previous pads. I avoided this issue by getting the narrow option  . Basically all the issues you had I avoided by changing strapping or via custom specs. 

[coopaloop1234]

24 minutes ago, ThatCarGuy said:

Ah there's the difference. I hated GT2 lol. Felt terrible to me in store and the added torsional flex to an already very flexible G4 pad felt rough. Never could get the thigh rise anywhere near the ice with GT2. 

I also agree the down to the calf strapping on G6 feels off. For that reason my knee strap is attached to the inner wrap. I feel like the stiffer calf wrap was definitely a miss and I could see why it felt awful with the wide calf wrap option because it wouldn't bend like previous pads. I avoided this issue by getting the narrow option  . Basically all the issues you had I avoided by changing strapping or via custom specs. 

I never had any thighrise seal issues on my GT2 set. Hell, there was more torsional flex in my G5 set. 

 

[IpaddyTECH]

7 hours ago, coopaloop1234 said:

@ThatCarGuy made fun of me, so I had to get an all matching set. 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/goaliegearsluts

We'll see. It wasn't like I couldn't use it fine, I just really preferred my Warriors. 

I'm not even 100% sure I'll stick with these Machs anyways because of the stiffness profile. 

But then again, I demo'd the Mach's after only two skates in a 3S set. Since I'm far more familiar with my US, I'm wondering if my experience and familiarity with a stiffer pad will extend itself to a better experience with these. 

If I do stick with them, I'll probably sell the glove and get an all black G6. 

Or I may just abandon it all. Time will tell. 

Doooooo it, join the dark side... 

but to be honest I'm getting a Mach blocker too. Warrior is fine to me, but Mach blocker is such a nice feel.

Edited October 18, 2023 by IpaddyTECH

[seagoal]

34 minutes ago, IpaddyTECH said:

Doooooo it, join the dark side... 

but to be honest I'm getting a Mach blocker too. Warrior is fine to me, but Mach blocker is such a nice feel.

Yup.  I've never before felt like I could pick a spot with blocker rebounds and hit it.  The way the Machs feel in terms of directional steering/pushing the puck is incredible. 

[RichMan]

22 hours ago, coopaloop1234 said:

I never had any thighrise seal issues on my GT2 set. Hell, there was more torsional flex in my G5 set. 

 

Ok, we all know your ankles are touching behind the pads, just admit it    

[coopaloop1234]

8 minutes ago, RichMan said:

Ok, we all know your ankles are touching behind the pads, just admit it    

You caught me. This is how I actually play. 

[kozzy]

On 10/10/2023 at 11:37 AM, WillyGrips13 said:

Looking good. Are those 12” or 11” wide? Are the gloves new spec (smaller) or old spec (huge)?

Got these in today.  The gloves are bigger - the catcher looks like it's about the same as my torn-to-shreds Brian's mitt from the early 1990s - and is bigger than the Vaughn I have.  I think the perimeter on the Brown 1800 series is 149 inches (vs. 145 as the rule now?).  Blocker is also bigger - similar in size to by 1990s Brian's blocker.  

Pads are amazing.  Pretty light (haven't weighted them yet) - much lighter than my old 1990s Brian's with the real leather and deer hair still, I think.  Probably a bit heavier than the V5 Vaughns, but not by much.  Played tonight and the first period was a bit of an adjustment from the V5s, but oh man it was nice to have what I consider real pads on.  Strapped on tight, but so comfortable.  By the second period, I was adjusted and moving very well, and made all the stops from there on out.  The Graf DM1080s I got do very nicely with these, too.  

Anyway, I will put some more time in before further review, but for the moment, I couldn't be happier with this Brown gear.  Beautifully made, old school, but improved (lighter).  And, also, what a great company to work with.  So helpful and responsive.  

[ser33]

10 hours ago, coopaloop1234 said:

You caught me. This is how I actually play. 

In our business, the main thing is to close your eyes in time. haha

[Toobs]

Hey all, new to the board, but thought I’d show off my new set. Custom SLR3 with an XP70 glove. 

[AdamL]

9 minutes ago, Toobs said:

Hey all, new to the board, but thought I’d show off my new set. Custom SLR3 with an XP70 glove. 

Beautiful, but that's not a XP70 glove.

[Toobs]

44 minutes ago, AdamL said:

Beautiful, but that's not a XP70 glove.

It is, it’s the V9 version 

[AdamL]

9 minutes ago, Toobs said:

It is, it’s the V9 version 

The XP gloves do not have a laced-in break, that glove does. It's probably either an SLR3 glove or a V9 two-piece glove with the appearance of a solid cuff.

[Toobs]

5 minutes ago, AdamL said:

The XP gloves do not have a laced-in break, that glove does. It's probably either an SLR3 glove or a V9 two-piece glove with the appearance of a solid cuff.

Nope, had that added as a custom option. This set was top to bottom customized.