Puckstopper

Yeah, but that's actually for the foam core sticks. If you look closer there's only Mid and Twist (Quick/Bishop) for the M1 line. CCM will be following suit this year also. They'll only be offering Price and Crawford patterns. To me this is really disappointing. I heard one of the CCM guys on the Ingoal podcast talking about how playing the puck is becoming a more important part of goaltending and implying that they'd be expanding the number of curves they offered in goalie sticks. Seeing them instead follow Bauer's idea of shoehorning everyone into one or two patterns is a bummer, especially from a personal perspective as my size/pattern got axed.

Most assuredly NOT just you!

The whole ADV "Sonic Boom of Confidence" advertising ties in with the UltraSonic name. Between that and Axis this is not a great year for names. Hopefully the products are better than the names!

I'm less interested in pictures of the (alleged) mask and more interested in knowing if it was an in-house design or if they collaborated with a known name like they did with Pete Smith on the pads.

I agree that the durability and protection on my set has been just fine. It's been my go-to set since receiving them last spring and has held up great with no unexpected wear areas. You make a great point regarding lightness. I've pulled my blocker completely apart and partially opened up the knee stack of my pads. The foams used definitely prioritize lightness over any other concern, but the good news is that the gear IS easy to dissect and therefore repair. I'm tempted to put a pair of the dual-density foam knee stacks I built for a buddies older pads in these but don't want to sacrifice the light weight unless the current foams break down. Edit: One more point in Warrior's favor is their aggressive pricing. They're $150-$250 below any other pro level pad on the rack, which does leave a small budget for repairs/alterations if you want to look at it that way.

Worst thing I ever did was getting a Battram XLP catch glove. Coming from a T3500 with a U break, the V style break in the Battram glove was really hard to get used to and the extra 4 inches around the perimeter threw the balance off horribly. That XLP was the first of many regrettable choices I made in gloves until I found my way back to my VE8. I don't get it out often anymore as it doesn't match either custom set I have and the CCM 590 and Warrior 75 degree breaks work well enough, but I'm planning to hang on to it as a backup for a while.

Is warror a new brand? If you meant Warrior that rumor has been around for a while and there seems to be more info trickling out to suggest that it may be happening. @Peter36, pure speculation here but I would guess alongside/slightly after the G5 line. Based on previous history that would hit retail shelves in the early/mid second quarter of next year.

Damn, I'm really excited to see what they've got in store for us this year!

Correct, accounting for slight lie differences my 26" CCM EF4's are roughly the same length as my 27.5" V1 Pro+'s. Bishop/Crawford curves.

This! It's also very dependent on your level of confidence. Not saying that I don't make mistakes when I'm "feeling it" but I make a lot more when I second guess myself.

All very good points. Admittedly I just ran into the store I work at on my lunch break from my real job to grab that shot quickly. I was a little surprised to see that a couple sticks the Warrior be taller than the CCM given that mine are almost exactly the same, but the difference in curve/blade length explains that. I'll do better next time!

MIGHT be cool is the best we can hope for. I disagree on both sticks and gloves. I think the pinky on their gloves is funky and uncomfortable and we just don't seem to have a lot of repeat customers for their sticks. There are a few hardcore True loyalists, but most guys go back to Bauer/Warrior, etc after trying out a True. Again, I don't want to be negative, but True tends to be very polarizing and Lefevere/Lefebvre gear tends to play it safe. Not sure I see a fit there. As far as Warrior goes I'm glad to hear there's not anything behind that. Pete Smith is doing great work over there and I'm not sure there's room for two alpha-dogs in one company.

Not sure how to feel about this. I love my True skates but the protective gear for skaters I've seen has been somewhat awkward. I guess I'll just have to sit back, eat some popcorn and see what comes out of all this.

Any non-compete would have to run for a finite amount of time. As far as the glove design goes it's not hard to tweak it just enough that CCM couldn't complain. Look at the Vaughn VE8 XP. That thing is REALLY close to being a 590.

I'll be honest, I used only Bauer sticks for many years as they were the only company that made a composite I liked. Warrior's offerings before the CR/1 were composite shaft only or very heavy, and CCMs were not only heavy but not very durable based on anecdotal evidence from guys I play with. The CR/1 and VR1 Pro+ have changed all of that. The CR/1 was a little heavier than my Bauer's, but I bought it at a time where I wasn't willing to drop more than $200 on a stick no matter what and it turned out to be absolutely bombproof! The Pro+'s are holding up just as well and have the added bonus of being in the weight range I like. I started this thread in mid-April and have 2 completely untouched Pro+'s sitting in the rafters of my basement right now waiting on the first one to fall off in performance. Admittedly, I took a couple months off after dislocating my shoulder, but that's still 4 months of 2-3 ice times per week and other than the paint being scraped up a little there's no damage to the stick and no loss of pop when shooting. Unfortunately I can't really chime in on rebounds off the paddle as it's just not something I've noticed a difference on from Bauer to Warrior. I guess if the puck is hitting the paddle I'm probably in full blown scramble mode anyway and am just happy to have made contact with the puck instead of trying to direct it. I get what you're saying, but it hasn't been a factor for me.

Did he expand on those concerns?

I believe that to be true across the board. I can verify at the store I work at next time I'm in. I'm only hedging on my answer because my sticks were special order and I don't want to steer you wrong.

I am currently using a V1 Pro+ as my primary and an Eflex 4 as my backup stick. The Warrior is a 27.5" and the CCM is a 26". They're basically identical height wise although the CCM plays a tiny bit shorter due to a minor difference in lie. @Kirk3190 quit teasing!

That's kind of discouraging. I just ordered 2 sets of LS5G for my Trues. Oh well...

So safe to say 590, 600, breaks will continue on? I wish they had a 595 break. The 590 isn't QUITE right although I can make it work.

They look much better in those pics. Good idea on CCM's part to give you the go ahead to post them up. Thanks for doing so. Any details on any changes to the catch glove you can share?

I personally don't like the new True holder/steel combo. The steel on the forward skates is significantly shorter than it used to be. I suspect this was pushed by True to help them reduce weight on the new skate, but I don't have any proof of that. If the goalie steel is also shortened down I doubt you'll see significant adoption of the combo. CCM's new holder is the one I'd put money on being the big winner since it sounds like True IS making steel for it and I feel like it addresses the major shortcoming of the Vertexx/LS Edge trigger system, namely pop outs.

That was my thought as well, although I thought the same of the Bauer 1S line a few years ago. Many factors make it understandable that this is the trend, but from an appearance standpoint I feel like it's a loss.

Definitely try one out, it's a huge change. I played one game with a buddy's 580 glove (forgot mine at home and was lucky he played before me) and would NEVER wear one again under any circumstances. In fairness to the glove it's about as far from my ideal closure as possible, and I realize it works for some, but it was just SO extreme that I spent the entire game fighting it and ended up just not trying to close it at all. Again, the glove break doesn't make that much of a difference in puck handling, certainly not enough that I'd pay $600 for a new glove just to change breaks. Edit: Just watched the vid and everything I said still stands. The dude could have managed to get than minimal amount of air under the puck with just a little practice time in his basement/garage. No reason to buy a glove for that tiny amount of improvement.