Puckstopper

I agree that it's usually worth it to buy pro catch gloves. Even if all materials were identical, you'd very likely be able to feel the difference, as the best craftsmen make the pro line. Therefore they're more consistent from glove to glove. I've felt poorly built pro gloves and well built Sr gloves when I worked at Peranis, but they were both extreme outliers. Usually the pro stuff closed better and was more consistent. Protectionwise you're giving up Curv protection and XRD foam, so the layer that distributes impact is less rigid allowing the impact to concentrate in a smaller area, and then the layer below it isn't as absorbent. If you're feeling stingers with a pro level glove, it's a pretty safe bet you will not be a happy camper with Sr. level stuff. For the pads, it looks like CorTech is on the calf only, but using paint protection film has improved the sliding on my CCM EF6's, so it should be able to give you an improvement here as well, if needed.

It may not be a step UP, or even quite a lateral step, but I doubt you'll feel like you took a huge step DOWN either. M5Pro has most of the tech that makes Bauer great, and based on the Mach reviews, not having that sliding surface may be a win. I have always caught best with Vaughn gloves, and agree that my Ultrasonic is the closest I've felt to comfortable since I sold a VE8 a couple years back. It's still not my magical T3500, but I'm realizing that nothing ever will be. As the evil little voice in the back of my head likes to remind me, when that glove was new I was 20+ years younger, could do the splits, was 50lbs lighter, etc.... Regardless, no experience with Mach or M5, but I've been extremely happy with my Bauer gear and the US/Mach break glove in particular.

I also hadn't heard they were killing off Gnetik. Does anyone have a link/source for that? Also, it's not like you can't customize Brian's stuff 75 ways from Sunday, so I'm sure you could even dial in an Optik the way you like if you absolutely had to.

Catch glove is the one place I'll always pay the extra for pro level stuff. Not only are they better padded, but the attention to detail (closure) is almost always better as well.

Brian's used to be head and shoulders over a lot of the other MFGs in the overseas space. But, as Coopa said, the mid point stuff is all pretty much on par these days. If you want the lightest, go Warrior. The most tech crammed into a Sr level pad? Bauer. Both Brian's and Vaughn added Quikslide on their mid-price stuff a generation or two back, so that's a major plus for them. Most mid-priced gear is good enough for high school, college club or high level beer league.

This is correct for Sparx at least, because they don't offer rings shallow enough to do Flare steel. I'd only done one person's set of Flare blades by the time I left my job at a hockey store and they were tricky to make sure I had the edges level. They always took extra time, both to redo the hollow on the wheel and then to dial in the edges, especially with our beat to hell square. We had a manager who never liked to redo the wheel and slapped a 5/8" hollow on the Flares and totally ruined that customer's day. It took forever to get the blades back to the 1 1/4" that the customer preferred and took more steel than either he or I would have preferred. On the bright side, the guy who used them was really knowledgeable and in tune with his gear, and spoke very highly of the performance he got from them. tldr: I wouldn't spend the money on Flare blades unless you really trust your sharpener.

Do it now. It's easier to adjust while you're young (er?). Plus if you find you absolutely CAN'T make the switch, better to do it while you can stock up on serviceable replacement materials. Waiting another 2-3 years will mean those parts are impossible to find instead of merely difficult.

So profiling can fix both the skating and pitch issues for you. Modern CCM skates do sit flatter than Bauer or True 2 piece skates, so work with your profiler to add pitch to whatever radius you settle on. The triple does have more blade on the ice at the toe than the SAM and that's the biggest reason I like it better. I'm a toe pusher as well and struggled with SAM. Kind of funny, I ended up going the opposite direction you did. My Trues came with unprofiled 4mm steel after being on 3mm Bauer steel for years. I played one game in them and hated them so much I had Vertexx holders and 3mm steel put right back on them. Same issues though, tripping, unable to drop smoothly, etc... Once I got back on a profiled blade, the new skates were magic! I'm a huge believer in steel being one of the most important but least appreciated part of our gear.

1. So I'm sure you know, 3/8" is a pretty deep hollow. I'm surprised you aren't actually tripping over yourself going that deep on a boot that's so much stiffer than your U+ boot, even with the drop to 3mm steel. Regardless, I'd double check the sharpening before I did anything else. Head to your sharpener, describe your issue and ask them to verify that the edges are level. I wouldn't be surprised if you find out the inner edge is just a little higher toward the boot than the outer edge, causing you to have to reach for that edge. Then, if they are level give yourself a few hours on the ice. If you still hate the feeling, it's time to invest money. 2. Issues like this are why I now run a 5/8" hollow and profile my blades. More on profiling in your 3rd point, as it's the main solution to that issue, whereas it's an added benefit here. 3. You nailed part of the issue. Getting used to the taller "modern" holders comes with an adjustment period. As mentioned in point 1, several hours is reasonable to get used to them. But profiling can really help as well. Details below: You're also fighting the fact that you likely have more steel touching the ice now than you did on your old skates. Even the best skate sharpeners in the world will change the profile of a blade over time, generally rounding the blade by removing more steel from the heel and toe of the skate. An average sharpener will make this process worse, and a hack can ruin a profile in just a few sharpenings. CCM skates come out of the box with a single radius 30' profile. Rather than me spelling it out, go here to learn more about profiling, but suffice it to say 30' is really flat. Most forward skates are on a 9' profile, and your old skates are probably somewhere lower than 30' but not as rounded out as a forward skate. I would be willing to bet that the extra steel under your toe is what was causing the unnatural movements. Again, you could just adapt, but having the profile changed is also an option. Personally I use the 15/20/28 Goalie option from NoIcingSports (the site I linked earlier). That means the toe of my skate is a 15' radius for easy pivots while moving and smooth drops to my butterfly, while the middle is 20' and the rear is a conventional (for Bauer anyway) 28' radius to allow for powerful pushes from my heels. Another popular option is Goalie SAM which is a 10/27' dual radius with a 50mm flat spot between the two. I didn't like it, but lots do. Any place with a Blademaster machine and the right jig can do Goalie SAM, where I have to mail my blades to NoIcing.

I agree, no reason these won't fit a jig. Bauer does a pretty good job of thinking things through, I'm sure the goalie version will trade off a little of the weight savings for better structural strength and smaller holes.

I don't think it's a mini-puck, that was an old 52" glove.

Looks great! Sorry you had to deal with this mess, but you did a nice job of the repair.

Literally everything he said matches my experience. Hoping to finally get on the ice tonight for the first time since adding 3M tape to the weave sliding surface of my EF5's, but they were already good sliding pads. My EF4's were dogshit.

I believe the catalog has been posted so these are fair game for discussion. Are you referring to the new chest plate or the removable arms? I assume the former, as NHL models of retail C/A's have been modded with sewn in arms for years now.

Pros and cons to Krazy Glue: Pros: Quick bond, not nearly as much cure time needed Good overall bond strength Cons: Quick bond, not nearly as much working time available MAY leave marks on certain materials. Superglues work by melting a thin layer of the materials they're bonding and I've seen a guy who jacked up a pair of pads using it. Granted, he glopped an entire tube into his backing material and had it ooze through the cut when he applied pressure, so hopefully it's a bit of a one off. But he did have an odd discolored area (pink splotch on red pads) around the repair. If you apply sparingly and carefully it's a good option.

That sucks, however as far as cuts go,you're lucky. That'll be a relatively easy repair to make as it's between seams. Get some sort of backing material. If you can source Jenpro, that would be great! If not, another synthetic leather or marine vinyl would work fine. Depending on your relationship with your local hockey store, they may have some old Jenpro samples around that they don't need. I know the Perani's I worked at had several Brian's color swatch packs and we never took the old colors that they didn't offer out of them. Regardless of where you source your backer, cut it to size, leaving roughly half an inch on all sides of the cut. Tuck the backer inside the cut and spread it flat. Peel back the edges of the cut gently and spread the adhesive of your choice on the backer. Get it well beyond the dimensions of the tear, but again, work GENTLY to not worsen the tear. Adhesives: ShoeGoo is OK. Permatex 81786 is better and available on Amazon. I've also used a vinyl repair glue I got at JoAnn in a pinch. Don't remember the name, it was just something I had lying around after fixing a rip in the wife's car seat. Press down firmly for at least 60 seconds. Clean any adhesive that's worked out of the original rip. Add some weight to the area around the tear to help the adhesive cure, but make sure you check back a couple of times to ensure that the weights don't get stuck to the front of the pad and cause more damage when you remove them. Let it cure at least 24 hours. It'll be tempting to check on the progress, but don't once your sure your weight isn't sticking to the pad. Letting the adhesive cure is the biggest key to a successful repair. It seems like a lot, but with a little prep time and care they'll look good as new soon.

Pics would help. Working some JenPro under the cut and glueing the edges down to that is the best way, but also the hardest. Padskinz is probably the easiest.

LOL, Garth Snow's was over his eyebrows!

I've got to give my wife a lot of credit. Usually if I want to drop $50 or $100 modifying some bit of gear to be safer/more effective she doesn't bat an eye. She came in as I was grabbing that screenshot and asked what I was looking at. I explained, fully expecting to get told to get bent. Without batting an eye she looked at me and said "you are getting old, maybe it's time to hang 'em up"!

That stuff is.... not cheap:

Saw that save and thought it was nuts. My wife's joke was that he looked like he was starring in Miracle. In other NHL news, Stauber for the Hawks looks damn good. They were buzzing tonight. Kind of makes me wonder if Kane told them he'd decided to move on.

I don't have ringing per se when I get hit with either of my Bauer masks (NME 8 or 960) but I do notice that the sound is higher pitched than my old ProMasque. Not exactly a "ping", but there's something a little louder and higher frequency than the dull thump sound I'm used to when a puck deflected off the shell of the PM. Fortunately I haven't caught a real sizzler right in the cage with either Bauer mask yet, so can't really comment on that aspect of it.

Nice! They're a little big for me so I'm not too sad. They used to be local to me and are a really good group of people to support.

Dream setup right there. Bauer boots with the much better CCM steel. Nice find! What size and how much did they have them for if you don't mind me asking? I obviously forgot to peruse their site last week!

Good point. NHL goalie only appear to by in the process of dying. This guy is decomposing...