TitanG

And here's more of the mask progress:

Ok makes sense. I prefer the 600 so never paid attention to the other breaks.

This is pretty cool to see, though I'm not sure what "super epoxy resin" is...

Yeah this is only through looking at many masks and coming the realize the differences -- just like someone with cars might.

How different is the stock 1S glove from the 600 clone? To me they always seemed quite similar.

Well the NME's (like the one painted in the centre) have that indent above the eyeline and don't have the vibration damping tape that the XPM's have. Also, I did notice the one on the far end is a Wall. I'm just interested why they would have NME backplates for XPM's -- are they made of the same composites and resins, making the only difference the placement of the holes?

Noticed that the backplate of the leftmost XPM is different than all the other XPM's and NME10's (way too many acronyms). They're all NME10 backplates paired with XPM's except the leftmost, so I wonder why this was done? Supply shortage of the XPM backplates or mess up by the painter?

Technically changing the padding to anything other than the manufacturer's padding voids the certification, even if it arguably makes it safer (i.e. Maltese). So my point is putting a certified sticker on a non-certified mask is really no different from my view. Basically, the various leagues (if they didn't have to worry about liability) should have certification as the baseline and suggest getting a custom mask from at least one of the NHL custom mask makers. After all, no league is tougher on goalies heads than the NHL (at least in terms of shot power, beer leaguers probably get more headshots from inaccurate shooters).

Yep, and as an Eddy Mask owner I love that they use those cages so that replacements are plentiful and in production!

Well like I said some of the Masked Marvels are made by Coveted so you're not totally wrong I guess?

If you need CSA approved though only the OTNY Masks sold by Don Simmons are certified and not the Fusion masks as far as I know, and Coveted does not currently have a certified mask (they do manufacture masks for OTNY and Masked Marvel as far as I know).

So Darren Millard (Rogers Sportsnet) is getting a Sportmask Pro Custom. I always liked seeing these process photos (from Tony Priolo on the Sportmask Facebook page) and as most goalies would want to have the same process done for myself.

The blue set is for Kasimir Kaskisuo of the Marlies. Interesting to note that last season he was in a Heritage setup and previous seasons he was in G-NETiK, so it again shows that there are really different softness options available.

Plus if the league is really sticky on this issue, get some Bauer stickers for the Protechsport 960 clone and nobody will be the wiser. Even without them most wouldn't bat an eyelash. As I've mentioned before, the last CHL goalie to use a Protechsport was forced to switch to a Bauer 960, but went back to a Protechsport (Lefebvre design, not the 960 clone) with Bauer logos and wore it for the rest of the season, seemingly without a problem. In the end, really only die hard goalie gear guys will even know the difference between a Protechsport, a Bauer 960 and a Warwick (three 'completely' different mask designs).

Can't go wrong with a Protechsport from everyone I've ever heard, though of course the certification is an issue. There are other certified options that are Canadian made like OTNY, Masked Marvel, etc., and Sportmask is another option like you said.

Will they really care about the cage having the certification? If anyone is still using a mask that is a few years old or older (like you were with the Hackva), they won't have the CSA sticker on their cage but it is still certified, so you could just pass off the Protechsport as being a older model you got. I've honestly thought about doing the same since the whole certification process is deeply flawed. Also, if that's really a concern, get a new certified cage with the sticker on it and send it to Michel to use for the mask. I'm sure he would accommodate a special request like that, plus if you wanted his 960 clone you could get a Bauer 960 XPM certified cage and send it to him without him having to do custom cage holes.

I looked up the Poron XRD website and it's now simply XRD so it could be rebranding from them. It still sort of seems like a different foam since the yellow Poron XRD in the player helmets looks injection molded and has a smooth surface (I think it was because it is open cell foam and would absorb more sweat otherwise) whereas the XRD in the mask looks like a traditional foam. It could all just be appearance and truly be the same, though.

Is there a material difference between Poron XRD and simply XRD foam (other than marketing)? When Bauer originally came out with the RE-AKT player helmet, they advertised (and still do) that it contained Poron XRD foam. But in the more recent RE-AKT 200 player helmet and the 960 XPM mask, they both advertise XRD foam, excluding the Poron name. To me, it seems like XRD foam is just a type of memory foam similar to the original 960 VN foam, and not so dense as the yellow Poron XRD or Flexorb foams. Yeesh, marketing makes this so confusing...

I think this is probably wax. I recall OTNY announcing a similar feature for their masks on Facebook.

On another mask note with the original Bauer 961 vs 961 XPM, appears that the pro XPM fits differently than the pro 961. Here is the original 961 on Lundqvist. You can see it sits about halfway up his eyebrow level and halfway down his mouth: it Now with the new XPM, it appears to cover his entire eyebrow line and expose his entire mouth: Also you can see that the ear holes on the pro XPM match the retail whereas most of the original pro 961's had ear holes closer together than the retail version (always wondered why it wasn't homogeneous). Maybe I'm just crazy and obviously these are minute differences, but I like pointing them out in hopes of someone else pointing something else out or sharing some other new-to-me info.

Here is a description of his mask shapes. This is a bit out of date because he now also has a clone of the Bauer/Itech 961. So as far as I can tell his unique shells are: - Brodeur (designed by Michel Lefevbre) - Roy (designed by Michel Lefevbre) - Belfour (designed by Michel Lefevbre but with triangular vents, in my view not as close to a Harrison as a Warwick or Eddy) - Theodore et al. (designed by Michel Lefevbre) - Bauer/Itech 961 (clone of Jerry Wright's design) Basically if he names anyone other than Roy or Brodeur, it will look like a Theodore/Luongo/Giguere Protechsport mask (i.e. the classic three ear-hole Lefevre design). Every name is just a different size basically, so like a 961 clone and a Luongo are each just one size. Caveat: I have never ordered from him but this is how I understand it to be.

I mentioned this in the 2017-18 gear sightings thread, but I am not really a fan of the new Bauer 961 XPM cage as I much preferred the original 961 cage. The new XPM cage has a tighter arc for the cateyes whereas the original was more of a softer curve. I mean most companies use the style of the original 961 cage and the new XPM just seems cheap looking (the CE certification tags don't help either). Here are some comparison shots (one from KVG, his on the left is the XPM and Andersen's on the right is the original 961 cage but on the XPM mask):

He makes a clone of the Bauer 961 so I wonder if he'll clone the CCM masks too? Also, I'm sure if you went full custom he'd be able to clone one.

I think it was probably required seeing as the rest of his gear is CCM and typically NCAA college teams have a sponsored brand they must wear (I recall there being a goalie with a Warwick who also had CCM on his mask). At least in this case it makes sense since Lefebvre designed the Protechsports but now brands his stuff under CCM. On a side note, I can't stand the CHL rules that you can only wear their sponsored gear brands; you can't even wear logoless pads/mask. Some of you may recall the goalie who wore a non-branded Protechsport but was forced to change to Bauer (before CCM had a pro mask). Funnily enough, if you look through his photos chronologically, it appears he switched back to the Protechsport with an identical paint job to his Bauer and with Bauer branding. It explains the Bauer branded mask on Protechsport.com. Also, the other goalie who wore Passau pads (unbranded) but was forced to switch as well. I understand that the CHL needs endorsements, but when you're literally called the CANADIAN Hockey League and won't allow any 100% Canadian product (Bauer, CCM, Vaughn, Warrior are all multinational) to be used by its players, it just irks me.

It's cool how Francis Marotte (centre) is still using a Protechsport even though basically all other pro's have switched to CCM. You can also see in the close-up of his mask that it says Made by: Michel Doganieri instead of Lefebvre as the pro's had, so I guess that's why he isn't in a CCM.