Teezle

Top left - the outer roll thins out towards the top of the pad, instead of staying square/constant height from the pad face. Glove break - I found that this piece basically runs on top of the break and changes the closure from \/ to |_| because your hand has to close around that rod of foam.I wish they'd remove it and go back to how the break was on the G3 glove. I'm interested to see the new features of each piece. The finger protection on the Warrior blockers is, in my opinion, the best out there - unfortunately the plastic in my G3 blocker board cracked in half in under a year of use. I hear that they've since started to use the hypercomp material in the blocker face, which maybe is more durable?

I use the R\GT2 Pro C/A and it is the best unit I have used so far (history: some senior model Vaughn from when I was in HS, Brown 2300, R\G4, now R\GT2). It presents large to shooters while still being very mobile. I play in an A/B level men's league and I've never had a stinger yet, on the arms or anywhere else. Not the lightest C/A in the world, but still significantly lighter than my Brown unit was by ~1.25 lbs. My favorite feature on it is the velcro sandwich attachments for the back plate into the belly piece, because 1) no more worrying about a clip breaking from a shot and 2) you can dial in the tension and angle of how you want it to fit precisely to how you like it. The adjustability of the unit overall is second to none, in my book. One thing that helped me when I was moving the arms up was to use a pair of needle-nosed pliers to grasp the lacing. That cuts down on the effort to shift them quite a bit.

Interesting. That graphic looks like a mash-up of the Passau Starke and the vents on the Optik2. The gradient areas on the medial side of the face might also hint at printed graphics coming? On the pad construction side, it would be notable if they are moving to a no-break pad as their stock retail model instead of the "pre-curved, single internal, single outer" break that has been used on the Premier and EFlex lines.

@seagoal That makes more sense. Glove looks really sharp!

@seagoal do you feel those lacing tie-offs at the back of the cuff when you have your hand in the glove? I can't imagine what Vaughn was thinking by putting them there instead of a more out-of-the-way area.

Are you concerned about the additional weight from the extra padding and Lexan in the blocker? I recall from one of the other member's testing that Lexan was significantly heavier than the standard blocker boards.

This seems accurate. I had a pair of 33+1.5 G2 pads and they fit great. I tried on the same size in the R\GT2 pads in store and they were way too big - my knee was barely landing on the bottom of the block.

They worked great; I felt like they had the correct amount of tension at all times and were not as bulky as the original Brian's "smart toe" straps. The best part is that the un-stretched length of the bungee is shorter than most of the other versions of this kind of toe tie - I have a smaller skate, so those would either be loose, or I'd have to cross over the ends so much that the velcro was barely overlapping anymore. The ProLaces are perfect in this regard.

I contacted the Pro Laces people and they sent me a picture with how to rig it up like the TGN spec ones. I put them on my pads and will test them in my game tonight.

The replacements for the original order that never showed up arrived, but they are the regular Hybrid version and not the TGN spec that I ordered...so not great in terms of customer service experience for me. Is there a way to modify these to be like the TGN spec ones, so I don't have to deal with screws and can save wear on the toes of my skates?

This could be caused by that block of foam sticking out into the front of the knee cradle area. If you have larger knee pads, it could be pushing your knee further back on the knee landing. It also looks like it would somewhat prevent your leg from tilting forward into your pad, which could make it feel more disconnected, maybe? It is interesting that Warrior chose to put something there, when many manufacturers are moving towards putting nothing in the knee cradle. Brian's GNetik4 on the left, CCM EFlex4 in the middle, Vaughn SLR2 on the right. You said you had some EFlex4 pads also, which come stock with recessed foam in the knee cradle (not just flush but actually sunken into the pad a bit); this could exaggerate the difference you feel when switching back to the R\GT2s. For the glove, have you tried removing this piece of foam by the wrist? I took it out when trying to dial in the strapping on my new R\GT2 glove and it feels like my wrist sits a lot more comfortably in it without it - maybe the small change in angle it puts your wrist at causes it to slip out more?

It happened both in "standard" and "down to the calf" setups; it feels uncomfortable in where it sits at the back of my knee. I think it's how that piece of stretchy grey webbing is designed, where it is the width of the entire knee block and then tapers. For the glove, I'm breaking it in by keeping it stretched open one day and wrapped closed the next. Hopefully I will get to use it for the first time in my game on Saturday night.

Currently in Brian's Optik ((flx)). I have some EFlex4 pads on order (should come in late July/early August). I tried on the R\GT2 pads in the goaliemonkey store and didn't like how they felt, mostly related to how the strap at the knee sat on my leg. Warrior blockers have great finger protection, but otherwise feel clunky to me. One other thing I like about the R\GT2 glove is that Warrior straightened out the cuff a bit from the R\G3; the curve by the wrist is much less pronounced.

As promised, pictures: I really like the way the backhand opens up for drying. Closes great out of the box. DCCC8071-2549-48A5-A666-3F00D2952C69.MOV Weighed it on my kitchen scale and it came out to 903g. Slightly more than my R/G3 Pro, likely due to a thicker standard palm (feels that way), and the double-T and skate lace in the pocket.

My custom warrior R\GT2 glove was delivered today. Ordered on April 29 through GoalieMonkey, which makes it 6 weeks and 2 days from order placement to delivery. That is considerably earlier than I was expecting it (was quoted 8-10 weeks). I'll post some pictures when I get home and unbox it. Fingers crossed this means my blocker and pads will also come in early!

I am having the same issue - mine have yet to arrive several weeks past when they were expected. Michel has been very responsive and is sending out a new pair next week, which is good customer service...but better customer service would be getting people their orders correctly the first time. Hopefully this was a blip for the three of us and not part of a trend.

Is there a rule for goalie masks that is parallel to the player helmet visor rule, where it has to be transparent (tinted/mirrored visors are not allowed at the IIHF level)? Maybe there should be one, if only to reduce the number of SparkleFX(tm) paint jobs

@Puckstopper The elastic toe system on the Warrior pads is the best I've used. For the behind the heel boot strap, you can lengthen it by popping it out of its pocket on the inside of the heel of the pad and moving the plastic clip that keeps it in place. This might help it feel less tight.

I was concerned about the potential for wear going back to a binding on the knee sliding surface, which is one of the reasons that I didn't end up going with the R\GT2 pads.

Brief update after two games with the 2-piece skates: They are amazingly comfortable. The lack of negative space in the boot really locks your foot into place, and I haven't had any discomfort or pain in areas that used to get sore with my old skates (primarily my lateral malleolus). You feel very connected to the ice, as well. My butterfly pushes are much stronger than before. I only need to lift my knee ~1/3 as high to get my blade to engage with the ice, which causes a lot less fatigue. After the games, my legs felt much fresher even though I'd been playing just as hard. I need to retrain myself to not lift my knee as high when doing pushes on the ice, so that I don't give up coverage unnecessarily. I took a shot off the toe in last night's game and didn't feel anything; the toe cap seems very protective. I used to get my old skates done at 3/8". For the first sharpening on these new 2-piece skates, I went with 7/16" and it was too grabby. Definitely use a wider radius when switching; I'll probably go with 1/2" next time. In short, they are excellent so far.

Removing the cowling removes more weight than I expected - my new True 2-piece skates are significantly lighter than my old Grafs (model: G9035, size 6.5). True - Right skate: 877 g, Left skate: 881 g Graf - 1016 g Difference: 137 g (~0.3 lbs) Looking forward to using them on the ice for the first time tonight.

#1 is what I would go with - I like white-based sets.

Aha! Well, that's probably enough internet for me today. Thanks for pointing it out to my dumb self!

I see that it is an option in the goaliemonkey one now. I was looking at the customizer on the warrior website and it doesn't have the painted base option.

Not having white (or a very light grey) as a base color for the custom sticks is a bit frustrating. The darker colors that I like for the rest of my gear just don't go well with the black or dark grey base and those are the only two options.