ArdeFIN

Here's a few different ways I had a picture of.

I had to add extra loops of nylon as the loops readily on the backprotection were too low to make any useful elastic connect.

The easier way is when you can just add some elastic cord, adjust the length and good to go. Using multiple cords makes the elastic loop stiffer which you need to try and find your best setup too. I've found four loops to be useable starting from two - three and four is good. I think I've never tried how it would do with even more loops.

Also the length of the loop naturally has effect on the stiffness of the elastic.

Then if you tuck you might want the loop on your pants to be inside the waist protection so that the C/A doesn't fight the back protection of the pants. And for untucked use the loop on the outside, where most pants have a loop already to hang them up to dry.

Update on my behalf here. I ended up using suspenders to keep pants up, can't even tighten the belt to get them really snug but just good enough. Suspenders are crossed over my chest. 

C/A has the usual bungee cord on the back and connects with carabinier to a loop on my pants.

Really like this setup except that the C/A rib protection has awfully hard top edges that dig into my ribs/armpits. Have to modify them a bit unless I'll get rid of them Snowwis set and continue with my Warrior & CCM setups but go for untucked with CCM. Warrior pants don't want to be untucked. Yet.

Just got my new pants in and was bit surprised of them. I did (for some reason though) have an idea that I ordered a pair of HPG14A while my mind was set to HPG12/Premier with flat thighs, I had Premiers long time ago but size too small.

So opening the box and looking at the sticker saying something about the pants in the CCM long coding and the got the pants out and they looked as in the advertisement picture exactly, nice! Plain simple design, no hoitytoity materials and graphics. Just 100% hockey gear. Quickly trying how the paddings feel on hip and thigh areas and that was a bit of a stepdown as my current X2Pro Warriors do pack a lot more padding in them. But this doesn't mean that CCMs felt thin, just thinner. Then finally looked at the size tag saying HPG12A size L. WTF. Okay, I'm good now  Then looking to the thigh boards and all again and yes, could've noticed it right away that these are definitely not HPG14A.

Rechecking the advertisement doesn't exactly say what HPG model were on sale, but size chart saying M-L-XL should've rang some bells.

Oh well now I have my sort of dream pants in and I'll have to add the tabs for knee pads before first use. That should be super easy as the pants are with the same structure as Premiers where the thigh boards are in a pocket closed with velcro. I'll add some jenpro and velcro in between and should be good to go. Other bonus with this pant structure is that if padding is ever proven to be too thin it is super easy to add a layer of foam in there. 

No picture of pants but they are only plain black HPG12A with stiched white CCM logos. And found some CCM suspenders to go with these.

The tabs for knee pads:

Is Cortina supplying some other brands than CCM?

Nah, I got impatient and pulled the trigger for HPG14A pants. 

If they are not what I wanted (propably no problems) I'll try and sell them with a small loss of money and buy something else.

I tried to find VE8 pants but they were non-existant in Europe. No new stock and no used ones available. I also found out that V9 has been with the thigh cradle ie. old style flat thigh plates. But the V9 was Pro Carbon and then the price went to 500 euros which is a lot more than HPG14A.

I'm also interested to see if these are truly NHL spec pants or just the same model but less protection. Ofcourse I don't know about the real NHL spec pants but if these feel down graded then I'm disappointed.

Took my skates to get them sharp again (last time was 4th jan 2023 ) and found one S sized X4E pants. The design was spot on and felt like it could work really well for what I'm looking for. But. The quality of so called SR. Over all everything felt somewhat cheapish but not bad atleast if looking for protection. But the materials and especially the nylon on the outside is rubbish. It even sounds like paper bag and feels super thin. So that was about it.

Then I looked for alternatives:

- Vaughn V9: Super protective and quality feel, thick paddings and movements from shelf felt good. But for some reason atleast the (only) pair that was available had both of the thigh boards halfway straightened. And when I tried the pants on the boards were in 90 degree angle in front of me like snowplough. Could be easily fixed with some strapping into shape etc. But if I'm buying new gear....

- CCM Pro, these were known to have a bit of an issue on the front hip area and yes, there is only 5-10mm of padding where you have cup under. But even Warrior cup cannot cover that whole area. Other than that they felt just like Premier which I liked when had them. But again I'm looking for new gear and not planning to modify them to start with.

So can anyone post me a picture of the insides of CCM HPG14 pants? The front area and legs are of interest.

Does anyone have any hands on experience with these? 

I was to try a non-tuck style with my X2Pro but noticed that when I pulled the waist belt snug the pants turned to non-mobile mode to a level where I wasn't able to drop down and do any movements that required thighs to move. Looking it through I think it's the waist plates on front and sides and added to the thigh plates that are just huge.

From pictures these "E" pants don't have any of those Warrior style extras and look more like the standard style.

I don't have these in the nearby shops so asking before travelling further to find out if these would work for me.

Other option I have are CCM HPG14A but for almost double the price of the X3E/4E and even less chances to try them on, actually only way is to get them shipped to me to try them on.

It's not much to see with these pictures. I remebered wrong here as I've since updated these pads to the ones I had in my FrankenCCM. These addons have sewn in jenpro tabs with holes. Structurally the same as to make the holes to the pad itself. The added tab doesn't show too well in the picture but you get some idea.

Then some lace to attach the pad to the length adjustment holes on Warrior C/A. Could use elastic lace here too to add some give to the movements. Warrior has a lot of holes to lace sleeve which is good for aligning the sleeve but also to add this kind of extra. Any way you do it you need to test it a bit to see how the tab positions itself to between the layers.

Another one from under the added tab. If the holes were through the flap it would maybe be easier to set it where you want it. This type of attachment leaves some play no matter how you tighten the lace. But in this setup it works. I can't tell that the extra flap is there from mobility nor anything else. Direct comparison isn't possible though.

I'll have to take some photos of the attachment to give you a better detail, but simply said I made holes to the beefups and tied them to the sleeve laces. Warrior uses the lace attached sleeves...

21 hours ago, froese said:

My ef6 580 arrived today so I thought I'd post some side by side shots with the 581.

I really cannot see 581 there but rather there are 590 and 580? What is the 581 supposed to be as I thought it was 580 with some new details.

Is this a quality issue on new True gear or what?

8 minutes ago, coopaloop1234 said:

There's one Euro goalie who's in Bauer pads and blocker, but still using a Warrior glove. I can't remember his name, but I like his style. 

There is, or was, one Euro goalie who played in team sponsored Warriors and when his team contracted to Bauer he had his new Bauer gear opened up and Warrior guts build in. 

Not much for the topic though but good topic anyways, hopefully we get updates and pictures.

10 hours ago, coopaloop1234 said:

You have to give us 5,500 more reasons why you're so great. 

4 hours ago, Chenner29 said:

"Currently Unavailable"

Either the build quality is close to none and these are not made overseas right?

Or there is a lot in the design and structure that we don't know about.

Ofcourse nothing lasts forever and these boots have overlasted that limit a long time ago... 

But still pretty sure that the previous owner will have an "Ohhh!" feeling when he gets to use his next intact skates that are firm and supportive.

You can tell a lot from the first pictures from inside the heel where there is a lot of abrasion. And these skates are famous for the good heel lock right?

Proven to work! But can't really what was the reason, fresh autumn ice or humidity or what. I had a slide of my life yesterday. As I thought I was accustomed to the slide these PE plates should give there was a lot more. I felt I was all over the crease and more. And without a lot of effort at all. 

I had my new-to-me GT2Pro pads for the first time on ice too but that can't explain all the slideability. Well a few more ice times and I'll know more. And maybe I'll have to take my old trusty GTs in between for once.

For the GT2 vs GT, I was all the same. And for the size, I'm better off with 34+1,5" but I wasn't a huge difference. On the down side I dropped of the block a few times that never has happened with my GT pads. But that was propably from the loose knee sling. The nylon part of it to be exact as the stretchy part of it was snug. And comparing to the G5, the GT2 was everything I missed while I used the G5. So I'd say that if Warrior doesn't have the option to make the leg channel narrow on G6 then I'm out of Warriors pads as a future choice. I need the leg channel to be narrow but not too snug fit.

Edit: Maybe this comparison text should be somewhere in those Warrior pad threads....

On 8/10/2023 at 3:07 AM, dreadlocked1 said:

From my own experiences and time on GSBB, you gotta make these out of hmwpe or they'll shatter from a shot.  Let us know how they work out, they look fantastic.

Don't really know the exact type of PE these are but it's some of the most basic material I have available at local store.

For so far from 2019 I've made these mods and fixes I've always used this same PE and it has held up on anything thrown to it. I've used it to blocker plates, catcher plates, slide plates and what more.

And I do have similar plates on my GT pads except those are a whopping 4mm thick plate and I made similar 2mm plates to my G5 pads that I got rid of already.

So these should last. 

Edit: Should be PE HD. They advertise it for ice hockey rinks amongst many other purposes...

Last but not least is the installing which after a lot of fitting and proven system was nothing really challenging.

A few tweaks that I made for these include that the knots are hidden inside the plastic. This is more of a visual thing than anything really important to do. Looks clean when the knots aren't there. 

Front lace (right in the picture) goes between the knee block and the pad. This is still the "old style" pad where knee block isn't heavily attached to the pad. Might be difficult to lace the plate this way in newer Bauer pads for instance.

The other lace goes over the block and is trapped behind the grey ridge that is only as wide as seen in the picture. 

Laces only keep the plate against the block and prevent it from moving back and forward while there are also those edges for that too.

The only knot left visible is the front below the block. It could be hidden too but would take a lot of effort for basically no reason. And could propably loosen the attachment which isn't really desired.

Different angle for the same thing. The plate is just that much out from the sliding surface of the pad that it takes most of my weight to the ice. I can still control my movements and speed by using my ankle pressure and ofcourse the skate blade.

Total time spent to make these plates was about 4 hours including all fitting and whatever hazzle there was with tools and materials. So it really isn't fast and in no way profitable to make these for sale. But if you have some hand skills other than catching pucks and own the few tools required then you should be able to do your own slide plates.

Any questions for how I made something here that I didn't tell please do ask. I'm not educated plastics worker so I may have some faults in my process too. If you know better and can give me advise I would appreciate a lot.

Thanks and happy sliding!

Then it was obviously time to heat things up.

I had most of wooden molds readily available from previous projects but some were created during this process.

First I made the easy ones, high side edges that keep the plate in place against the long edges of the block.

The roundness on the wood is about 5mm radius (pre-milled, not made by me) so pretty small but suits the 2mm plastic. For 3mm sheet I'd go for bigger radius to keep the bent corner smooth.

There is a very thin line to target the inside edge to. Inside is easier in my opinion as you don't have to account the thickness of sheet or anything but just bend the sheet to 90 degrees against the wood. More heat was applied to the outside and less to inside to make the outside softer and stretch that small length instead of getting the inside to wrap up.

That was easy, both sides to 90 degrees and cool down with cold tap water. The sheet can be re-heated and bent if the result wasn't what expexted and if the plastic wasn't melt it can be returned to pretty much beginning state. Sure the heating and cooling process does change the plastic so less times heated up is better here.

Then to the more difficult part which is the edge to the front face of the pad. This edge has to be shallow so that can't scrap the jenpro but still high enough so that it doesn't catch the roughness of the ice when sliding. Rounded would the proper term here.

After doing these I remembered that should've left this edge some 5mm longer than I did. The extra helps the bending a lot but is also waste material after as it is then cut off. So I saved that 5mm of plastic sheet and 15 minutes of extra trouble of setting the mould to make roundness I wanted. 

Wood here is specifically cut to make this edge. Took some minutes to cut and round the corners but saved a lot of time and effort and the result on the plate is very nice and I was also able to repeat the process on the second plate.

Then that headache mentioned. After bending the "rear" edge up I had the corners to do which are also rounded to bigger radius while bent up. I should've left some 10mm of sheet into the corners here to get the edge rounded and looking nice and properly done. Well I didn't so I had to cut the corner a bit and melt the plastic to stretch a bit of extra from there too. I will work though as that spot isn't really doing anything but the rounded edge to prevent catching the ice. Green line on the picture is to mimic the plastic I wasn't supposed to cut out.

I also made more rounded corners to the wood piece that I used to bend the front edge but that didn't work here either as the bend had to be drawn inwards a lot.

But after getting that sorted out these short corners were easy to do. This was actually the only place where I did carefully melt the plastic to stretch it but also to make it easier get the three dimensional rounded corner.

The edges are shallow on the corners but should be enough to slide around properly. Holes are already drilled and all the edges rounded and sharp edges dulled or cut.

The center of the plate is convex after heating the plate and that is in my opinion a desired thing as the edges are lift up more and the pressure is on the middle of plate as much as the 2mm plastic sheet does give any support here. But better than being concave.

As I bought the GT2 pads and needed the PE plates to slide properly I thought now that Warrior is already selling these I could just make a little how-to-make-them-by-yourself description.

What you need:

2mm PE or other plastic sheet about 20cm x 40cm piece. PE is my preferred plastic type for hockey gear things and 2mm is thick enough but very easy to heat up and mold.

Exacto knife

Heat gun @ 300 celsius

Carton to make a template

Pieces of board, lumber, ply sheet for moulds, will help a lot 

Then we begin with some templating. I just cut a wide enough sheet of thin carton, cut it into close shape and then fit in, think of the plastic and how it can be bent to desired shape and cut a bit more. And doesn't need to say that the pad is needed in this phase also? It's possible that the plate has to be asymmetric for right and left pad as the knee block might be different shape in the corners and blocks attachment to pad can be what ever.

Here's the template on the plastic sheet that is cut from a bigger sheet "close to the measurements".

Draw a line with sharp pin, knife or what ever. Doesn't need to cut deep yet and the carton isn't helping to guide the blade, don't even try.

As the PE sheet gets very static charge it will attract the dust, which can be then used to highlight the drawings.

Cut a new sharp edge for the knife if possible and draw the first line, don't need to use extensive pressure here! Actually a lot easier to almost just slide the blade on the plastic.

Actually the lines in the picture above are after the first cut already.

Then repeat with slight pressure and follow the cut carefully. After four-five repeats the cut is already going through. Corners were easy so those are already cut out.

Don't try to cut from the other side and keep cutting from one side only, the knife follows the cut really easily when there is a little pressure on and the angle of the blade is big enough. Outside corners are easier as you can slip to outside from the cut and it doesn't affect the result. But if the plastic sheet is cut into the piece that is to be used then the game is pretty much over as it isn't really repairable! Ofcourse depending on the depth of the cut too. But it starts to crack pretty easily when cold and bent etc that happens when in use.

So take your time and cut carefully. Also be cautious to the blade, it cuts fingers super easily too!

And this is what I have after an hour of working, starting from gathering all the tools and materials to two cut pieces of plastic sheet.

There is also a mistake on the template that caused a bit of a headache during the molding... 

37 minutes ago, coopaloop1234 said:

Cut or uncut? 

And this is all the interest there is for new CCM gear 

On 7/21/2023 at 1:00 AM, Madmedic6 said:

I have received my ccm custom set today and I figured I'd do a photo comparison of a 581 vs a 580. The lack of finger stalls is definitely noticable but we will see how it plays out. I feel like the pinky loop in the custom is bigger than the retail version as well. Range of motion in the new hand lock is very nice. 

I didn't even notice before that CCM has removed the concave shape from the thumb side, shows really well in the picture. That might or might not make some difference to the feel of the glove and catching the pucks too.

On 7/18/2023 at 9:00 PM, seagoal said:

Same here.  

But this post seems like a good call for @ArdeFIN, our resident gear surgeon. 

Eh, thanks. This goes a bit off from what I've experienced since I don't really need more pop for my blocker than I have. That said it is usually a plastic sheet added to the front. But for the plastic type or thickness I really cannot give any good advice.

For the pads, it would be an awful lot of work to do as you would have to dismantle all the structural lacing and atleast one binding before getting into it. Lacing is still in a range of things but those bindings are difficult to do and need a lot of effort and right tools too.

So as others have already stated, get some Bauer for the pop. Or just newer set of any brand for more pop.

It'll take a few years to get these 580 mimics into the used glove markets. The Vaughn 70-version could be something I'd like to use as the V9XP is not for me.

Funny actually as the 580 has been available in CCM/Lefebvre/True custom for a long time and only now every manufacturer have made their own version to claim the markets.

A new idea but needs some developing to work, atleast those arrows have to go:

I don't know if the NA hockey dictionary has the saying "player hits the logo" which for those who don't know means that a player shoots the puck and hits goalie in the middle of the chest where the team logo usually is. I had this on my previous jersey, so now that I use different jersey I could add that hint for the shooter on my pads as the thigh rises of the pads are usually located just below the intended target; logo... 

Sure enough the pronounce in finnish is also problematic to split in two: "OSU LOGOON". 

9 hours ago, ser33 said:

I understand your arguments and agree with them. p.s. The photo was just an example) p.p.s. your prices are crazy

Yes I know about the photo, and my answer to it wasn't just for NYR but all similar graphics. Those are actually pretty cool except for the splitting issue. I'd have a LOTR Witch King instead of Statue of Liberty though 

The pricing for the prints is what it is. I think it's part of not too well selling product which still requires quite a lot of investing into. Could be cheaper if I tried to find the cheapest option, that's only one offer.