Vaughn PVE2 question

[Colton1793]

Hi everyone,

My name is Colton, long time reader but first time poster. I have really enjoyed everyone's comments and insight into gear and wanted to get some advice. I finally ordered a custom set of pads (my first ever) and went from an int 32 TPS bionic set that I loved to a 33+0 vaughn pve2. I went to my local goaliemonkey as well as talked to the guys at vaughn before ordering and gave them my specs and sized into a 33 inch pad. (17.25 ATK, 5'10" with a size 9 skate) I just received them and they seem huge, hopefully just growing pains. 

My issue is going down into my butterfly, I keep landing at the bottom and sliding off the knee block. They seem like they fit when i'm down in a VH, but putting both legs down seems to be a problem. I haven't had them on the ice yet so could just be that they are in my basement. I also don't wear any knee pads or anything under my pads, would this make a difference? Does anyone have any ideas/insight? Thanks so much in advance!

 

Colton

[Colton1793]

Here they are btw!

[ThatCarGuy]

The only thing I can think to recommend is either try breaking in the boot further or see if you can send them back to Vaughn for 32 or 31

[AdamL]

1 hour ago, Colton1793 said:

Hi everyone,

My name is Colton, long time reader but first time poster. I have really enjoyed everyone's comments and insight into gear and wanted to get some advice. I finally ordered a custom set of pads (my first ever) and went from an int 32 TPS bionic set that I loved to a 33+0 vaughn pve2. I went to my local goaliemonkey as well as talked to the guys at vaughn before ordering and gave them my specs and sized into a 33 inch pad. (17.25 ATK, 5'10" with a size 9 skate) I just received them and they seem huge, hopefully just growing pains. 

My issue is going down into my butterfly, I keep landing at the bottom and sliding off the knee block. They seem like they fit when i'm down in a VH, but putting both legs down seems to be a problem. I haven't had them on the ice yet so could just be that they are in my basement. I also don't wear any knee pads or anything under my pads, would this make a difference? Does anyone have any ideas/insight? Thanks so much in advance!

 

Colton

33+0?  Innnnteresting.

I'm also 5'10", 17.5" ATK and had 33+2 V9s.  I usually landed pretty squarely on the knee block, but if I ran the professor strap tighter they'd sit a bit higher, which would cause me to land on the lower half of the knee stack.  The thigh rise was tall too, and when I'd get into extended positions the thigh rise would actually be tall enough to jam into my hip crease.  This was driven in large part by how much they'd ride up my legs in that scenario with a tighter professor strap, but very uncomfortable and not at all helpful for my movement.

Assuming the PVE fits like the V9s, I think you'd probably be better off in a 32.  But you can always try them on with your skates, drop into the butterfly, and just see where you land on the knee stack.  

[Colton1793]

4 minutes ago, AdamL said:

33+0?  Innnnteresting.

I'm also 5'10", 17.5" ATK and had 33+2 V9s.  I usually landed pretty squarely on the knee block, but if I ran the professor strap tighter they'd sit a bit higher, which would cause me to land on the lower half of the knee stack.  The thigh rise was tall too, and when I'd get into extended positions the thigh rise would actually be tall enough to jam into my hip crease.  This was driven in large part by how much they'd ride up my legs in that scenario with a tighter professor strap, but very uncomfortable and not at all helpful for my movement.

Assuming the PVE fits like the V9s, I think you'd probably be better off in a 32.  But you can always try them on with your skates, drop into the butterfly, and just see where you land on the knee stack.  

Awesome! Thanks for the info, I loosened the professor strap and took out the bootstrap and seemed to help a bit. I probably would have been better off in a 32, but think I can get away with the 33's. I believe these are based more off the ve8, which would make these fit a bit smaller? I am really happy with them in general, definitely scary moving ahead 20 years in pads on one go. 

I put my equipment on and definitely land on the stack, just seems to be towards the bottom normally. Did your v9's settle at all or is that an older pad thing?

Thanks again for your help!

[seagoal]

Why don't you wear knee pads? Just curious.   The benefits of knee pads are both protection from pucks and giving you extra cushion to land and when you drop down.

And yes, wearing knee pads will make a difference in how pads fit, especially larger knee pads vs smaller ones.  Technically speaking,  how much difference? Difficult to say.  Will they make a 33 fit like a 33? Maybe, maybe not.  It depends on the precise match-up of your knee to the knee block.  You might be a half-size fit and the knee pads could positively affect the fit.

Knee pads make your knee "bigger" and I think they will lessen the importance of a precise landing spot for your knee: without knee pads, you can see and feel the precise landing spot; with knee pads, it's not so precise in look or feel.

So the difference is not huge, of course, but it's also not zero.   It might help the way these pads fit along with whatever other adjustments you make.

Really awesome looking pads, too.  They're gorgeous.

[Colton1793]

7 minutes ago, seagoal said:

Why don't you wear knee pads? Just curious.   The benefits of knee pads are both protection from pucks and giving you extra cushion to land and when you drop down.

And yes, wearing knee pads will make a difference in how pads fit, especially larger knee pads vs smaller ones.  Technically speaking,  how much difference? Difficult to say.  Will they make a 33 fit like a 33? Maybe, maybe not.  It depends on the precise match-up of your knee to the knee block.  You might be a half-size fit and the knee pads could positively affect the fit.

Knee pads make your knee "bigger" and I think they will lessen the importance of a precise landing spot for your knee: without knee pads, you can see and feel the precise landing spot; with knee pads, it's not so precise in look or feel.

So the difference is not huge, of course, but it's also not zero.   It might help the way these pads fit along with whatever other adjustments you make.

Really awesome looking pads, too.  They're gorgeous.

Thank you!

As far as not wearing knee pads, I guess I just never really got around to it haha. I wore wrap around thigh guards that tied in to the tabs at the top of my TPS bionics so never really felt a reason to try them. These newer pads definitely seem like they were meant to have kneepads underneath them so hopefully that will help.

Im a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to goalie and it always felt so alien to me when goalies started to wear "knee pads underneath their leg pads". I am slowly coming around to the idea haha. I think I can dial in this fit even though a 32 probably would have worked a little bit better.

Thanks for all the advice!

[Colton1793]

16 minutes ago, seagoal said:

Why don't you wear knee pads? Just curious.   The benefits of knee pads are both protection from pucks and giving you extra cushion to land and when you drop down.

And yes, wearing knee pads will make a difference in how pads fit, especially larger knee pads vs smaller ones.  Technically speaking,  how much difference? Difficult to say.  Will they make a 33 fit like a 33? Maybe, maybe not.  It depends on the precise match-up of your knee to the knee block.  You might be a half-size fit and the knee pads could positively affect the fit.

Knee pads make your knee "bigger" and I think they will lessen the importance of a precise landing spot for your knee: without knee pads, you can see and feel the precise landing spot; with knee pads, it's not so precise in look or feel.

So the difference is not huge, of course, but it's also not zero.   It might help the way these pads fit along with whatever other adjustments you make.

Really awesome looking pads, too.  They're gorgeous.

Quite the difference between 32 and 33 over the course of 20 years!

[seagoal]

5 minutes ago, Colton1793 said:

Quite the difference between 32 and 33 over the course of 20 years!

Haha, that's also a tale of 2 different build styles from different eras.

These are the same size, different stiffness in the builds.  And they fit and feel different,  too.

Edited December 29, 2022 by seagoal

[Colton1793]

6 minutes ago, seagoal said:

Haha, that's also a tale of 2 different build styles from different eras.

These are the same size, different stiffness in the builds.  And they fit and feel different,  too.

Wow! Interesting how different they look just between the 8-9. 

As someone with more experience in the newer stuff, do you have any suggestions as to how to actually get the pads to sit lower on my leg? They seem to fit, but whenever I butterfly I feel them slide sort of up my leg, causing them to feel too big. Thanks again for all your help, I really appreciate it.

[insertnamehere]

16 minutes ago, Colton1793 said:

Wow! Interesting how different they look just between the 8-9. 

As someone with more experience in the newer stuff, do you have any suggestions as to how to actually get the pads to sit lower on my leg? They seem to fit, but whenever I butterfly I feel them slide sort of up my leg, causing them to feel too big. Thanks again for all your help, I really appreciate it.

How do you wear your boot strap? 

[seagoal]

19 minutes ago, Colton1793 said:

Wow! Interesting how different they look just between the 8-9. 

As someone with more experience in the newer stuff, do you have any suggestions as to how to actually get the pads to sit lower on my leg? They seem to fit, but whenever I butterfly I feel them slide sort of up my leg, causing them to feel too big. Thanks again for all your help, I really appreciate it.

I would try knee pads, first off, to see how they change things and influence your perception of how they fit and feel.

And you if you want pads to stay lower, or fit tighter to your skates in other words, you could try tightening those toe tie laces.  Do these pads have a boot strap?  Using a boot strap properly, which is to say tight enough to actually engage , will keep the pad tighter on your skates and prevent the pads from riding up your leg.  There will be other functionality issues to contend with, like under-rotation for example, but it will for sure keep them from sliding up your leg if the boot strap is tight enough.

It is possible these are just too big for you and trying to hack your way into them fitting right creates other problems, but I think you can make some progress with knee pads and the right connection set-up.

Edited December 29, 2022 by seagoal

[AdamL]

52 minutes ago, Colton1793 said:

Quite the difference between 32 and 33 over the course of 20 years!

Holy cow! That's quite the difference. I wore 35" Velocity V1s way back when, for what it's worth. 

[Colton1793]

45 minutes ago, insertnamehere said:

How do you wear your boot strap? 

Usually really loose, I ended up taking it out completely to see if that would help but no luck. I just threw in an extra set of bootstraps I had that have more holes in them to get it even tighter than before and it seemed to help a lot. Loosened the toe ties as well

[Colton1793]

25 minutes ago, AdamL said:

Holy cow! That's quite the difference. I wore 35" Velocity V1s way back when, for what it's worth. 

Crazy right! I was sick of getting chirped all the time for my "baby" pads hahaha

[Colton1793]

46 minutes ago, seagoal said:

I would try knee pads, first off, to see how they change things and influence your perception of how they fit and feel.

And you if you want pads to stay lower, or fit tighter to your skates in other words, you could try tightening those toe tie laces.  Do these pads have a boot strap?  Using a boot strap properly, which is to say tight enough to actually engage , will keep the pad tighter on your skates and prevent the pads from riding up your leg.  There will be other functionality issues to contend with, like under-rotation for example, but it will for sure keep them from sliding up your leg if the boot strap is tight enough.

It is possible these are just too big for you and trying to hack your way into them fitting right creates other problems, but I think you can make some progress with knee pads and the right connection set-up.

Thanks! I threw in another set of bootstraps I had that have more holes than the stock vaughn ones did and it seems to help tremendously

[insertnamehere]

13 minutes ago, Colton1793 said:

Usually really loose, I ended up taking it out completely to see if that would help but no luck. I just threw in an extra set of bootstraps I had that have more holes in them to get it even tighter than before and it seemed to help a lot. Loosened the toe ties as well

Just like @seagoal said, a tighter bootstrap will keep the pads lower on the leg when in the butterfly. I second his suggestion to try kneepads.

[Chenner29]

1 hour ago, seagoal said:

I would try knee pads, first off, to see how they change things and influence your perception of how they fit and feel.

And you if you want pads to stay lower, or fit tighter to your skates in other words, you could try tightening those toe tie laces.  Do these pads have a boot strap?  Using a boot strap properly, which is to say tight enough to actually engage , will keep the pad tighter on your skates and prevent the pads from riding up your leg.  There will be other functionality issues to contend with, like under-rotation for example, but it will for sure keep them from sliding up your leg if the boot strap is tight enough.

It is possible these are just too big for you and trying to hack your way into them fitting right creates other problems, but I think you can make some progress with knee pads and the right connection set-up.

I'd actually advise on the contrary

Loosening the toe laces, leg channel, prof strap will let the toe box drop forward on the skate and should help with getting the knee to land properly

If the pads are 1/2" too tall in the shin and we tighten everything up, we are bringing the boot break of the pad directly on top of the skate, which is part of the problem in the first place.

Bad ascii art to illustrate

Shin to pad (loose)

|| \\

vs

Shin to shin (tight)

|| ||

[Colton1793]

35 minutes ago, Chenner29 said:

I'd actually advise on the contrary

Loosening the toe laces, leg channel, prof strap will let the toe box drop forward on the skate and should help with getting the knee to land properly

If the pads are 1/2" too tall in the shin and we tighten everything up, we are bringing the boot break of the pad directly on top of the skate, which is part of the problem in the first place.

Bad ascii art to illustrate

Shin to pad (loose)

|| \\

vs

Shin to shin (tight)

|| ||

Ah ok. I will try everything else loose then. I gave about an inch of slack on my toe ties, the one aspect thàt did seem to help a lot was tightening the boot strap. They aren't way too big on me but I definitely am landing fairly low on the knee stack. Thanks for your suggestions!

Trying to get on the ice this week with them and will let everyone know

[Chenner29]

2 hours ago, Colton1793 said:

Ah ok. I will try everything else loose then. I gave about an inch of slack on my toe ties, the one aspect thàt did seem to help a lot was tightening the boot strap. They aren't way too big on me but I definitely am landing fairly low on the knee stack. Thanks for your suggestions!

Trying to get on the ice this week with them and will let everyone know

Many pros are using a heck of a lot more than 1" on their toe ties, but you do you

Forgot to suggest that you run your knee elastic tight so your knee stays in place.  Loosen everything else.  I'd go as far as getting rid of the prof strap, IMO you really don't need it unless you're falling off the side of the block.  Tight boot strap is going to restrict the pad from shifting forward, which we want in your scenario

Here's a better example than the ascii art I gave above of what I'm talking about.  It's basic trigonometry

Your shin is variable (a) and your skate boot is variable (b).  Variable (c) is the pad itself, we can get it to fit by letting it flow further out

Where (a) and (c) meet is ideally center of the knee block.

[Colton1793]

Alright everyone, think I finally figured out a system and am landing in the middle and occasionally near the top. I really appreciate everyone's help so far.

Here is what I have:

I had vaughn add lace tabs at the top in case I ever wanted to add my old wrap around thigh guards. I threw them on for the heck of it and it seems to help bring my pad further down my leg which is what I wanted. I also gave more slack on my toe ties, tightened the bootstrap a bunch and loosened everything else except the top knee elastic (It feels much more comfortable on the bottom velcro) and the thigh guard.

 

Any more thoughts? Tried to get some pictures of it.

Thanks again!

[keeperton]

This looks your solution has been engineered. I'd say try it with that on the ice (if you haven't), then tune from there.

[ThatCarGuy]

The more that boot breaks in the lower they’ll sit too. For whatever reason the PVE2 boot was a nuisance to size with but once broken in it was fine 

[Colton1793]

Thanks again for all the feedback

Update:

Took them to a stick and puck today and was able to actually skate in them, they felt awesome once I got them on the ice. Everyone's suggestions helped a bunch and I think they fit pretty well. My only question is how low should the pad be hanging over my skates? Kind of hard to explain but the attack angle, I felt like I couldn't get as low in my stance as with my previous pads. This might seem counter productive since I am trying to bring the pads lower, more just a question regarding modern pads since this is my first set in 15 years. I added a picture of where they are sitting when I stand upright. 

Thanks again!

[coopaloop1234]

Looks pretty normal. 

How pads hang off your skates is a personal thing. You'll see a lot of pros go out of their way to lift the pad higher on their boot so that they get more coverage with their thigh rises. It's why the Lundy loop exists. Luckily, we aren't constrained by sizing requirements. 

As long as you feel protected and you can move well, where they sit isn't a major concern. Especially since your primary focus is to get your knee centered. 

 

Edited December 30, 2022 by coopaloop1234