BonesDT

I completely agree that the #1 most important aspect of a mask is how well it fits your head. Off-the-shelf mask shells only come in 1 or 2 sizes. The fit is fine-tuned by the thickness of the padding. This applies even for custom companies like Protechsport. What difference does it make whether the factory installs a certain thickness of padding rather than you adding thickness. Usually, the protection is coming from the higher density primary layers of the padding. The softer density padding that actually touches is your face is less protective and more comfort filler to fit your face. I'm just talking about tweaking the softer density padding. I have a hunch most of us do that anyway. I like a snug fit around my cheeks and jawbone and I typically glue on extra layers of soft density foam in those areas. Nothing wrong with that. Condoning customizing the thickness of foams in an off-the-shelf mask is a good thing. There's plenty of goalies who buy (or are sold) masks that fit them like crap. That's never going to change. We can keep letting this happen or we can empower people to make their masks fit better.

1. maybe just a personal preference but 2-piece thick board blockers are as dated as 2-piece catchers. 2. the point is digiprints. Bauer's skin is here to stay and all companies will replace Jenpro in the future. 3. IDK, I thought Warrior was known for that. I agree digiprint needs to come out for Pro line first. 4. Bauer's mask padding is 100% mechanically attached (can be removed and replaced easily) and they have their certs. Anyway, I doubt including little sections of additional stick on foam to fill in voids on skinny faces would void their certification. The certification is based on the main foams. Or they can look into fillable air pockets like the Schutt Air football helmets. There's definitely room for innovation in the goalie mask department. The mask they recently released is irrelevant - it brings nothing to the table. The only reason I see anyone wanting to purchase it is solely because they want the Warrior label to match the rest of their gear.

Here's what Warrior needs to do to stay relevant: 1) make a 1-piece blocker for their G-line (there has been like zero difference between the G-blockers and GT-blockers) 2) replace their traditional Jenpro with Bauer's CORTech skin. I think Bauer has proven their new technology is the future of goal pad materials and accepts DigiPrint graphics pushing customization to an all new level. 3) bring DigiPrint custom graphics to their Senior line (like Bauer just did for their 3X line). Warrior used to be known for their customizations. Now they have less customization options than ever (since the G4-on, they removed all stock color options for full-right senior gloves!). It's time to steal that title back from Bauer. 4) ditch the stupid mask they just released. They should have come up with a design where you can velcro in and out mask padding to get a perfect custom fit. Instead, they advertised "phantom fit technology", which is literally a nothing.

Hmm, didn't know that. They are adjustable - there is velcro under that jenpro. Did you try lengthening the strap? Also, you could easily lengthen the strap by adding a loop or a keychain ring between the clip and loop.

Actually, the G2 had full leather strap accessory kit (knee and calf straps too). I went to Warrior when the G2's came out. IMO, the best pads ever made at the time. But the G2's biggest flaw was the strapping. It had standard elastic straps (something like 1.5-2" thick) but it wouldn't hold my leg in the channel and my knee kept coming off the knee block. Also, I had a lot of problems with my supplemental knee pads catching on the knee block. At least in my case, getting the leather straps was mandatory, I strapped them loosely just to use as "limiting" straps to make sure my leg stayed in the channel. Then the G3's came out, and even though my G2's were just a little over 1 year old, I didn't blink an eye to upgrade. The strapping on the G3's (that single super wide triangle strap that they still have today) is perfect. The knee strap also has a built in nylon limiting strap too. For some reason, I stopped having knee pad binding issues too. IMO, the innovative Warrior "toe" straps are another no brainer. I assumed all goalie pads would use that design, but I guess I was wrong. To my surprise, I see a lot of people don't like them. I've torn my MCL twice while playing - I attribute it partially to using classic toe ties. I find Warriors elastic straps (one goes under your skate toe and the other I choose to go through my skate's Lundy loop) are genius and work perfectly - perfect pad rotation - zero leg stress. But the G4's and G5's have given me no reason to upgrade. Hoping the G6's can do better.

I wish. IMO, the G3 was the pinnacle. The G4 had that stupid Bauer-ish reduced outer roll (why is the trend to voluntarily reduce our surface area??) and the G5 has the bulls* puffy "cover edge". Adding a pillow underneath the outer roll does not give more overall surface area. Let's go back to thin and light pads with full outer rolls. Also, please come out with a 1-piece blocker for the G-series.

Subscribing. Do we have reliable news yet whether Warrior is going to be releasing a new G-line or GT-line this coming spring? Everything got out of whack since they seemed to skip a line (should have been new GT) this year. I got G3’s which are on their last legs but not a fan of their bloated coverage edge tech on the G5’s. Hoping they back off that that on G6.

Well, all I know is that it was certainly enlarged from the G2 to the G3 because I had both. The G2 has a flat block while the G3 turned into a triangular wedge. I don’t have any experience with the GT2 or G4 so I don’t know if there was further enlargement of that piece but my G3 looks just like that G5 picture.

I have the G3 glove and it has that triangular rod giving it a I_I closure as well. I also had the G2 and it had a I_I but the foam rod was not as triangulated/3-dimensional as the G3->G5. Ever since I’ve used the Warrior I_I palm closure, I will never go back to a pancake V closure again.

This is why I hate glove closure explanations. I feel like everybody is all over the place. I always understood 590 as 60-degrees, 580 as 90-degrees, and 600 as 75-degrees (thanks to Lefevre/Koho/Reebok/CCM for massively confusing model numbers). With 60-degrees being the "baseball" style closure. All I know is I have a background in baseball and was awesome at catching, but I tried a Reebok 590 (60-degree) and I couldn't get a puck to land in the pocket, worst glove ever (for me). I then had a Warrior G2 75-degree and my glove hand was never better. I upgraded to the G3 75-degree, which is still great, but slightly off from the G2. Someone posted the G2 was more like a Vaughn Velocity while the G3 was more like a CCM (didn't clarify which break). Oh well.