The Mighty Mite

Putting together footage and narrative (this whole thing has been an excuse to learn Lightworks). Stay tuned!

A critical aspect of the modern game is understanding the interaction between angle, squareness, and depth. While all modern minds for goaltending wouldn't contest that those three principle components form the core of how we understand positional play, it appears as though there are differing philosophies on their priority in practice. The prevailing wisdom for several years (as far as what I can gather) is that priority is Angle -> Squareness -> Depth. For instance, during the save recovery cycle following a rebound pushed to the weakside, the goalie rotates for recovery back to post, and pushes (either backside recovery or recovery to feet with a t-push) (angle) Gets to post, rotates body to face puck (squareness) Moves back to top of crease (depth) However, now have heard of prioritizing squareness over angle (e.g. Nick Dahan, "The Three Components of Positioning" on YouTube.) The same cycle: rotate the body such that the plane of the goalie's profile will be perpendicular to the play once angle is gained (squareness) recovery to the post (angle) Move back to top of crease (depth) Now I have also heard of prioritizing depth over angle or squareness (e.g. Dave Prior, https://ingoalmag.com/news/vegas-goalie-coach-dave-prior-explains-his-old-school-approach/). The same cycle, I think: Move to top of the crease, where you would want to be ideally if a shot were taken immediately (depth + angle) Rotate to face the play (squareness) I've been schooled in the traditional system of ASD, but there's an intuitive quality to DAS/DSA: Shouldn't we be seeking the shortest paths (i.e. straight lines) to where we want to be ultimately for a shot? My thoughts aside on this, what have you been taught in terms of positional priorities? Do you have a preference and why?

Ah, you mean 'under-rotation', which makes sense because when you made your first comment, my initial response was "over-rotation? if anything the pads under-rotate a bit." Anyways, yes, you are right, I noticed that a bit too during use. The tapered toe + tighter leg channel fit contributes to this minor under-rotation. Trade off is mobility and feel, but you are correct in that the pad does under-rotate a tad. Minor, but I'm wondering if for my next set from PAW really pushing for a square toe might be warranted.

1. I have used, in my career (as far as I can remember): Sherwood 7000 TPS XLite Koho 590 Reebok Revoke Vaughn V3 Vaughn V5 Viper Boa McKenney 895 Kenesky K2015 The core of the pad honestly feels quite different than any of these. While they are a double internal break, they are stiffer than the Vaughns and McKenneys, but not as stiff as the Reebok, Koho, or Kenesky. The boot is ultra soft, which I think PAW nailed: it's the best feeling boot of any pad I've used. My strapping is pretty bespoke, using a snug leg channel w/ a professor strap (see #4 below) All in all, the closest in feel IMO would actually be the Bauer Vapor 2X which I tried on in store, but never owned or used on ice. 2. The inside sliding surface is white weave. The pads are not ultra light ala Bauer ultrasonic/Warrior, but they are not the heaviest. They balance well, so the weight is certainly quite good in terms of performance. 3. I didn't notice any over-rotation during basic execution (except for that one stretched out kick-save in the video, but that's more my fault). 4. Strapping on the back is pretty custom: Professor strap Single inner elastic at calf Single outer elastic for calf wing leather boot strap leather strap at knee block thick shin pillow for additional stability It also came with an elastic for the knee, but I removed it as I didn't see the need. Overall result is a pad that has very minimal obstruction at the knee, and hugs the upper calf and shin area.

I recently purchased a set of P1000 leg pads from Sara over at PAW. Her leg pads don't get much attention compared to her other protectives, so I thought I'd put together some media/information out there. Please feel free to ask me any questions about the pads, or critique my mechanics (I think i need to work on keeping my head/shoulders over or in front of my toes). A video review will be forthcoming.