Puckstopper

I have both CCM EF5's and Bauer Hyperlites. I'm currently wearing the CCM set almost exclusively, as the softer landing area/knee block causes me less issues with the knee I had surgery on, but the Bauers definitely slide a little better and have noticeably hotter rebounds. I spec'd the Bauers with stiffness between an Ultrasonic and Hyperlite and feel like it's a good balance of flexibility and stiffness. One thing I did with the CCM pad to improve sliding was to have them built with weave instead of speedskin, and with that tweak they definitely are a better sliding pad than the EF4 that I used previously. A few random thoughts/concerns: If closure is an issue for you, Bauer may not be the best. They're very much a one size fits most pad, but I don't like not being able to add an extra inch to the top to help with closure. If you want to try to improve your sliding on the EF5's, search for 3M paint film mod on these forums. This is a relatively easy, inexpensive mod that many are swearing by. A sheet of lexan inserted in the face of your blocker may help with rebound hotness. These two mods would me much cheaper than a new set of pads.

Gross, that pretty much describes my feet. Between that and Bauer finally catching on to that fact that I don't work for Peranis anymore and rescinding my Bauer U discount, I'm going to stick with my Trues.

Not really a mod, but back in the day my first custom set was from Battram. I asked for a one-off graphic that didn't turn out quite like the drawing I sent (not his fault, I should have been clearer) an extra set of knee stacks (back when you laced in multiple sets to build your knee stack to the desired height) and a godawful XLP catch glove that was 2" bigger than old NHL legal. Not only did that thing weigh a ton, but I couldn't catch for beans with it. Bigger isn't always better.

Honestly, the manufacturer's size charts are usually pretty accurate as long as you are careful in your measurements. The biggest thing I had to learn was that close (+/- .25") was good enough, because unless you have a pro rep, you're not going to get your fit dialed in to where you hit the center of the stack (in teal below) every time. The goal is to land within the green zone I highlighted. If you're going to miss center, you'd rather miss towards the top of the pad as opposed to the bottom. If you miss low (like I was in the 35+1.5" EF4's I referenced earlier) it will be harder to seal the five hole and the pads feel clunky to move in. By going to a 34+2.5" EF5 I kept the same overall pad length to seal the five hole, but moved the knee stack down which prevented them from banging together while standing. More importantly, my weight was shifted towards the upper part of the knee stack, pushing the pad tips down into the ice while in the butterfly and improving seal slightly. TL:DR--> You're probably not getting a perfect fit, but being a hair too short is easier to deal with than a pad that's too big.

A softer boot is just more comfortable all around. It feels like the pad is working with you instead of against you. Firm, upright boot breaks like the old Reebok Premiere series of pads existed primarily as a way to avoid kicking rebounds right back into the slot, and they were effective at that. Over time though, the thought process evolved to recognize that you were going to make more saves and expend less energy with a pad that is moved easily than you were going to lose by kicking the occasional shot back into the slot.

One important thing to remember is that CCM sizing runs differently than other companies AND, to make things more complex, has changed somewhat in recent generations of the gear. As an example, I'm very comfortably a 35" in Brian's, Warrior and Bauer (well, a Large in Bauer, but it's the same difference...) but my 35" Eflex 4's were a catastrophe! Way to big to move easily in, I landed in the wrong part of the knee cradle, just all around bad from a sizing perspective. I dropped to 34" for Axis and EF5 and am much happier with the fit. One additional point with CCM: Avoid Speedskin like the plague! My EF4's had it, my subsequent sets have both had weave sliding surfaces. The difference in ease of sliding and consistency over time is night and day with weave. Speedskin starts off great, but starts to feel "sticky" very quickly. Given where you're coming from, I'd be looking at senior/mid pricepoint leg pads in addition to pro level stuff. Current senior level stuff is every bit as good as the pro gear of yesteryear, and will sting your wallet a LOT less if you do find that you struggle with the transition from V2--> wherever this journey takes you. I doubt that will be the case, as I find modern pads very easy to play in compared to my older stuff, but others have had different feelings. Edit: For a soft boot feel, Bauer, Warrior, and Brians are all softer than CCM as well, although the boot flex and shape on my EF5 was an improvement over previous CCM lines I used/demo'd.

Just put the clown on ignore. I only have to see his nonsense when y'all quote him. Quit feeding the troll and it eventually dies.

It's been SO long since I've had a SherWood glove on my hand, so I can't be sure. However, given that I recall liking the feel, and that I'm a pretty hardcore 600 break guy, I'd guess that if you're liking that glove, the 600-ish breaks will be what you're after. There's definitely a change going from old NHL legal to new. My changeover was even more dramatic as my last glove prior to switching to the new, smaller gloves was a Battram XLP, which was built several inches larger than old-NHL legal! However, it only took a couple icetimes to figure out the smaller glove and there's no way I'd ever go back to the old, heavy gloves of the past. IMHO, making the gear smaller backfired on the NHL in their quest for more goals.

The S2000 is a very unique break that you'll find on older Brian Heaton designs (Heaton and some older Brian's gloves), that doesn't really have a modern equivalent. I loved Brian's and Heaton gear back in the day, but HATED the way the gloves felt. They were very much a love it or hate it deal and I was more of a D&R or Vaughn guy. It's been a long time since I've had one of those SherWood gloves on my hand, but I remember liking them and thinking they were a comfortable break for me. I'm a 600/UltraSonic/VE8 or VE9 guy. If you get the chance to try those on, you will probably feel at home.

I could live with their customizer being far and away the worst in the game when they were a family owned company for a year after the split with CCM. At this point, with all the resources True/True Temper have available, it's just an embarrassment. On topic, got my hands on a 12.2 glove at a rink in Michigan a couple weeks back. Just a stiff and uncomfortable as my EF5 when it was fresh out of the box (maybe even worse). Brians and Bauer are setting the bar with truly game ready gloves. CCM, True and Vaughn need to get on board ASAP!

Sorry to hear it @WillyGrips13. As has been said, there's no good way to say good-bye, but I'm sorry to hear you got blindsided like that, it's especially hard. Sultan was quite the handsome boy! It's a little over a year since my wife and I lost the first cat we adopted together, and while it gets easier, we still miss our Vladie boy (Vladimir Katztantinov was his full name). On the bright side, we get to see some of the mannerisms of he and our other kitty Jak who passed a few years back live on in these two hooligans (who are nowhere near as sweet as they look in that pic):

My money is on Coop getting a WELL used jock as a thank you gift.

Hating the Buttguys is just so easy. I've never seen a group of fans so proud of being able to spell a 4 letter word. Living in Columbus for 13 years was brutal, but at least the rinks were decent compared to the Cincy area where I am now. Tam-O was a great place to play though, that was my home sheet of ice growing up. The idea of having a bar overlooking the rink is just brilliant, it ensured my dad never minded bringing us for practice and my mom could stay home. I was at BG towards the tail end of the glory years and hung around for quite a bit of the doldrums. It's been nice seeing the program on the upswing lately, but even if hockey is good it'll always be "BGSU, where there's nothing to do but drink and screw".

You can tell this man works hockey retail! Little Aiden or Preston will never make the show without the newest Bauer Slingblade.

Those pads are sharp. The guys who played when I was there didn't have options like that. On the bright side, they didn't have to wear those jerseys either. Hopefully they're just practice threads. Ay Ziggy Zoomba!

For me, very much yes! Going from Heaton Pro90z-->Battram's OG Velocity clone was a huge step in the right direction. Going from those Battram pads to Brian's SubZero 2 or 3's (with a couple stops along the way) was another leap forward. But I didn't really feel like I had it right until I had the chance to use Warrior GT/2 and G5, CCM Eflex4 (bad) and 5 (great) as well as Axis (good) and finally a custom Hyperlite/Ultrasonic mashup from Bauer. If you held a gun to my head and told me the only way I could play goal was to go back to my Heatons or Battrams, I'd quit on the spot! The easy rotation and predictable rebounds from modern pads are tools that help anyone's game. Elastic toe ties and tall knee stacks help with our health. The one piece of advice I have directly for you @pkbucks is be wary of Bauer pads if you have any knee/hip issues. I had knee surgery a year ago and am still dealing with some lingering soreness and swelling after activity. The landing stack is much firmer on my Bauer set than on either set of my CCM gear, and I feel it for much longer. If you don't have anything like that going on, I'd go Bauer all the way. Stock Hyperlite is a great pad and despite being much softer up top, you still get great rebounds. Otherwise the VE9 stuff is top notch as well and has one of the best sliding surfaces in the game right now. If you do go CCM I'd recommend custom or buying from a retailer who has a SMU line that replaces the SpeedSkin sliding surface with regular Clarino or better yet, weave. I went from SpeedSkin on my EF4's to weave on my Axis and it totally changed my mind regarding CCM gear. SpeedSkin is godawful on anything other than clean ice.

I loved the Axis 1 graphic, but mainly because I'm a University of Michigan fan, so I made sure the "M" portion of the graphic stood out in maize and blue. Naturally, living in Columbus, OH (home of U of M's big rival the Buttguys) I caught tons of crap for it, but that's half the fun of a rivalry. I haven't tried on the 591, but I've never liked a V style closure. I get that stingers can be more of an issue with a U style closure, but it's just more natural and easier to close.

I'm also interested in hearing how those with 4E+ feet are doing with these. So far, True has been my only option to get the width I need.

Sorry to hear about your situation bud! Wrestling with the choice on whether to hang them up myself due to the fact that I'm sore for several weeks after every ice time following what should have been a simple meniscectomy. What are you having done?

I agree! I really try hard not to hate on graphics, but that one is just...wow. Maybe there's potential by dialing back the colors a bit, but I'd order 2 colors at most and probably very minimal use of color number 2 if I were getting Vaughn gear this year.

Yep, I'm bummed.

Hope so. The only way I'm doing these is Bauer U.

Not sure how that's different than any other top end skate...

7/29 was supposed to be the official launch date, so my guess is Friday.

Good for him I guess... I turned down a pretty significant pay bump to get the hell out of Columbus and think it's the best thing I ever did, but maybe he's a closet OSU fan.