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White gear, Myth or Truth


Westcoast Tender

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So I never really thought white gear gave any advantage in net. “It’s all in the goalies head”. I guess for a position that depends heavily on your mental strength maybe in itself that validates it as an advantage if the goalie believes it.

I’m saving for a new set of pads and trying to decide on colours. The one thing I like best about dark pads is the ability to hide puck marks and keep the equipment looking clean. 

I did some reading on whether white pad theory is true or not. Well pretty much for every opinion that says it is there’s an opinion that say there isn’t.

For beer leaguers you could argue that most keep their head down when shooting, so that negates the advantage.  

I’ve been thinking on this after reading an article about Fluery’s move from his yellow pads to white.  How a eye specialist in Ottawa wrote to the Pens and told them that bright yellow is the easiest colour for the eye to quickly determine shapes.  

Someone might argue since beer leaguers don’t look at the net as much that white pads might give more advantage to beer league goalies.  If the player is relying on peripheral vision (consciously or subconsciously) what would be easier to see out of the corner of your eye?  Dark pads or White?

What’s the general opinion out there?

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I'd argue against the notion that beer leaguers don't look at the net when shooting. Anyone worth their salt isn't staring at their feet/puck when shooting.

Aside from that, I think there is a tad bit of validity about the white vs dark gear. While I don't think that the peripheral vision portion you and many other mention is that big of a factor, I do know that I look smaller in net with my dark based set. Black is slimming after all.

The first skate I had with me new set, one of the guys had asked me if I purposefully asked for slimmer leg pads. Darker gear creates a more definitive outline for the goalie for shooters and could play into the hooters advantage by offering them a sliver of extra confidence when looking at the net.

Though, overall, I think it's overblown and is more in line with superstition than science.

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I've always sort of laughed at this theory/idea.  I think there are multiple realities involved with the theory/idea.

1) In a psychology lab where you can hone in on 1 biometric and test a number of people on the difference.

2) High level, organized hockey that plays out with a degree of nuance and speed where something like this might actually be relevant.

3) Us

Throwing this out there too:  let's assume it is relevant and true - white gear offers an advantage.   Ok, but how much of an advantage and at what level of hockey will you actually see that come into play.

Is the advantage more like : 90% SV% & 3.24 GAA in dark gear ----> .94% SV%  & 2.11 GAA in white gear

                                                                                                                  OR

                                                  92% SV% & 2.43 GAA in dark gear ----> 93% & 2.32 GAA in white gear

My thought would be the degree of relevance is more like the second scenario involving a tiny, incremental advantage but particularly at high levels of organized hockey.

I don't think adult rec/beer league goalies would benefit from something so incremental and small of an advantage as the color of gear.  Why?  Because what holds us back from greatness or even improvement at all involves things like body mechanics, natural athleticism, lack of coaching, lack of practice, lack of repetitive training, the type of hockey played in front of us, etc.

We are held back MORE by big picture, larger, more relevant things than things so small and incremental such as gear color.

Juniors and pros need to and have the ability to shave tiny little decimal points off their GAA or buff their SV% by tiny little percentage points and use those things as building blocks improvements, better success, salary negotiations, etc.

Most goalies in the world don't or can't worry about these things because those things are too out of reach for us.

Anyway, that's always been my thought.  I can't deny that it is relevant, I just think, for me, the degree of relevance is, well, irrelevant.

I use dark gear and love it :)

EDIT: One more way of thinking of it which hit me as I walked away from this and attempted to work:

-There are things that make a goalie better.  Gear color isn't one of them. It doesn't improve a goalie's goaltending.

-Gear color, however relevant it might be, is only an advantage insofar as it affects the perceptions of shooters. The advantage is in fact a disadvantage for the shooters.  It's not making a goalie's goaltending better. 

-The majority of goalies on earth (us) would need the things that make goalies better to actually improve.  Gear color isn't one of them.

-Pros/juniors are surrounded by the things that make goalies better year round.  It's their job, after all.  So tiny little things like gear color are much more relevant for them than for any of us. 

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25 minutes ago, seagoal said:

I don't think adult rec/beer league goalies would benefit from something so incremental and small of an advantage as the color of gear.  Why?  Because what holds us back from greatness or even improvement at all involves things like body mechanics, natural athleticism, lack of coaching, lack of practice, lack of repetitive training, the type of hockey played in front of us, etc.

This is absolutely it for us toiling in the beer leagues. Even if, guys in Div1 around here (Junior A and up) are split 50/50 with white based sets and coloured sets.

I see less variety with colour in the lower divisions. But I'm going to assume that's due to white based gear being the default for off the shelf items.

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Whether is gives you a 1% advantage or a 50% advantage, why wouldn’t you want to take any advantages you can if it doesn’t cost you anything. If the cost is zero the benefit regardless of size will outweigh it. I am all for taking any advantage I can get. An advantage is an advantage regardless of degree. 

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7 minutes ago, kyledjean said:

Whether is gives you a 1% advantage or a 50% advantage, why wouldn’t you want to take any advantages you can if it doesn’t cost you anything. If the cost is zero the benefit regardless of size will outweigh it. I am all for taking any advantage I can get. An advantage is an advantage regardless of degree. 

But would you prefer the slightest advantage with boring gear or no advantage with a graphic/colors that you actually like

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33 minutes ago, kyledjean said:

Whether is gives you a 1% advantage or a 50% advantage, why wouldn’t you want to take any advantages you can if it doesn’t cost you anything. If the cost is zero the benefit regardless of size will outweigh it. I am all for taking any advantage I can get. An advantage is an advantage regardless of degree. 

Fair question. 

For me, I think greater improvements can be had with focusing on improving my actual goaltending.

The benefits, for me, of using boring gear, in my opinion, aren't worth it.

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6 minutes ago, seagoal said:

Fair question. 

For me, I think greater improvements can be had with focusing on improving my actual goaltending.

The benefits, for me, of using boring gear, in my opinion, aren't worth it.

You petulant iconoclast! Do actual work on ourselves in order to improve? Blasphemy! In a blameless society such as ours, I have been conditioned to believe that my being a shit goaltender is not my fault; it's the inferior gear that is the problem!

LOL!

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1 hour ago, seagoal said:

I've always sort of laughed at this theory/idea.  I think there are multiple realities involved with the theory/idea.

1) In a psychology lab where you can hone in on 1 biometric and test a number of people on the difference.

2) High level, organized hockey that plays out with a degree of nuance and speed where something like this might actually be relevant.

3) Us

Throwing this out there too:  let's assume it is relevant and true - white gear offers an advantage.   Ok, but how much of an advantage and at what level of hockey will you actually see that come into play.

Is the advantage more like : 90% SV% & 3.24 GAA in dark gear ----> .94% SV%  & 2.11 GAA in white gear

                                                                                                                  OR

                                                  92% SV% & 2.43 GAA in dark gear ----> 93% & 2.32 GAA in white gear

My thought would be the degree of relevance is more like the second scenario involving a tiny, incremental advantage but particularly at high levels of organized hockey.

I don't think adult rec/beer league goalies would benefit from something so incremental and small of an advantage as the color of gear.  Why?  Because what holds us back from greatness or even improvement at all involves things like body mechanics, natural athleticism, lack of coaching, lack of practice, lack of repetitive training, the type of hockey played in front of us, etc.

We are held back MORE by big picture, larger, more relevant things than things so small and incremental such as gear color.

Juniors and pros need to and have the ability to shave tiny little decimal points off their GAA or buff their SV% by tiny little percentage points and use those things as building blocks improvements, better success, salary negotiations, etc.

Most goalies in the world don't or can't worry about these things because those things are too out of reach for us.

Anyway, that's always been my thought.  I can't deny that it is relevant, I just think, for me, the degree of relevance is, well, irrelevant.

I use dark gear and love it :)

EDIT: One more way of thinking of it which hit me as I walked away from this and attempted to work:

-There are things that make a goalie better.  Gear color isn't one of them. It doesn't improve a goalie's goaltending.

-Gear color, however relevant it might be, is only an advantage insofar as it affects the perceptions of shooters. The advantage is in fact a disadvantage for the shooters.  It's not making a goalie's goaltending better. 

-The majority of goalies on earth (us) would need the things that make goalies better to actually improve.  Gear color isn't one of them.

-Pros/juniors are surrounded by the things that make goalies better year round.  It's their job, after all.  So tiny little things like gear color are much more relevant for them than for any of us. 

My point wasn’t about making a goalie better in ability by wearing white gear, obviously that would be ridiculous.  It’s that shooters consciously or unconsciously have a slightly harder time picking out the goalie’s position peripherally.   And I’m sorry but I know players of all ages and ability will burry their heads and shoot without looking at the net...especially under pressure.

And this is coming from someone who isn’t a fan on all white gear. My favorite set I owned was navy based. 

If you sit in a chair looking at your phone, say in a coffee shop with people moving around you...I’m guessing the person with a bright shirt on stands out more than the one wearing a similar colour to the walls using your peripheral vision.

I have notice through reading a few other threads out there, that most goalies who think this is BS happen to have dark gear :)

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3 minutes ago, Lucky Pucker said:

You petulant iconoclast! Do actual work on ourselves in order to improve? Blasphemy! In a blameless society such as ours, I have been conditioned to believe that my being a shit goaltender is not my fault; it's the inferior gear that is the problem!

LOL!

Custom gear won't make you better.

I'm a living example of this. I was shit before in my white based set and I'm still shit in my custom blue set.

But hey, at least I look rad. :datass:

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17 minutes ago, Westcoast Tender said:

My point wasn’t about making a goalie better in ability by wearing white gear, obviously that would be ridiculous.  It’s that shooters consciously or unconsciously have a slightly harder time picking out the goalie’s position peripherally.   And I’m sorry but I know players of all ages and ability will burry their heads and shoot without looking at the net...especially under pressure.

And this is coming from someone who isn’t a fan on all white gear. My favorite set I owned was navy based. 

If you sit in a chair looking at your phone, say in a coffee shop with people moving around you...I’m guessing the person with a bright shirt on stands out more than the one wearing a similar colour to the walls using your peripheral vision.

I have notice through reading a few other threads out there, that most goalies who think this is BS happen to have dark gear :)

Yes.

Now take all of those people in that coffee shop, freeze the ground they're on,  put them on skates, give them sticks, dress them up in a bunch of gear, give them a puck and a bunch of rules, and see what happens. 

P.S. You win today for this thread, so cheers! :)

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5 minutes ago, Ross said:

If you like to give shooters an opening and then take it away it could be argued that darker gear is better.

Is a white jersey better than a coloured one?

It would have to be, yes, if the idea is valid.  Also, a plain white mask is better than a painted one, as it were.

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I can tell you from personal experience, that its far far easier for the ref to lose the puck when you're wearing all black pads. Nearly every single game I've played since getting my 2x Pros, I've gotten an early or undeserved whistle, usually multiples. Absolutely ticks the other team off, but that also wasn't why I bought them. I bought them to look good. Look good, feel good, play good.

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7 minutes ago, Scythe said:

if boards advertising was done away with like directly behind the net in the trapezoid area, would or could it help the shooter or the goalie more or neither, (doesn't matter)?

The basic psychological idea is the less contrast, the more blending is perceived. It's like camouflage.

So a goalie in solid white head to toe with blank white boards would be the most optimal scenario for confusing shooters.

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