Puckstopper

2 out of 3 of my custom V1's are still useable. I've just moved to my Eflex 4's as my stick of choice. Love that softer feel!

It won't hold up well, especially if you've already baked them multiple times. Lower end skates aren't meant to be baked over and over, eventually the materials will give out. The better materials and adhesives used in mid and upper tier skates are one of the things that are rarely discussed but are a real thing. Even top tier skates can only be baked a finite number of times, but usually something other than the boot itself is what gives out. I feel your pain, although in the opposite direction. Having non-standard feet makes for an expensive buying experience or a lot of compromises on comfort!

If anything the 1 piece Trues sit lower than the Bauer Vertexx cowlings, although that largely depends on the steel. The store I used to work at had plenty of old stock goalie skates to compare to the True's. There were 3 factors in me picking the 2 piece True skate over the 1 piece and the largest one was I was used to a taller skate and didn't want to go back.

Throwing down a gorgeous 2 pad stack is nothing but fun. Especially against younger players who have NO clue what you just did to them. Love the stick position too, picture perfect!

To be fair though, the cowings you're showing are the final evolution of cowling design and sit slightly higher than the Gen 1 Vertexx's being discussed earlier.

After one game I'm inclined to agree. Shuffles felt effortless, but I still had tons of bite to move while down. I'm going to go to the set of steel with a regular 5/8" ROH on it for the next game and see if I notice a big difference. I'm afraid I may be in the market for a new sharpener again...

So, I ended up finding some lightly used Ti Pulse in my size on Nevermadeitprostock.com and shipped it and one pair of LS5G off to Noicing for a profile on the Ti and a refresh on the LS. Nothing too interesting there. But I did decide to try something new. The LS5G got a Z-Channel 5/8ths equivalent. First skate on them will be tomorrow night, so it'll be interesting to see what if any differences I notice.

You're not wrong. Plus, if you're really a whore you can pay for Digi-Print and the world is your oyster.

I'd forgotten that pic, thanks. So, not quite as much to work with as I'd hoped, but still strong possibilities.

Thej graphic looks like it could be the best Bauer stock graphic in a minute too. Depending on if you can make any changes to that big white zone in the lower middle.

I'd planned a visit to the Hockey Shop when my wife and I flew into Vancouver for an Alaskan cruise before COVID. Of course, our flight was late and we didn't land until almost 9pm instead of getting in around noon as planned. Oh well, just an excuse to go back to BC at some point.

Douchbags? Nah. Totally insane? Of course, but that comes with the territory of destroying your knees, hips and back as well as taking repeated shots to the head and groin (usually from your own teammates in warmups). Many of us do this well past the time where we should have moved on to more sedentary pursuits like golf and in some cases even shuffleboard or parchisi.

Thanks man! When I saw how closely the EF5 graphic lined up with this I ditched plans for a Tampa colored set instantly.

Finally got my entire Ozzie tribute set on the ice at a game where my wife could come and take pics. As much as I like how easy it is to breath in the combo, I think I'll stick to my mask going forward due to the crazy ringing you get when your teammates decide to go up high in warmups. Edit: Yes, I know I need to reskin CCM as Vaughn or at least cover the logos with Padskinz if I really want it to look like Ozzie's setup from the late 90's.

I agree with losing the puck as a downside. I had a major issue with that when I had my black/dark green Eflex 4 set with black skate lace. I guess when I said dark, I should have specified I like dark backs of pads and gloves (black or navy by preference). I also tend to go dark on the sliding surface of the pad to get whistles on squeakers that get trapped partially under there.

I honestly think it has a lot to do with the level you play at. In upper levels the refs feel more pressure to get it right AND are more inclined to force the goalie to have it solidly covered. In beer league, the emphasis is more on making sure everyone gets off the ice and to work the next day safely. Since adopting primarily dark schemes I've noticed that I get much quicker whistles. It's to the point where I don't break out my red EF5 set against teams where I know my guys are outmatched so I can get those slightly quicker whistles for them. I don't think anyone is saying color = career altering boost in effectiveness. However, even a tiny edge can make a difference over the course of a season. See my point above, I may only get one mistaken whistle a game with my dark setups, but I DO consistently get those whistles so I'd be a fool to wear gear that helps my team. At higher levels, the difference between being a top 10 goalie in the NHL and falling out of the top 20 is only .05% and falling out of the top 32 is only .15%. I'm not saying you can go from backup to starter or Average Joe NHL goalie to All-Star by wearing pads where the shooter loses the perimeter of it out of the corner of their eye, but again, if you can get ANY advantage in the show you'd take it. Getting one free save every 2, 5 , 10, pick your number of games is still somewhere between 5 and 25 free saves for an NHL starter. Most of the evolution of gear has started small and snowballed. Nylon and velcro replaced metal and leather for straps. Full sheet foams were used in place of shredded foam, and needless straps were removed. In 15 years we had pads that had evolved to be both significantly lighter and more durable. With the advent of digital printing it's not beyond the realm of possibility that goalies will work on creating deceptive graphics that draw the shooter's eye to the center of the pad and away from the perimeter.

From a retail perspective this is just more expensive equipment that doesn't generate much profit for the space it takes up. The iPad gets dumped in a drawer and comparatively costs True or the store very little $$$ From reviewing my own scan and those of a couple other employees, I can tell you that the iPad scanning method does a really good job of capturing the nuances of your foot. The results speak for themselves. I've held on to my True customs for 5 years, which is far and away the longest I've used any piece of gear in the last 15 years. They've given me no reason to move on, and when I do I'll be very torn between another pair of Trues or Konnekts. I can see the selfie stick method being extremely frustrating though. I get the issue they were trying to solve (the unnatural crab walk around the customer with your head at crotch level while trying to avoid bumping into customers who feel the need to shortcut through the skate fit area) but if you can't see the screen, it's no good.

CCM's pros are also younger and possibly a little less set in their ways than the True guys. I've always found it interesting that, despite having access to new toys with a much lower bar to entry than your average Joe, an awful lot of professional hockey players seem to cling to what they know as they age. They'll update their training methods, eat better, work with new coaches to try different drills, etc.... but cling to the same old gear they've used forever. And it's not just goalies. The example I'm most familiar with is Filip Hronek. Last year with Detroit he went from using a stick with a flat toe and a heel curve to a standard P28 curve and stuck with it all summer. The result was his best offensive season and he netted a 1st and a 4th from Vancouver at the deadline. At the start of the year we were hoping we'd get a 2nd for the guy! New gear certainly isn't a panacea for guys, but you really only see guys make a switch and try it out long term if they're in full blown desperation mode like Jack Campbell or Antti Ranta (who's already gone back to Brian's). To bring it back to CCM, removing the wrist strap makes the glove much more functional. The easy range of motion was the best thing about Warrior gloves back in the day, and the CCM version I tried on last year felt amazing as well. There's very little loss of attachment and much less resistance moving the glove around.

To be fair, in a retail environment you're asking someone to make the leap from one type of pad to another at a price tag north of 3k for a full pro setup. It's understandable that some folks may be risk adverse at that number. Stores that do demo/loaner sets are doing more to push acceptance of new features forward than just about any other channel. A lot of people who try something new realize how much R/D went into ensuring that new features will meet with broad acceptance.

I worked for Perani's when I had mine done, so it was just my boss scanning my foot with an Ipad like you see here: It appears the process has evolved:

True full customs solve this issue for me. I skate in those for goal and TF9 EE's for skating out. The difference in comfort between the two is night and day! As you said, my toes feel funneled in the TF9's, whereas the custom skates felt like a (very stiff) pair of old sneakers from the first bake. Literally no pressure points anywhere, snug at the heel, just the best feeling set of skates I've ever had.

Ironic, I was working on something similar that would also make the Ian Clarke junkies happy...

I'd probably go full Tampa on this set. My new team is black/neon green, but I just don't see myself buying gear to match that nonsense. I loved the big white five hole on my old G5 set and just realized I did it again here. Can't unsee Darth Vader...

I really need to try a Mrazek/Price wedge curve. I never found much success with a Bauer P34 back in the day and have avoided them since. P31/Crawford/Bishop have always treated me well across brands, but I tried out an EF4 Price curve that a guy had at the rink the other day and was launching missiles with the thing. No accuracy, but pucks were high and out of the zone with no effort.

I used to work for a hockey retailer as a second job to feed my gear whore addiction. Over the last 15 years I've used 2 different pairs of retail Brian's leg pads (Sub Zero and Gnetik of some flavor) as well as full pro custom sets from CCM (EF4, Axis and EF5) Warrior (in the thread linked) and Bauer (Hyperlite/US mix and match). Of all of the full custom sets I used, only the Eflex 4 set felt like it made me a worse goalie. The pads were too tall, slid poorly and the 590 glove and I just didn't get along at all. Most of that was me learning what worked for me, as I ordered my Axis and EF5 sets in 34" instead of 35" and with a 600 break and loved them. In terms of how much I liked the various sets, only the Bauer and Warrior G5 have stood out from the pack for me. I absolutely LOVED how light the G5 set was and the flatter blocker made rebounds much more predictable. Even if the pads were .5" smaller than full allowed spec, which they were not, I honestly believe I'd have stopped more pucks due to the mobility and rebound control I had in this setup than I would have lost due to shooters managing to put a puck in that missing 1/4-1/2". If I were ordering Warrior today I'd be going with a R/G7 blocker for the flat face, R/G7.1 glove with a sewn in 60 degree break and single T. That would allow me to combine all the features I loved in both Warrior sets I had. Edit: Feel free to hit me up with any more questions. I really liked both of my Warrior sets and recommend them highly IF the glove works for you.