OldSchoolGoalie

I went and tried on a Pro-G and it wasn't comfortable, the non Pro-G was a bit better but the foam around the neck didn't allow me to tilt my head down without digging in, and I would be forced to cut the foam. I tried to get a Bauer as it has fabric around the neck as well, but stock is out until the end of November, and the last one I could find was the CCM 900 https://www.thehockeyshop.com/products/ccm-900-senior-goalie-neck-guard which has a soft fabric at the neck, and all I'm worried about there is skate blades. I use a dangler and my mask already provides enough protection on top of that. Hopefully this works and was the right choice!

Thanks! I just checked locally as I like to try these things on and nobody has any Pro-G models, not even a stock issue they just don't carry them. Everyone only has the Aegis Senior Interceptor Hockey Goalie Neck Guard only, so I'm not sure how much different the Pro-G is going to be compared to the non Pro-G. My main concern is skate blades, but I still want that clavicle protection that I had with my warrior as my chest protector is more old school and I need that extra padding. I can order one in online, just need to be sure the fit is going to be good. Otherwise I can just get the non Pro-G model.

I've been using this neck guard: https://goalie.purehockey.com/product/warrior-ritual-x3-e-goalie-neck-guard-senior/itm/46509-41/ but after getting some flash backs of Clint Malarchuk and a few rushes to the net I find that this guard doesn't go up high enough, it really just has a small lip, and down below it just provides clavicle protection. I wasn't sure if something like this: https://goalie.purehockey.com/product/aegis-interceptor-pro-g-goalie-neck-guard-senior/itm/43129-41/ would be better, but not be too uncomfortable and restrict movement. I have a problem when things are too tight around my neck where I start to gag. I cannot even wear tight collar shirts, or even a tight turtle neck. Just want to make sure my neck is fully protected. I currently use the Warrior Ritual X3 E+, and a Dangler as well. Any advice? Or maybe I'm just going overboard? Sometimes I play with lower divisions so the net get crashed, and when down skates are moving a bit too close for comfort!

Plug that! Nice piece.

So far so good! I'm at the point now where if I get challenged I'm able to skate up past the top of my crease and poke check or do the inverted Y with good success. I also found my skating is improving just by getting thrown into the fire. Majority of the time if I'm at the top of the crease and square on angle I stop 95% of the shots with the odd one squeezing through. I still need to better work on my aggressiveness when skating backwards, but my patience has paid off big time by not reacting early. Shuffles are coming along better, and oddly I do them better under pressure in a game than just stick and skate, no idea why... ? I can say for certain I prefer ice hockey over inline, and especially ball hockey. Even though I play more of a stand up - hybrid style I can hold my own. I do need to work on sliding better because I get beat on 2 on 0s. Even when I played inline I had a choice to either go out and play the angle with the intent to dive, or play deep (which doesn't work well due to my size), and hope for the best. Very few times can I poke check or intercept the pass as any smart player wont get that close, and will pull you off as far as they can before the quick pass. My only issue is my skates feel loose after being warmed up. Not sure how to correct this sadly, or if wax laces is the way to go? On days where I have a morning and evening skate my evening skate is perfect and nothing get loose. 2 games next week, and I'll see how that goes! Thanks for all the tips.

I'm curious too! On that note, @Hoult74 you could take the straps to a Fabric Land or like place, those ladies will tell you.

That was a nasty hit! !

I'm up north in Canada, and for our city ice we do have a registration page, 4 goalies max. I did call and ask why it isn't just 2 max for the hour, but didn't get much out of that. I have no problem getting ice time for city ice as there is always a slot when I check before it fills to the 4 max, I just don't like the idea of having 4 goalies for an hour. Maybe I should just bite the bullet and do it anyhow to get out and meet people and maybe find a regular spot. Right now I play off ice with another group, and I play on ice at Stick and Skate as I haven't found a group yet. Also waiting for inline to start up in spring again, but so far I'm loving ice hockey more than anything. I don't want to come across as selfish or anything either, I normally play 2+ hour stretches with private groups for inline and even ball hockey and we have just 2 goalies. The idea of just playing for 30 minutes or less on Ice doesn't seem worth it to me considering the drive out, time to prepare, and going back and the clean up, ect... This assumes equal playing time as well. If you get into the 5 goals and swap I can already see a problem where less skilled and/or stacked teams will leave certain goalies being on the bench a lot longer unless I misunderstood the game, or if it is a collective thing and both swap out for the other 2? Last thing I want to do is get into some drama with other goalies over time.

So Stick and Skate worked out way better than Shinny in the mornings as almost no people show up for the 5AM. I got shots from all over the place in evening stick and skate allowing me to practice quick movements, down low saves, half butterfly saves, and recoveries. Overall this is probably a better use of my time and I'll probably get more accustomed to skating under pressure much faster than just one or two people taking turns shooting on net. Bit gassed considering the volume of shots, plus going down on those break aways. The different skill levels are nice. I got slap shots, wrist shots, and some skating towards me moving quickly forcing me to practice my lateral movement. After every shot if possible I would reset to the center goal line and back out. Good time!

Got some practice in, so I can move about a foot or two before catching an edge. I also noticed my feet get really tired from doing shuffles... But at least more progress is happening now.

I just have bad luck! The older guys I've played with have enough sense thankfully to actually aim for my pads. glove, and blocker to get me warmed up and not to just clock in their hardest shot at point blank at my head, or pull off some move like its a shootout for the cup like the younger crowd I've played with. But either way, my personal experience doesn't mean that it is this way all around. I'm going for Stick and Skate tomorrow and probably early morning shinny before that to get some extra skating in and I'll see how it works out. I just don't have any tolerance for slap shots to the head for these drop ins.

I've recently moved away from my Bauer mask and went with CCM due to the fit being way more comfortable. I've used this mask only for three games and I'm having a problem with the foam lifting. I also noticed when I keep my backplate on outside of games it digs into the foam and this is probably the main reason for the peeling on the sides. So I'm going to be forced to just take off the back plate and attach it pre-game every time. Then on the backplate it is lifting here: I guess I can just put some adessive to stick it back on, but I never experienced this issue, and only three uses! I even found this review video that apparently had the same problem but with the PRO model where he would have to keep the backplate off to avoid this problem: Now I doubt it is much of a problem at this stage, but if this foam gets worse I assume I'm going to be forced to get something like this as a foam replacement: https://www.resilientgoalie.com/ccm-universal Bit surprised though...

I would do the bootstrap if it would work with nylon and the right buckle that wont cause any issues, but I'm still thinking about just using toe ties and tossing the bootstrap out - not sure yet! These are my other set of pads that are all leather. The red arrows are the only straps I really use. Bootstrap, then the next one up is pretty tight 8th hole, then above is about half of that, and the rest are on the first or second hole. (They're randomly strapped now due to carrying them back from the rink and not wanting them loose) Not sure I would need to replace the top two, or have anything there.

Many years ago I remember a post and it might have been on the old goalieboard forums where someone had a setup where they could easily swap out buckles in the event they would break but it wasn't a dual sided one if I recall. I cannot find an cached version anywhere. I'm thinking about just swapping out all my leather straps (not sure about the bootstrap and how that would work with nylon). My main concern is being able to replace the plastic buckles in the event they break from a shot, or dropping down, anything really. The only thing I can think of off the bat is this: I'm trying to avoid the situation where I have the one end sewed in: Now I haven't done this set up before, however prior for my inline pads I actually had the shop just install nylon straps with the buckles but they were sewed in. It was just so quick and easy to get more fine adjustments than leather. Also lasted me a few years and no problems. I also assume I need one of these on each side before the buckle? Thanks for any help! I can probably do this myself as I have a Speedy Stitcher Sewing Awl and a bunch of sewing stuff. For the bootstrap part I could leave the leather if nylon won't work, but maybe it might be a good time to just try toe ties?

I'll have to be more vocal in these pick ups. Looking back on this I should've just skated out of the net, went to the boards or other side which was empty and did some practice then went home. Being a bit more "reformed" I tend to remove myself from situations now a days when I'm heated up enough. I still remember my early inline days flipping people into the net when they would try to run me. Few hacks here and there, now I'm more controlled. On that note, I don't even know how people can react to those super close up cannon slap shots. My first reaction would be to get in front and center to the puck, and drop down while covering as much as possible by playing the percentages. Being shorter though I'm more prone to head shots like this and Ice Hockey pucks just hit different than inline!

Yea, they were around 18-22 from what I could gage. Even if I wasn't in net those shots were going for the glass and dropping behind the net, which is just a useless shot that has no value. I wonder what coaches teach kids as they're going up, because these guys apparently played minor hockey from what they told me. One inline team I played with had some people who played AAA, and during warmup pre-game I got that same treatment. During the actual games very rarely does this happen because the other team is actually trying to score. It has happened with less experienced shooters just looking for a hard shot with zero accuracy and hoping for rebound play, and I honestly never cared about it in a game. Either way, there will always be such people in this sport no matter if I go to league play, organized pick up, or just some random rink with a bunch of guys out. I find it far less the older the group is. The other spot is just a stick and skate, I think they have families coming out or whatever of all ages, and those light or foam pucks. My main goal is to get my movement down, so maybe I should just go to some public skate, but stick and skate allows me to use my full gear with a net.

Sadly today didn't work out as planned. Normally the drop in when I come in the mornings is fairly empty but to my luck a couple of guys came out (not even enough for a game or half ice or whatever) but enough for shots. I gave them the heads up I'm practicing on my movement, ect... but my time was short lived after they only wanted to just do slap shots at the face off circle near the goal crease which always seemed to be at my head - and these were canons too. After the fourth time getting hit in the head I just skated off and left. Not sure what they were trying to do. I'm thinking to just go to Stick and Skate with my gear to practice more, then move into playing some games once I got the skating part down. They have 2 hour slots twice a week so plenty of time at the place I go.

Thank you! Very helpful!

I generally have a shoulder width stance for the most part with my more hybrid stand up style. Looking forward to trying this stuff.

Thanks! This is really helpful! I'll try this tomorrow and post back. I also think some of my problem is I'm too focused on trying to skate properly and move around and this is also impacting my ability to focus on saving.

For inline I always skated out and never played deep. When the play was developing you would never see me on the goal line, I was always skating to the top of my crease and further (depending on rules - some places wont allow a goalie to leave the top of the crease). Then I would match the speed as I went backwards keeping that distance to cut off the angle. Ball hockey I played out a bit but not too far because I cannot run backwards. When I first started playing inline I played deep and it was pretty much an open net for the most part. I'm trying to do the same with Ice Hockey by going out more and being aggressive, but my lateral movements are so poor right now I'll need to fix it with shuffles. The part about dropping left or right or even diving might just be due to not being used to the surface (ice), and the fear of over sliding or something. Oddly enough if someone is in my crease I actually drop with less thought once they're close enough. No idea why I freeze up otherwise.

I've had two Ice Hockey sessions so far and my background is mostly inline with some ball hockey (I also never played Ice Hockey as a player as an adult or skated much on ice). I'm running into two major problems in the net during Ice Hockey that I need to correct. 1. I cannot Shuffle for the life of me, I don't know but it just feels like my edges are dug in and I cannot really do it. For reference I have 4mm runners with 5/8" hollows. When I played inline there was no shuffle like what you see with Ice Hockey, either you physically lifted your skate and did a side step, or you did a T Push (opening up holes), or C Cut for depth. Does anyone have a really good video or some step by step guide I can follow that goes over weight transfer and edges? I assumed and I'm probably wrong, but I thought to shuffle to the left I would be on my inside edge of my right and left skate, then I put my weight on my right side to push left but my left skate just wont budge. I don't want to lift my skate, and I wasn't sure if I'm just supposed to have the lead foot at a 90 degree angle to slide it like when you're gliding? 2. Freezing up on down low shots is a problem. What I mean by this is when I played inline I already knew my sliding ability really wasn't there even with pad covers, however if I needed to be square to the puck on a shot as the play changed because it went over left or right I had no problem pushing off on one side then landing down doing a half butterfly or full. I even had no problem with diving, same with Ball Hockey which I did a lot of diving due to mobility. With Ice Hockey I really feel dug in and stuck, and less explosive and for whatever reason not as willing to dive on ice. I have no problem dropping straight down and kicking a leg out, but to push off I'm just too slow to re-adjust myself to be center with the shot down low. What gets me most is I'm tracking the puck just fine, and I can see where it is going as I track it right into the net, but my body just doesn't respond properly and in the back of my mind I'm already thinking why didn't I just dive it was an easy save. Thankfully Inline Skating has worked well for when transitioning to Ice because I was able to skate forward, backward, T Push, C Cut and stop on my first try on the ice with of course room for improvement. I have very little Ice Skating practice as I mostly did this as a kid. But I feel very immobile when I need to make more smaller movements as I cannot slide, and I have some problem where I don't drop and slide left or right or dive for some reason. On breakaways oddly I'm more willing to get down but I slide all over the ice sadly up close. I have 1 H and 30 Mins of free ice time from Monday to Friday every week so any advice on how to improve would be greatly appreciated. Also I play more of a Hybrid Style, and will Stand up more and resort to dives (at least this is how I played inline). I'm on the shorter side 5ft 6" and don't have the longest legs (torso is longer which makes me fit into Senior Mds Chest Protectors). Looking at going tomorrow to practice some more, not sure if I need some days off or not but I'm using my time as best as I can to find all the faults and try to correct them.

Solid idea! Hope this works!

Thanks @Math. & @seagoal I'll need to wear them and actually check but I assume it is all from the Velcro and not anything like the sides of the straps which are harder rubbing, ect...? I'll pick up some strips for a few dollars later today as I got ice time tomorrow. Just a shame, two wears with these pants.

I'm running into the Velcro ripping up my inside of my goalie pants problem. I don't wear hockey socks and my compression pants are too tight to pull over Bauer Pros, but I'm getting this problem: It isn't too bad just yet, but I'm not sure what the best solution is? I was thinking of just using sock tape around the straps to prevent it from touching. I also thought about maybe attaching a Velcro piece to the exposed part. I don't think I'll wear hockey socks as I still play inline and this would be a problem with overheating. Ice Hockey actually is still pretty hot for me just wearing no shirt under my chest, and only compression pants. I also think my strap edges are doing this too, just not sure because the area on this leg for example is pretty big. With my prior Brian's Knee Pads and my other pants I don't recall this being a problem, but these Bauer Pros are much bigger and have more strapping.