What is the worst/your least favorite piece of gear you've ever used?

[botpixel]

For me, it would be my 2S pro glove that I used for about a year. Couldn't get that damn thing to close no matter how much I tried to break it in.

[A.YOUNGoalie13]

Every double tee glove I’ve ever used. Just can’t catch with them

[Wonder35]

Lange/Micron Goal Skates. In the 80's they attempted to use their ski boot technology(?) for skates. The skates were a hard plastic shell with a fabric/foam boot insert.

They were grey, heavy and very uncomfortable. I gave mine away and warned the new owner.

I am wearing them in this photo.

Edited November 12, 2022 by Wonder35

[coopaloop1234]

Lefebvre gear. 

I had the senior RBK P2's and a set of premier 2.9 gloves (60 break) 

I didn't like any of it. It wasn't even a "oh, it's not for me but I can see why others like it!" type of opinion, I just literally canny fathom how people use their gloves. 

[Nohtaram]

I have couple which I really didn't like to use.

First would be Reebok Revoke golves. They were heavy and catcher never want to close properly.

Bauer 1S skates. They hurt my ankles so bad I had to use bandages around my feet.

CCM ExtremeFlex 5 pads. Just not my style of pads - I'm more Supreme kinda guy.

Warrior G2 blocker. I had super loose glove and I was never able to properly hold my stick when playing the puck.

[ThatCarGuy]

Absolutely hated Vaughn slr2 pro pants I had ages ago. Zero inner thigh or hip padding.
 

Also not a fan of CCM curved finger protection on blockers. Feels flimsy and gets in the way. 

[bildeer]

Got to try some P4 leg pads long ago when they were all the rage, and I could not for the life of me get them to work the way  I wanted them to. I felt like I was glued to the ice. I believe they particular pair I was using was configured with the pre-curved core and the fact that the thigh rise would push into my thighs whilst standing up really bothered me. 

I also used a VE8 "THS spec" chest protector that was allegedly reinforced in the arms. I thought I would be alright using it for ACHA division 1 college practices because of it. It worked for about two months until every other shot to the arms straight up hurt. I'm not talking like feeling a shot a little more than I thought I would, this was actually painful. Also took a bunch of pucks off the ribs in the rvh in it. While I probably could have made it work, as the body was fine, it was just the arms and ribs that were the issue. I also found out first hand  that while the air knit material they use is very light and breathable, it absolutely does not hold up to sustained abrasion like a regular nylon fabric would. Replaced it with a Brown 2400 and haven't looked back. 

Edited November 14, 2022 by bildeer

[johncho]

Passau Pro-pack chestie. 

I loved the tank protection it offered but I had such a hard time moving from the bulk (weight was fine), and try as I might my mask kept on getting snagged just enough on the wings. Maybe it was too big for me, it was a custom Large made for someone else that I got 2nd hand. 

[keeperton]

On 11/13/2022 at 3:15 PM, ThatCarGuy said:

Absolutely hated Vaughn slr2 pro pants I had ages ago. Zero inner thigh or hip padding.

Been using these for 3-4 years. They're better than the Vision pants I was using, but they're also probably my least favorite piece of equipment in my kit not because of what you said, but because they push my cup down/out of the way if I tighten them too much. I still don't understand how people get the tuck or any of this to function without this exact phenomena happening.

On 11/12/2022 at 10:40 AM, A.YOUNGoalie13 said:

Every double tee glove I’ve ever used. Just can’t catch with them

I still don't know what T type I prefer. I lean towards double T because I find I can close them easier, but I think my favorite is the thin single (anchor T style). I waver so much on this opinion.

 

My actual answer to this thread would probably be any Lefevre/CCM built glove I've demo'd. I have never gotten to try on a 580 and would love to be convinced by a Lefevre built glove as any I've ever tried off a shelf (that they didn't explicitly make in factory) has been impossible for me to close.

[ser33]

Reebok XLT24 glove

[MTH]

The last years of the Bauer HM30. They were made from wire coat hangers. Dented if you sneezed. But they were like $30 new and every pro shop had them.

[jerd31]

Warrior RX3 Pro+ pants, they were stiff as shit even after a bunch of skates in them.  I could barely move on the ice.  I sold them and went back to my 15 year old Bauers, just replaced them with McKinneys which seem much better than the Warrior’s.

[seagoal]

Warrior stick with the Quick/mid curve.  Felt so awkward and useless for me.  Could not play the puck at all.  That's the piece of gear I abandon the quickest........teehee.

[MTH]

1 hour ago, seagoal said:

Warrior stick with the Quick/mid curve.  Felt so awkward and useless for me.  Could not play the puck at all.  That's the piece of gear I abandon the quickest........teehee.

Did you ever try an actual Martin Brodeur pattern stick? Odd like many HOF goalie sticks were. Lundquist pattern was awful too.

Great pattern? Hextall pattern. Monster curve. Plus you could hack the hell out of any unsuspecting fools standing in front of you.

[seagoal]

14 hours ago, MTH said:

Did you ever try an actual Martin Brodeur pattern stick? Odd like many HOF goalie sticks were. Lundquist pattern was awful too.

Great pattern? Hextall pattern. Monster curve. Plus you could hack the hell out of any unsuspecting fools standing in front of you.

I used to have 5 or 6 of these Heaton Helites with Brodeur's name on them.  I loved these back in the day.

My stick evolution was:

Heaton -  Brodeur

Sherwood - Halak

Bauer - don't remember which curve, but I did use 27.5 which was insane

True - matte black ones with True in silver, early model

Warrior - Quick, used for like 2 weeks before abandoning them

Warrior - Bishop/twist curve and 25 and I've had CR1, V1 Pro+, and V2 Pro +.  So happy with these.

[coopaloop1234]

15 hours ago, seagoal said:

Warrior stick with the Quick/mid curve.  Felt so awkward and useless for me.  Could not play the puck at all.  That's the piece of gear I abandon the quickest........teehee.

I had been in the Warrior Mid curve forever, going back to their foam cores. Was always curious as to why I sucked at playing the puck. 

Switched over to the Bishop curve and all of a sudden I was half decent. 

Moral of the story? 

Gear > technique. 

[MTH]

1 hour ago, seagoal said:

I used to have 5 or 6 of these Heaton Helites with Brodeur's name on them.  I loved these back in the day.

The later Sher-Wood Brodeurs had this sharp point at the heel and were just goofy to use. Again, world's best goalie at that time gets what he likes.

I'm not sure if this was carry over from Heaton/CCM stick days or a later evolution of his requests. Odd as heck stick in person.

[MTH]

Fanatics sells game used/issued stuff. Neat to be able to find this stuff...

Here's his CCM 'H10' (Heaton stick w/ CCM name) stick. Same pointy heel and flat tip toe.

Even his H4 Heatons had that same pointy heel:

Seems like that heel was a legacy model of the old 90s Sher-Woods that he used in Juniors and as a rookie:

Makes sense now. Those 50 pound sticks had that sharp heel.

 

 

[The Teal Terror]

For me, some old ass McKenney glove that weighed a ton. Would not close for love nor money. Can’t remember the model.

[chakal]

The first Koho Revolution pads! Totally hated them. Heavy, too stiff, the weight seemed unbalanced. They were just plain odd for me. Patrick Roy had his pads rebuild by Lefebvre just before the 1993 playoffs, so I think I wasn't the only one who didn't liked them LOL

Loved the Koho Revolution gloves though.

[Puckstopper]

On 11/15/2022 at 8:47 PM, seagoal said:

Warrior stick with the Quick/mid curve.  Felt so awkward and useless for me.  Could not play the puck at all.  That's the piece of gear I abandon the quickest........teehee.

These sticks are absolute trash if you like to play the puck at all!  My first Nike/Bauer composite stick had a similar curve and was atrociously heavy.   I turned it into a street  hockey stick instantly.

Another loser was my Battram XLP glove.   Not only was it a terrible break and a pancake style glove, but being two inches over old-spec NHL legal, it was heavy as hell and terribly balanced.    In fairness, Scott B. did say he didn't recommend it if I was anything but a pure blocking style goalie, but I wanted to give that a try and ordered anyway.   I used my Vaughn T3500 alongside those Battram pads and relegated the XLP to roller hockey duty.

But the ultimate dogshit set I've ever used was my CCM EF4's.  Loved the look, but hardly ever used them.   They were a little big, heavier than the Warriors I ordered at the same time,  had Speedskin on the soft sliding surface, so they stuck to bad ice like Velcro and the 590 break didn't work for me at ALL.   The guy who bought them from me got a custom set that had been used less than 15 times for under a grand because I was so eager to get rid of them.  

[HellCrow]

Is "My last JackStrap who cracked in half when I got a shot", a good answer to this question ?

 

[seagoal]

23 minutes ago, Puckstopper said:

These sticks are absolute trash if you like to play the puck at all!  My first Nike/Bauer composite stick had a similar curve and was atrociously heavy.   I turned it into a street  hockey stick instantly.

Another loser was my Battram XLP glove.   Not only was it a terrible break and a pancake style glove, but being two inches over old-spec NHL legal, it was heavy as hell and terribly balanced.    In fairness, Scott B. did say he didn't recommend it if I was anything but a pure blocking style goalie, but I wanted to give that a try and ordered anyway.   I used my Vaughn T3500 alongside those Battram pads and relegated the XLP to roller hockey duty.

But the ultimate dogshit set I've ever used was my CCM EF4's.  Loved the look, but hardly ever used them.   They were a little big, heavier than the Warriors I ordered at the same time,  had Speedskin on the soft sliding surface, so they stuck to bad ice like Velcro and the 590 break didn't work for me at ALL.   The guy who bought them from me got a custom set that had been used less than 15 times for under a grand because I was so eager to get rid of them.  

Your EF4 set was gorgeous, just sayin'.

[MTH]

On 12/2/2022 at 9:57 AM, chakal said:

The first Koho Revolution pads! Totally hated them. Heavy, too stiff, the weight seemed unbalanced. They were just plain odd for me. Patrick Roy had his pads rebuild by Lefebvre just before the 1993 playoffs, so I think I wasn't the only one who didn't liked them LOL

Never knew they were rebuilt. Learn something new every day.

The whole 'Revolution' line was odd when it was launched. Not just the goalie stuff. But what else would you expect from a line of gear called "revolution"?

[anticlaus]

On 11/12/2022 at 10:56 AM, Wonder35 said:

Lange/Micron Goal Skates. In the 80's they attempted to use their ski boot technology(?) for skates. The skates were a hard plastic shell with a fabric/foam boot insert.

They were grey, heavy and very uncomfortable. I gave mine away and warned the new owner.

I am wearing them in this photo.

agh! those Micron skates.  the padding wore away in mine and the ankle bolt/rivet dug into my ankle and screwed me up bad.  they were just plain terrible.  i had some older d&r pads that were heavy and soaked up water like a sponge.  bayard pads were heavy too.  not great.