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Road Warrior Protogé pads and gloves


Lucky Pucker

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So here is my quick review of the Road Warrior Protogé pads and gloves. (Note: this is just satire for a laugh... or at least my attempt at it)

TL;DR: they will make a terrible adult goalie terribler (yes, it's a word. Starting... now)

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Sizing: Admittedly, these were sized and purchased for my 7 year old, who has surprisingly little resemblance to the 7 year old who was in the aisle at Canadian Tire and assured me he wanted to play street hockey goalie.So yeah, the thigh rise on these about cover my knee caps. The shallow (non-existent?) boot allows pretty much all of my cowlingless running shoes to protrude, but I survived uninjured. If ordering custom, I'd likely get larger thigh rises and extend the boot beyond zero.

Pads: These pads rotate quite a bit, given the two "craptastic plastic-clips" customizable fastening system - just not when you want, or the way you want. But this is moot, really, because if you lose yourself in the action, and forget that you are NOT wearing your normal adult ice hockey pads, the excruciating pain on impact will quickly disabuse you of the notion that an adult can go down in these pads. This also means that the complete lack of inner gusset doesn't really matter - which is just as well, because the use of a single, camping-chair-type canvas material for all the rest of the pad would not make a great sliding surface. There's a lot of flex in these, but as they don't extend beyond my knee, they are fixed to the "non-bendy" part of my leg anyway. Don't be fooled by the flat-face, pure butterfly look of the pad; the exclusion of knee rolls and outer roll are cost-cutting measures, and not progressive leaps in design. Moreover, the inside material might in fact be the hide-a-bed foam that I put out at the curb a few years ago, as the only rebounds that really popped were when my son hit his old man in the head.

Catcher: Although ostensibly a one-piece, there is a ton of wrist flex in this thing. The pouch on this bad-boy is like a pelican... after it's been in a horrible boating accident, and had its beak clumsily amputated. The single-T is a bit large, but then there is no real need to see into your pocket because you won't catch anything with this anyway. As you frantically wave at shots with this, be thankful when they miss; I was feeling stingers from my 7 year old with a tennis ball! And the cheater? I'm sure if I cut this glove open, the cheater insert would be cut out from the flap of an old Cheerios box.The glove is at least light, which was clearly their main concern when building this glove, doing away with finger stalls, padding, cheater insert with stopping ability, and wrist strapping. It does at least stick handle well, as there are multiple breaks (some might have been intended, most due to a lack of any kind of rigidity in the glove) all over.

Blocker: a blocker is a blocker - unless it's the Road Warrior blocker. Rebounds off this thing are unpredictable, and there is NO finger protection whatsoever, which I learned from my first - and last - paddle down. It actually worked pretty well as a knee pad when I was putting on my winter tires the other week, so there's that at least.

Conclusion: Overall, you could probably do better where street hockey goalie gear is concerned. I put on this shitty stuff to play street hockey with my kid though. We had tons of fun, and tons of laughs, some great goals and even a couple of saves, so maybe sometimes the equipment doesn't matter after all!

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Great review. I think this is often an overlooked segment of the market. Personally I'm looking at a set of Mylec similar to those I would use in middle school intramurals. I'd show up at an ungodly early hour so I could be first in line and grab the all black set. While trolling Mylec's site I noticed that the MK1GPs are no longer offered in all black and instead have decided to follow the all white trend.. although they have maintained the classic strapping, thigh rise, and knee landing.

Middle School Set 👇                                                      Current Mylec MK1GP 👇                                      Strapping 👇                                                                Knee Landing 👇

91f6qMQQFvL._SL1500_.jpg     image.thumb.png.d7e641c83edbbf53848e0e9c60c09c89.png   image.thumb.png.9525a47762238f51d51b9089e2a25235.png   image.thumb.png.c5a88865735659447b41d3f3b28412db.png

Interesting to note that on the MK3 while they have added a knee landing... per their website... Mylec apparently intended for when the pad rotates inward. And for this reason I will stick with the technology I know in the MK1.

image.thumb.png.6960fe1be5473a6fcb1f723045ed6561.png image.thumb.png.bf9312d05c5d416f22b3b641cac783e8.png  image.thumb.png.a7a2807aaef74c6ed0b234078d5a6812.png

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You know what i miss, and can't find any pictures of online? That classic set-up for street hockey, where you have a player glove for a blocker, and a baseball glove for a trapper!

Nobody in my neighbourhood had any of that Mylec stuff growing up - over the years, there were a few different sets of pads in rotation. In the late 1980s, I  even got a set (Cooper I think?) that were dark grey foam, with two black plastic 'plates" or "sheets" - a larger one over the shin, and a smaller one for knee/thigh rise area. They had two or three straps, with metal D-ring loops for tightening the straps. I can see them so well in my mind, but cannot find a picture of these online either (if anyone knows what I'm talking about, please post a pic! This has been driving me nuts for months...)

One kid did have these ones that I hated. That whole Cooper "streets" line was weird shit...

image.png.3c630170327a188bd1eeaabdb1a4eeef.png

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Cooper streets - classic crap. So bad that I'd love a set now. 

They offered an add on blocker face to your player glove blocker. 

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The fact that it's called a 'super pro model'. The nylon straps looped into the face of the board and you went around your player glove. I don't remember a catch glove. My buddy had the brown pads. They looked rad - they sucked. Sticky and heavy.

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I picked up a set of old Koho street hockey gear. It's what my boys use.

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I don't have the chest. I have some classic CA units they wear. One is an old Koho black and yellow one. The gear isn't bad. The blocker board is too soft. The catch glove is ok. The pads are worn out but they are better than that Road Warrior shit you have. Put them in the basement with the knee hockey gear.

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On 11/19/2018 at 9:12 AM, BadAngle41 said:

Great review. I think this is often an overlooked segment of the market. Personally I'm looking at a set of Mylec similar to those I would use in middle school intramurals. I'd show up at an ungodly early hour so I could be first in line and grab the all black set. While trolling Mylec's site I noticed that the MK1GPs are no longer offered in all black and instead have decided to follow the all white trend.. although they have maintained the classic strapping, thigh rise, and knee landing.

Middle School Set 👇                                                      Current Mylec MK1GP 👇                                      Strapping 👇                                                                Knee Landing 👇

91f6qMQQFvL._SL1500_.jpg     image.thumb.png.d7e641c83edbbf53848e0e9c60c09c89.png   image.thumb.png.9525a47762238f51d51b9089e2a25235.png   image.thumb.png.c5a88865735659447b41d3f3b28412db.png

Interesting to note that on the MK3 while they have added a knee landing... per their website... Mylec apparently intended for when the pad rotates inward. And for this reason I will stick with the technology I know in the MK1.

image.thumb.png.6960fe1be5473a6fcb1f723045ed6561.png image.thumb.png.bf9312d05c5d416f22b3b641cac783e8.png  image.thumb.png.a7a2807aaef74c6ed0b234078d5a6812.png

I would love to know just how many pairs of the Mylec (MK1) pads were made so far. When did they start? How are they made... I emailed them a few times with no response.

Talk about the greatest goalie gear ever made. These are it.

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