Puckstopper

Mostly it's custom order only. I think Goalie Monkey used to stock it in a couple colors but I haven't shopped their site in forever.

If you're going custom (which is the pretty much the only option here) you can always go with weave. My Axis pads with weave gussets slide like a dream.

I know they're not what you were after but IMHO those are beautiful!

LOL, pad stack technology. Bringing the 70's back!

Overall I'm pretty happy with the way the drop shadow look turned out, and the Graphite Grey is fantastic!. Both are better in person.

So I just looked more closely at the pictures. I just noticed that only the top two rolls are angled whereas the bottom roll is flat. Based on the way they're angled I'm going to speculate that the purpose of the new technology is to force the tops of the pads more firmly into the ice. It will be interesting to see if there's more to it than that.

What would really frustrate me is that I don't see a sizing guide anywhere on their site. Yes, the 20.1 page mentions that the pad sits higher, but it doesn't specify that you should go down an inch or anything like that. Have any of the orders that ran large been 12.1 or 4.1? If so that's even more egregious. I'm not saying it's right, but it's at least kind of understandable if a new series fits slightly differently.

Lets not forget my guy Manny Legace. I think the dude wore 33+7 or something like that! An arthritic grandmother could close the 5 hole with his pads.

Yep, you nailed it. Check out the all red set on Instagram.

All of these are good points. I'm kind of surprised at the amount of uninformed hatred out there on Instagram for these. Yes, THIS iteration of the graphic is butt-ugly, but I think it was done mainly to show off that the middle roll could be customized. Frankly, the more I've reflected on these the more excited I am. Eflex was never an exciting or interesting release. Prior to this it was always the same old pad, maybe with a couple of ounces trimmed here or there or a slight strapping evolution. If you want the same boring, warmed over recipe then Lefevre will be happy to whip you up a set. On the other hand, this shows me that CCM is going to be willing to push boundaries and innovate, which are both areas that they've fallen way behind in during the Lefevre era. Not every innovation will be loved by all (see the polarizing opinions of Bauer and Warrior gear) and not every innovation will succeed, but as goalies we're all better off if the big guys are pushing the boundaries of what's possible with each release. I'm wondering if CCM will "enhance" the appearance of these closer to retail release with digiprint, UV graphics and gradients, etc.... I personally hope not. Despite my comments on innovation, I really think the additions made to EF4 and Axis were a net negative to the way the pads looked and were received.

I'm kind of surprised about the binding at the top of the pads. I like the flat knee rolls and the narrow vertical rolls, but the thighrise still looks thick. Overall this seems to be a clear departure from the Lefevre era and it'll be interesting to see how it plays out.

It was deliberate. I'm hoping that it will create a shadow effect under the M. If not, oh well, I didn't pay full price.

I'll give you that one. When placing my order the hardest decision for me to make was whether or not to live with the faded white areas to pick up the yellow upper accent and sport gold "drop shadow" accent below the M graphic or whether to go tone-on-tone. At the end of the day I couldn't get enough yellow without the faded areas, but honestly I would have been much happier if I could have picked a color other than white for the gradient. I'd have gone navy fading to grey up top and at the bottom and with yellow for the slashes if given the chance.

I agree. There has been lots of interest in Axis in the store I work at. Not as many sales as we'd have had if we didn't have plenty of older stock priced pretty aggressively, but of the new lines Axis is garnering more attention than Brians, Vaughn or Warrior. I can't compare Bauer as we didn't have anything beyond the bottom of the range in store the last time I worked.

By the way, great set of pads @BadAngle41! Using the black thread to outline the zones but keeping them all white is a really unique and cool idea.

I just ordered based on how my EF4's fit. Neither a 34" or 35" pad was a perfect fit in those. I didn't want to end up with pads that were too short so I went 35+2 and was fairly content with them. Given that Axis was a stiffer pad and the fact that I could have worn a 34" Eflex I decided to hedge my bets and move to 34+2.5" in the Axis. Having gotten a couple sessions in with the demo 34" Axis set from the store I work at I definitely made the right choice. Now I just need my set to show up!

Sounds like it's a good thing I dropped from 35" in EF4 to 34" in Axis.

So approximately the weight of an unladen swallow?

My understanding is that the idea behind the SAM is to give you a short front radius for mobility, the flat spot is for cross-crease movement and the 27' profile on the back is for a combination of mobility and strong pushes cross crease.

The Goalie SAM profile has a flat spot in the middle, which is what the 50 denotes. I tried Goalie SAM with my Tydan blades a couple years ago and didn't love it. It was only OK for me. I've tried a bunch of profiles and what I've liked from favorite to least favorite are: 15/20/28 - NoIcing 24/28 - NoIcing Goalie SAM - Tydan 17/28 - NoIcing 28' Stock radius 30' Peranis While I like being mobile while skating, I think the really short front section on the 17/28 and the Goalie SAM was TOO short for me to really grab an edge and move across while down. On the other hand, after trying a shorter radius up front I could never go back to stock or even flatter. Regardless, almost anything is better than that stock profile that comes on skates. If Goalie SAM was my only option I'd find a way to make it work!

Either way you pay for shipping from Canada which eats into the discount. If you can live with the comparably lengthy delivery times it's often still worth your while to buy in/order from Canada for some items.

I concur with going flatter. I used 3/8ths or 7/16ths on my old Bauer skates and dropped to 1/2" on my True's right off the jump. For profiling I mail my blades to NoIcing Sports in Delaware and have started using and liking their triple (15',20',28') radius. Previously I was using the double radius and I feel like the triple is absolutely worth the extra money for the extra mobility it offers.

Now I really want to dissect a couple of doggy squeaky toys and mod the squeakers into the knee blocks of my buddy's new set of G5s. We've got a tournament next weekend and I'm already dying laughing at his face when he drops into the butterfly and it sounds like he's playing with his dog.

I've got fairly thick paws and haven't really had too many issues. I keep the thumb-side velcro at about 90% tightness and really cinch down the pinky side strap. I usually have to tighten it up a little bit after each period to get it where I want it. I do use both thumb and pinky loops on the 60 degree break I'm in now. In my GT2 I didn't use either one due to pain in my thumb when using them with the stock 75 degree break.

I'm triggered! I'll forgive you though, because I'm sure you intended to refer to them as peaceful protesters.