I'm already looking into intermediate lol. Like I said, I live in florida. And not in Tampa or somewhere with a better hockey population either. Finding it on cragslist locally isn't gonna happen. And before someone mentions it, yes ive already looked on ebay. I found 1 set if leg pads i like but i think theyre no break and i was looking for single break. Gear is never truly unisex either. This may surprise you, but women have boobs. For skating out i have a women's chest/shoulders and I love it. So far I can't find upper body goalie gear for women and it's slightly disappointing because I don't want it to be uncomfortable.
As far as the knee thing goes, as long as there are exercises and stuff like you said that will help then that's a good sign.