doodman

Goalie is the only position where you have to play 100% or everything is going in the net, there is no coasting and your teammates pick up the slack. Your analysis of 'flurries' of activities is pretty spot on. If your team is decent and can maintain offensive zone pressure then yes, its not as hard, but PKs and long defensive zone action can challenge your endurance (and its still a different endurance than skating out). I skated out for 15 years and couldn't believe the energy required to play goalie.

speaking of conditioning...its a different kind of conditioning then skating out. You need to be quick and strong for brief (15-30 secs) periods. i.e. holding yourself up on one leg against the pipe or using one leg to push your body across and then back. stretch...alot, including your hips be very flexible before you start Do one legged squats because you will be doing alot of one leg ups...your butt, hams and quads all need to be strong as some one said, it requires an amazing amount of athleticism I'm sure someone with more experience than me can add more

I didnt start playing goalie until i was over 30. My friend gave me his old gear because he upgraded all his. I cannot tell you how much fun I had! I love playing goalie. Like others said I would play a good amount of sticktimes, then pick ups. Don't be frustrated when you have rough spots, tough it out :D But I would NOT go for a team/league unless I was pretty sure I was good enough to do it. Nothing worse than being told yer off the team cuz you suck...

here's one, At stick time there's a goalie who often shows up with a couple of his friends. He will ONLY play them, and totally ignore all the other shooters. Sometimes they even get a little 2 on 2 going, playing through everyone else. The problem is, we only get half ice-so one net. I don't think its cool that one goalie and his few friends should lock down the whole session. I finally said screw it and started taking wristers on net anyway, which pissed him off (he threw a couple F-bombs my way).

btw is that you in the 'spotty' goalie pads? That'd make for an interesting team uni. It's funny, the best teams I've played for nobody matched and hardly anyone showed up. It seems like the less players you have the better your team is. I've seen teams with crowded benches that were just awful!

Well there's 'looking good' as in unis...and there's 'looking good' as in playing. I prefer the latter. How's the team doing?

Product: Kroniik 100 flex (nipple grip) AND 85 flex (clear) Other sticks: just about all easton, nike-bauer, mission top tier sticks user: 5'10 160lb defense 15 years experience/adult rec league (at this point I'm pretty much out there for the exercise lol!) blade: I've nothing bad to say about the spyne technology. I don't notice it on the backhand at all. Taping is no big deal, wax goes on fine. wristers and snap shots are rockets, slap shots no better/no worse. 10/10 Shaft and flex: SEE DURABILITY SECTION! The shaft felt thinner than other shafts. If you have smaller hands this could be good. The nipple grip is not as tacky as bauers, and the clear is more slippery IMO. The stick is among the lightest I've used. For the record I love the warrior graphic design which doesn't make the stick 'good' I know. for durability issues 0/10 Feel: Stick handling was good but not smooth like I've felt on other blades. I've pretty soft hands and it just felt a little 'off'. The blade felt very light. 8/10 Weight: Very light stick. The blade also felt light. The stick felt well balanced, not blade heavy at all. 10/10 Durability: DEAL KILLER!As you may have noticed I have used two of these. The first (100 flex nipple grip) lasted 2 games. It broke in half when struck by a slap shot. Being under warranty I mailed it to Warrior and waited three weeks for a replacement, which didn't come. When I called them they said my stick was out of stock. So I settled for the second Kronik stick (85 flex clear) It broke in the FIRST GAME when struck by a slap shot. This is adult rec league mind you, not some elite level competition with super high speed heavy shots. These sticks just don't handle any impact at all. If you play defense and block alot of shots I cannot recommend any warrior stick. (I had a dolomite which broke after about 6 games while I was taking a slapper also) Conclusion: Can't recommend this stick at all. Right now I just don't feel comfortable recommending any warrior stick. I'm bummed because I really want these sticks to be good. Warrior customer service was good once I made the phone call. They went out of their way to make sure I was happy with the replacement. However they told me on the phone they would NOT warranty the replacement stick.