Warrior Ritual G2 Pro Knee Guards Review

[Hills 709]

 

Personal Details
Male
6'3”
220 lbs
Butterfly
A-C level hockey
Usage time: 1.5 years
Knee Guard History: Vaughn V3, Bauer Supreme, Reebok P2, Warrior Ritual G2 Pro, Bauer Supreme 1S OD1N

Preface: I got these with my Warrior Ritual G2 Pro Return pads and since they were designed for the pads I decided to sell my Bauer Supreme knee guards for these.

Fit: The calf portion of these knee guards are one of the best designs I have seen for this type of product. I’ve never once had an issue with this section of the knee guard falling down and I believe it is because of the intelligent design here. These are a medium sized knee guard and felt slightly thinner and smaller than the Bauer Supreme knee guards they were replacing. The thigh of these Warrior Ritual G2 Pro knee guards has a dual elastic strap system that allows for a more customizable fit and ensures you can really tighten the elastic strap. I have seen this design used before on Warrior’s player shoulder pads and I like this feature. My problem with shell portion and the thigh portion is that without my knee guard set up with player socks, tape and a garter belt the top portion of these knee guards fall down over the calf portion very quickly. While the calf portion doesn’t more the rest of it very easily slide over top and for me makes them unplayable if it wasn’t for my system of wearing knee guards. One interesting thing to note is the flap that is on the calf portion that sits on top of your knee, I originally had this flap on the outside of the elastic and I found this kept the knee pads in place better but made the calf portion sit less snugg. Putting the flap on the inside of the elastic made the calf portion feel perfect but really allowed the top portion of the knee guards to slide over the calf portion. 6/10

Comfort: While I praised the calf portion of these knee guards in the section above, I will praise them again here. The calf section is the most comfortable on any knee guard I have ever worn, and the Warrior method of this specific piece is a fantastic design that makes this part of the knee guard comfortable while also removing the need for the “Anchor Strap” that other brands use. The segmented foams work great in wrapping around your calf and bottom portion of your knee while providing some of the best cushioning for when you drive your knees down to the ice. Now these do not have plastic inserts like the Reebok P2 Knee guards so I am unsure how they’d hold up to direct ice contact, but everything in my pads’ knee wing has been great with these. The segmented design allows your knee multiple areas to land in, whereas the Bauer Supreme 1S OD1N knee guards have PoronXD only on the front of your knee, these Warrior Ritual G2 Pro knee guards allow your knee to land on the side of your knee and still provide great cushioning. The thigh guard on these pads is comfortable but nothing special and a more standard design but the liner is comfortable. Warrior did a good job of not having any hard seams or surfaces touching against your leg and removing the “Anchor Strap” is a huge bonus for me. 9/10

Protection: While I understand these are a “free” throw in when you purchase a set of pads, I really wish a manufacturer actually gave a top of the line Pro set of knee guards when you purchase a set of high end pads. While these Warrior Ritual G2 Pro knee guards are labelled as “Pro,” once you take a few shots to the top of the knee you should quickly realize that is not the case. The real frustrating part of this realization for me is that the inside of the knee is thicker and more padded than directly on the top of the knee and while I understand the inside is beefed to stop pucks from going through the 5-hole I find I get direct impacts on the front of the knee more than anywhere else and I feel if this thickness translated over the entire kneecap than these knee guards would’ve been close to perfect. Since I started to feel shots while wearing these knee guards in one of my higher skilled leagues, I decided to beef up the protection on these by adding a pair of player glove cuffs to the front to ensure there was a couple extra layers of padding. The reason I didn’t move on from these right away and buy a new pair was because I was waiting for the Bauer Supreme 1S OD1N knee guards to come out (see my review on those, and why waiting was a mistake). I never felt a shot hurt as much as I did in the Bauers but I also do not feel these Warrior knee guards offer enough protection to be labelled “Pro” or to be used in high level of hockey without another piece of knee protection. I did not feel safe enough in them to wear without modifying them with the added protection.  6/10

Weight: These Warrior Ritual G2 Pro knee pads are the lightest I have worn and weighed (to be fair, that is only 2 pairs at the time of reviewing these) by 100 grams. In reality they feel pretty light on your leg and do not feel like they hinder movement at all. 365 grams 10/10

Durability: The only sign of real usage has been the stretching of elastic, something that is going to happen to every pair of knee pads made. The segmented landing area for the knees has compressed a bit, but not enough to become uncomfortable and not enough to really notice unless you are looking for it. 9/10

Intangibles: These are a pretty bare bones knee guard without garter loops or any fancy materials. While the calf portion is a fantastic design the rest of the knee pad is very simple. 7/10

Conclusion: The Warrior Ritual G2 Pro knee guards are a solid knee pad if they were $40 cheaper and didn’t have the “Pro” label attached to them. The original Bauer Supremes are still more protective and a better value and at $100 I really can’t recommend these besides when pointing people away from the Bauer Supreme 1S OD1N knee pads. I feel like Warrior could’ve made an almost perfect compromise of a medium sized knee pad with excellent protection but I feel they decided to leave room for improvement in order to sell the more expensive Warrior Ritual X Pro knee guard. Which again, brings me to question why the G2 Pro knee guards are $100 and the X Pros are all of $20 more at $120. The one thing that is fantastic about these knee pads though is the calf portion and I really have to give Warrior praise for this excellent design, if I were to build my dream knee pad the bottom half would be taken from these. 6/10

Before Modifications

With added protection.

The inside of the knee guard.

The outside of the knee guard.

Underneath the knee guard showing off the excellent shin portion.

More details of the excellent shin portion.

I love the shin padding. Cushioning and durable.

Showing the outer shell.

The flap that holds onto the top of your knee, with this under the elastic the top portion of the knee guard easily slides down over the shin portion. With the flap on the outside of the elastic the shin doesn't fit as well but the top of the knee guard stays in place better.

Showing the added protection.

The thickness of the thigh portion.

Another view of the thigh portion.

How the knee guard looks in a pad.

Top View.