Hey Guys,
Just bought a new helmet after wearing a Sherwood Certified Cat Eye Goalie Mask for the past decade. Ended up trying on a liking the Bauer 960 XPM with a straight bar cage up in Vancouver, I live in Seattle. Played a few games in the helmet and despite loving the fit of the helmet, the straight bar cage was noticeably getting in my line of sight with pucks. I certainly could move forward with it and live with it. I did some research and found out that Bauer does not make a Certified Cat Eye cage for the 960 XPM mask. However they do make a Certified Cat Eye cage for the NME helmet.
My next inclination was to just bought a Non-Certified Cat Eye for my 960 XPM but went down a rabbit hole of horror stories of Goalies getting sticks and pucks through their helmet. Pucks don't seem to be able to get through the Non-Certified Cat Eyes in 2019, It seems. However between Bishop, Keumper and Lundqvist in recent years getting sticks going through their cage, I was curious within the community how many of you, who wear Non-Certified Cat Eye's , have ever had a scare with a stick coming through your cage?
Part of me is leaning toward just moving forward with the non-certified cat eye, as the chances seem small that something could happen. Part of me is also thinking of trading in the 960 XPM for a Bauer NME VTX, where I can replace the cage with a Certified Cat Eye. Wanted to get the communities thoughts? Much thanks!