Leaderboard

Yes and no. R1 has much more of an ice like feel than a traditional inline chassis, but not as much as the O1. The difference is the rocker setting where the O1 rocker is design to mimic the ice hockey steel while the R1 rocker is designed for maximum performance. The insert is attached to the upper part by a snap fit. It is easy to change but you need to remove the lower part (with one bolt) to reach it. The feeling of different inserts is of course a question of personal preferences, but by testing them ourselves and listen to the players who have tested them my impression is: H5-T8: Most similar to ice hockey H5-T15: A lot of heel movement but full contact during push offs H8-T8: Smoother feeling H8-T15: Most controlled feeling, less movement i general but still clear benefits from the rocker The blue colour is anodized. Valid point, it's definitely a potential alternative, in the end it's a matter of how many players we see demands it. /Petter, Development Engineer at Marsblade

Kind of. What I think they did was rotate the blocker board on the hand and flatten the bottom. They pulled the bottom edge of the board down closer to the fingers and pushed the top out a little more. The best way of illustrating it would be to look at the angle of the bottom edge of the board in relation to the thumb in your pics. On the G4, you can see how the bottom curves away from the thumb (as does the CCM). The G5 has a much more narrow angle there. The logos on the finger portion of the sideboard show it pretty well. They're both parallel to the face angle of the bottom of the board. Look at the difference in relation to the thumb graphic in both pics. Then if you look at the angle of the back of the sideboard at the wrist, you can see how much more square the G5 is. When they pull and straighten the bottom, it makes it longer in relation to the fingers, so it moves the board down in a way. Remember, the hand position in the Ritual line is adjustable anyway. I just threw the pics into the markup tool on my iPhone, which has a ruler that gives angles. If you line the board up to 90*, the thumb on the G5 is at a 61* angle to the board, vs a 51* angle on the G4. I think they actually did leave it the same, and stuck it out further giving it more coverage. To me, the curve at the top of the G5 looks like it sticks out futher than the G4. Given it's pretty rough, I just measured the top angle on each pic in relation to the board, using markup on my iPhone. If you make the thumb angle the same, the top angle is the same on both. That means they flattened it down on the G5 given the hand position in relation to the board has changed by about 10*. The angle of the bend to the face of the board is 58* on the G4 and 70* on the G5.

No, it works alongside it. It's all about the "aerial angle". By pushing the entire blocker forward and angling it down, they created more coverage area. Rather than just take that, they flattened out the curve. The bottom of a G3/G4 blocker was really thick and almost curved up. With the G5, that's what they flattened out moreso than the curve at the top. So what you get is a blocker that covers the same amount above the hand, and a lot more below the hand. The top of the blocker sits out about as far is it did before, but the bottom is flatter and angled down closer to the hand. My biggest problem with the Warrior blockers was the lack of coverage low, down on the ice. You could move the hand position, but then you lost coverage up top. I always just kept it in the middle and kind of dealt with it. This isn't a problem in my Optik blocker, or my Gnetik 3 blocker before the Warrior. They are both pretty flat in the bottom of the board, just like the Bauer blockers and now the G5. Vaughns and the older Warriors have more curve at the bottom, which gives them more curve overall. I don't think Warrior came up with a new design that other companies will follow. Rather they just did what a few others have been doing for a while.

I placed an order during the first round of the presale. Is there any way to track the status of the order, like to see if the expected date changes? Or will you guys send out emails with updates for any delays? Maybe I’m just missing it online. I know it’s still pretty far out, so just wasn’t sure how to check when it gets closer without bugging anyone for updates. Thanks!

The pic looks like the ones I have. They're velcro. https://www.amazon.ca/Elite-Hockey-Lace-Bite-Gel/dp/B00VEEVV2M/ref=sr_1_6?dchild=1&keywords=lace+bite+pad&qid=1587587924&sr=8-6

Thanks for the answer. Can't wait to test them 😊