Vaughn V9 full set - initial impressions and long-term review

[AdamL]

Well I've actually been on the ice twice since my last post and, knock on wood, the hips are actually doing okay at the moment.  I'm not quite ready to jump back in full time, but I'll be taking some sub opportunities here and there to see how things go.  That's given me some more time to evaluate the V9s and overall I'm happy to say I'm incredibly pleased with the set.  

Despite my comments about the weight - and I still think they could be lighter in the context of what the 12.2s or Hyperlites weigh, for example - I absolutely love these pads.  With the stiff thigh rise but overall build of less stiff pad, these are absolutely perfect for me.  Softer pads are known to have some lift in the thigh rise doing post integrations or even just down in the butterfly, but the seal on these is as flush as it gets, even in the RVH.  That said, these things really aren't that soft.  I can see why some NHLers haven't moved on to a V9 build if they're really used to squish.  But I never find myself to be fighting against them, they move really well with me, and I credit most of that to the professor strap.  

The glove has been a major improvement as well, coming from a 590.  My first game back I wasn't tracking the puck all that well, surprise surprise, but what a difference a week makes.  My second game back I was seeing everything, and I didn't have a single popout all game long.  I probably made 7-8 glove saves during the game and that was as confident in my glove as I've been probably since my high school and college days.  The closure is still not as comfortable as the 590 style, but it's worth it for how well I catch with it.  It has a better seal on the stick than my old 590 as well so, in conjunction with the reinforced tee, I feel I have better control over the stick and noticed some extra zip on my passes last night.  It's also broken in really nicely now.  I've stored it fully open - upside down with the tee at 180* - and tied closed, and now with a couple more games in it it's getting pretty snappy, even with the pro palm and the extra Shock Shield padding.  

The blocker is probably the only "meh" reaction I'll give.  I love the fit and balance, but the rebounds don't have much pop despite the full carbon face option.  Videos with the SLR blockers (of Ned, mostly) would seem to indicate those have a stiffer face and I don't have much preference either way as far as board profile.  I probably should have gone the SLR route for the blocker like I'd initially planned to, but it's not a huge deal.

[SaveByRichter35]

Happy to hear you're feeling good and enjoying the set!

[AdamL]

26 minutes ago, SaveByRichter35 said:

Happy to hear you're feeling good and enjoying the set!

Thank you!

[AdamL]

I haven't been playing too much because my left hip hasn't held up to playing every week, but I'm still subbing now and again and have probably a dozen or so games in the set.  Overall it's a nice improvement over my old gear, but I thought I'd go over a few things I haven't been super pleased with.

Blocker

I've found the rebounds off the blocker to be remarkably inconsistent.  The reason, I think, is because the pad on the back of the hand is WAY too soft.  It's comfortable, but if the puck hits in the top maybe 40% of the board, the blocker will fulcrum over the top of my hand, rather than that energy being transmitted back to the puck to send the puck to the boards.  I can squeeze into the palm and flex my wrist as hard as I can and still easily move the blocker board back because any force into the top part of the board compresses that pad.  It leads to some shots coming off the blocker white hot if they hit in the dead center, then some others hit the top and will die just a few feet away.  It's honestly a huge frustration with the piece.  Maybe it's possible to have that pad replaced with something firmer?

 

Glove

I read in Cam Matwiv's VE8 review from way back when that he had trouble presenting this glove, and I have too, but I have found it's been for a different reason.  I actually didn't think I had an issue with it until I looked at some photos of me playing and noticed my glove was pointed as much toward the ground as toward the puck.  Cam had issue with the piece of aerospacer on the flap closest to the wrist, but I haven't found that to be a problem.  I've found I'm fighting the portion of strapping that goes over the wrist itself, the piece farthest up the wrist shown here backed by gray nash.  It's sewn into the glove on the right side, so no matter low loose you make the strap on that side, it's pretty tight on the wrist (shown loosened up below to give you an idea).  To get around that I'm running the strap on the left side of this piece pretty loose as well, which allows for a decent amount of mobility now but, in order to get enough flexion at the wrist, it's not possible to wear the glove very tight, which I prefer to do.  If both are cinched down, I can open up that flap closest to the chest pad entirely and still have trouble presenting the glove.  The current solution is to cinch down the velcro on the back of my hand fairly tight and basically run all of the other straps as loose as possible.  It works okay, but isn't really giving me the feel of control I want.  

 

Pads

My only complaint with the pads pertains to an option I chose to change up on these and that's the professor strap.  Occasionally these pads will fall down my leg and when they do, it's because the pad on the strap comes out from beneath the elastic.  I think for this design to be as effective as it should be, the elastic needs to exit the padding as close to the end as possible.  It's not a huge deal, I can easily access it during a break to push the strap back under the elastic and pull the pad back up, but I shouldn't have to do that IMO.

 

All in all, still a huge improvement from what I was wearing before, except I'd say blocker is a push.  It's more comfortable and well-balanced than the XLT was, but I'd guess I'd prefer a newer Lefevre blocker over this.  On the glove front, I have a significant desire to try the 580, because for as well as I catch with this glove, my stickhandling has gone to hell due to needing to turn my wrist another 15* to use the Turco grip.  I just can't get used to it and usually end up playing the puck old-school style with the tee pointed down.  When I don't it's flub city.  Closure on the glove still feels weird, too, there's no getting around the 590 60* break feeling much more natural on the hand than the 45* Vaughn break, but I catch better with this glove so eh.  I would give an XP glove a go too if it was free, but I won't be dropping the coin on one.  

[ArdeFIN]

To comment your glove concerns. Blocker padding is sewn in, so you'd have to open some sewing to be able to change the foam. That is possible to do, but not a simple job.

You didn't have a picture of the glove strap as a whole. I've moved the strap position towards the glove for the same reason you are mentioning and it does help a lot while you still can cinch the strap. This job once again requires dismantling the glove at the wrist area and also some sewing job. Not a big thing to do but not the easiest one either.

 

Edited February 11, 2022 by ArdeFIN

[Chenner29]

On 6/6/2021 at 6:32 AM, AdamL said:

Well, if anyone is interested in this set let me know.  Not 100% sure just yet, but unless or until I have hip surgery my days in net might be over.

 

I’d had some mild left hip pain for a couple years, but early in 2020 I started incorporating a couple exercises into my workouts that involved really deep A2G squat positions, which aggravated the condition. I went to see a physio and got an MRI on both hips and it turns out I have cam impingements and torn labrums on both sides.  I went all-in on non-surgical remedies - I did Strategic Mobility for Goalies 2x through, joined the shutout academy, and have been diligent with those workouts for the last few months.  But midway through my second game back there was a broken play, where the pass was going from the left corner below the goal line to the low slot on the ride slide, so I began a slide to meet the shot to my right.  The pass was deflected, and landed right on the tape of another player low on the short side.  I didn’t have time to plant and move back to my left, so I stopped my momentum and extended my left leg and reached back at the same time, and in that moment my hip let me know it was very unhappy with being put in that position, despite Maria’s training putting you in those kinds of positions regularly.
 

Anyway, three days later and that hip is still sore, and that’s probably all I need to know about whether I should be continuing to play.  I’m beyond disappointed, after all of the work I’ve put in and all of the improvements I’ve made in strength and mobility, to be feeling this kind of lingering pain after two games back.

Hey man,

Flipping through this thread and I felt this post.  Not literally.  While my hip issues aren't as severe (I have hip impingement and anterior pelvic tilt), I have been able to get a ton of relief by starting a routine with a PRI (Postural Restoration Institute) practitioner, along with some FRC.  I don't know what methodologies you've tried, but I highly recommend PRI.  The guy I go to is has had success working with issues like this and has even been able to fix things without surgery.

The PRI stuff is mindblowing.  Prior to going to see him, my hips, quads, and ankles would be on fire after a light skate, to the point where I was considering a Tylenol regimen the morning after due to low back pain (along with everything else).  Since starting, I can hop in with a skills coach and his AAA guys, get blasted on for an hour straight and still feel like I can do another session immediately after.

When I did my first visit, he had me diagnosed within 30 seconds of seeing me walk and go through some basic motions.  The anterior pelvic tilt is obvious I think to most people in the PT realm, but he was able to pinpoint specific calluses on my feet even when I had my shoes on the whole time.  My toes were pointing outward (which if you think of it, is a huge reason why my hip internal rotation is so shit), my breathing was patterned incorrectly (not using my diaphragm), and I could palm the floor from standing without warmup.  We ran through some tests going through range of motion stuff, and then he'll give me things to work on to attack what he sees as deficient.  The exercises we are doing do not require any weight and very little equipment (yoga block, mat, maybe some resistance bands, and balls of various sizes).

It's a really methodical, customized approach to PT, and is honestly kind of a relief after having people hammer on pain points and then give me a couple squats, leg raises, and banded resistance excercises for so long now. 

To give you an idea - after the first visit and a daily regimen of some really basic wall exercises (I gave @seagoal a super basic one to try, along with some FRC stuff, maybe he can contribute to this and tell us how he's feeling), we tested on the second visit and concluded my pelvis is back to neutral so we went to work on on hip abduction (out to side) and adduction (past center line).  Another couple weeks of those exercises and we get to my most recent visit #3, where we found R hip abduction wasn't where we wanted it; the exercises should have handled it as my L hip ab-and-adduction were looking good, as well as my R hip adduction - we went one level up and now we are looking at how my right rib cage and neck are working and found some deficiencies there.  We ran through some different exercises with breathing and turning the head and got another 25 degrees out of R hip abduction in that visit....it's absolutely insane to me and it's working for me.  I think it may warrant a look with the things you have going on.

Anyhow, if you want this doc's info, PM me and I can link you up to his IG.  He's pretty responsive on there and you can see some of his case work, and he might even be able to refer you to someone in your neck of the woods, he also does Zoom consults.

[AdamL]

18 hours ago, Chenner29 said:

Hey man,

Flipping through this thread and I felt this post.  Not literally.  While my hip issues aren't as severe (I have hip impingement and anterior pelvic tilt), I have been able to get a ton of relief by starting a routine with a PRI (Postural Restoration Institute) practitioner, along with some FRC.  I don't know what methodologies you've tried, but I highly recommend PRI.  The guy I go to is has had success working with issues like this and has even been able to fix things without surgery.

The PRI stuff is mindblowing.  Prior to going to see him, my hips, quads, and ankles would be on fire after a light skate, to the point where I was considering a Tylenol regimen the morning after due to low back pain (along with everything else).  Since starting, I can hop in with a skills coach and his AAA guys, get blasted on for an hour straight and still feel like I can do another session immediately after.

When I did my first visit, he had me diagnosed within 30 seconds of seeing me walk and go through some basic motions.  The anterior pelvic tilt is obvious I think to most people in the PT realm, but he was able to pinpoint specific calluses on my feet even when I had my shoes on the whole time.  My toes were pointing outward (which if you think of it, is a huge reason why my hip internal rotation is so shit), my breathing was patterned incorrectly (not using my diaphragm), and I could palm the floor from standing without warmup.  We ran through some tests going through range of motion stuff, and then he'll give me things to work on to attack what he sees as deficient.  The exercises we are doing do not require any weight and very little equipment (yoga block, mat, maybe some resistance bands, and balls of various sizes).

It's a really methodical, customized approach to PT, and is honestly kind of a relief after having people hammer on pain points and then give me a couple squats, leg raises, and banded resistance excercises for so long now. 

To give you an idea - after the first visit and a daily regimen of some really basic wall exercises (I gave @seagoal a super basic one to try, along with some FRC stuff, maybe he can contribute to this and tell us how he's feeling), we tested on the second visit and concluded my pelvis is back to neutral so we went to work on on hip abduction (out to side) and adduction (past center line).  Another couple weeks of those exercises and we get to my most recent visit #3, where we found R hip abduction wasn't where we wanted it; the exercises should have handled it as my L hip ab-and-adduction were looking good, as well as my R hip adduction - we went one level up and now we are looking at how my right rib cage and neck are working and found some deficiencies there.  We ran through some different exercises with breathing and turning the head and got another 25 degrees out of R hip abduction in that visit....it's absolutely insane to me and it's working for me.  I think it may warrant a look with the things you have going on.

Anyhow, if you want this doc's info, PM me and I can link you up to his IG.  He's pretty responsive on there and you can see some of his case work, and he might even be able to refer you to someone in your neck of the woods, he also does Zoom consults.

Hey, thanks for reaching out.  I have a lot of similar quality-of-movement and compensation patterns built over time, and while I have found some things that are really helping me a ton, I'm absolutely open to having another look from someone trained in this kind of methodology.  Thanks for sharing and I'll shoot you a PM to get more info about your doctor.

 

[AdamL]

22 hours ago, ArdeFIN said:

To comment your glove concerns. Blocker padding is sewn in, so you'd have to open some sewing to be able to change the foam. That is possible to do, but not a simple job.

You didn't have a picture of the glove strap as a whole. I've moved the strap position towards the glove for the same reason you are mentioning and it does help a lot while you still can cinch the strap. This job once again requires dismantling the glove at the wrist area and also some sewing job. Not a big thing to do but not the easiest one either.

 

Thanks.  I actually think the blocker pad would be really easy to change out if you have the materials.  There's a little flap that covers the pad and it appears there's just one piece of lacing holding it in place, I'm going to reach out to Dennis to see if they have any suggestions.

 

On the glove front, hopefully the photos below will illustrate what I'm talking about.  The first is the V9 XP glove, and you can see that piece going over the wrist is attached on the pinky side and floats freely on the index finger side.

 

The 2-piece glove is the opposite, with the strap going over the wrist sewn in on the index finger side and floating free on the pinky side.  This latter approach makes no sense to me, as when I pull my wrist back as if presenting the glove, my index finger comes back much farther than my pinky, and having that side tighter is extremely limiting.  No idea why Vaughn did it this way on the 2-piece glove but it's dumb.

 

[ArdeFIN]

21 hours ago, AdamL said:

Thanks.  I actually think the blocker pad would be really easy to change out if you have the materials.  There's a little flap that covers the pad and it appears there's just one piece of lacing holding it in place, I'm going to reach out to Dennis to see if they have any suggestions.

 

Yes, but you get only to the plates on the inside, and the soft pillow between plates and your backhand is not reachable from there. Atleast hasn't been in the gloves I've opened. VE8 is the most recent what I've seen through. V6 has the same'ish construction too.

For the catcher then it seems not to be like in the gloves before V9 and would require some more investigation to make it better.

But if you work with Dennis I think that is all you need to do and it'll get fixed 

[AdamL]

33 minutes ago, ArdeFIN said:

Yes, but you get only to the plates on the inside, and the soft pillow between plates and your backhand is not reachable from there. Atleast hasn't been in the gloves I've opened. VE8 is the most recent what I've seen through. V6 has the same'ish construction too.

For the catcher then it seems not to be like in the gloves before V9 and would require some more investigation to make it better.

But if you work with Dennis I think that is all you need to do and it'll get fixed 

It's tough to see in photos, but that pillow looks to me like it's directly accessible underneath that flap.  Maybe it's attached somehow farther in as well; I guess we'll see what Dennis says.

I'm not going to worry about the glove, having to wear it a bit looser than I'd like to isn't the biggest deal and seems like it'd be a much bigger hassle to alter.

[court31sierra]

when you custom order you can select a full face carbon option on the blocker.

[AdamL]

54 minutes ago, court31sierra said:

when you custom order you can select a full face carbon option on the blocker.

I ordered the full face carbon, actually. No idea if that's what's in it, but that is what I ordered.