Equipment Modifications - Goalie Gear

[Netminder32 32]

I saw this forum in the players equipment and thought... we need our own. Let's face it. Our gear is pretty unique compared to the players stuff... and we're Goalies, we modify everything! :P

What modifications have you done to your gear?

I'll get the thread rolling with my mods. Some of them are pretty dated as I've been doing this for a while, but still interesting none the less.

Top to bottom:

Mask: added sham sweatbands (see the goalie equipment review board)

Chest and Arm: shortened the length of the arm pads 2"

Jersey: resized the arms on a XXL player jersey I really liked to accomodate my c/a by adding a 3" wide strip of jersey material to the underside of each arm

Blocker: refaced to match the rest of my gear and added a new palm.

Blocker Refacing Photo Gallery

Trapper: added a cheater between the thumb and cuff on two of my trappers.

Trapper Cheater Bar Photo Gallery

Pants: shortened and tapered the knee spoilers on my Gatekeeper pants to prevent them from binding with the pads when butterflying

Pads: absolutely nothing. They were perfect when I got them. (34+3)

Skates: added overdrive blades

... pretty sure that about covers it. :D

[Law Goalie 147]

Epic thread in the making! :)

Going head to toe...

Mask - put rubber & Jenpro washers around the cage screws for a great reduction in ringing. In future, will try to get some rubber grommets into the screw-holes. Made my own sham sweatbands based on Mike's thread, and they've been brilliant.

Neck - nothing: Maltese combo has served me well.

C/A - added a JB2150 junior chest-plate (heart-shaped, lower sternum and higher clavicle coverage) and rib-wraps to my 403 senior; cut out the collar to improve downward vision and reduce bulk. Will be adding some extra 1/4" HD80 coverage to a few spots on the arms when I have time.

Glove - relaced the perimeter and pulled all the bent/broken eyelets; replaced the basically useless stock sweat-pad with a chamois one, again based on Mike's great thread. Considering a complete take-apart and refurbishing (Int. Bionics are in short supply these days), but would need a backup glove first, since it may go horribly wrong.

Blocker - found a rare Brian's A-Maxx: pulled all unnecessary padding (in the wrist-strap and sidewall, mainly), put an air-pillow in the sidewall, and repalmed with a Nash single-layer Clarino mesh gusset palm. Have since picked up an NOS CCM Gatekeeper (on its way), largely because of the goatskin palm; don't know how much I'll be able to do with this because of Brian Heaton's tight design, nor how much I would want to for the same reason. Every year the RBK blocker gets more like Brian's design... when it goes bindingless next year, it'll be basically identical.

Pants - cut out the awful Reactor6 five-hole blocks and sewed neat little Jenpro patches over the incisions (no way to get them out cleanly); removed the excessive plastic 'kidney shields' from the sides; removed the stock knee-pads from the bottom of the Armadillo setup and velcro'd in my Brown 2000 knees.

Jock - removed the elastic waist-band and now just run the internal belt from the pants through the jock to hold them both in place; also removed the secondary Shock Doctor cup (it's a Vaughn Epic) and put that in my compression tights for a more securely packaged double-cup rig.

Knee-pads - covered in pants.

Pads - not much, actually. Replaced the worn-out knee-blocks with new RBK P2 ones; replaced all the leather straps except the thigh and boot with quick-release polypropylene, saving about 1/2lbs per pad, although only the knee-strap was actually sewn in; played around with angling the thigh and boot-straps to great success. The pads themselves were kind of an interesting design to begin with: one-off Bauer Supremes made post-lockout for J.S. Aubin that felt and played like a traditional pad despite a great many Lefebvre/RBK influences, and, amazingly, still 100% current NHL spec because of how the knee- and calf-wings were built and attached.

Skates - bult from scratch: Nike Flexlite boots in CCM Customlite cowlings with RBK R30 blades, originally Thrust now regular-width. Used some of Johnny McLeod's knowledge base and parts (he sent me the 6-32 T-nuts and machine screws that fit stock rivet holes). Laced them with a very odd combination of traditional cross and Bushwalk lacing with two sets of lace-locks - very fun to explain to incredulous sharpeners. Very seriously considering a new project using One95s and the new 2010 Bauer cowlings, if I can find a set to play with.

[DCott 0]

Awesome idea for a thread.

C/A: The elbow cups were too low on my arm, so I stitched in some loops higher on the arm to reattach them, I also created some slash guards out of old elbow pads, which ended up being ridiculously uncomfortable, so I don't wear them. see link:

http://www.modsquadhockey.com/forums/index...st&p=692506

Blocker: The sidewall stuck out way too far (no it's not cool if Carey Price does it like that), so I added a loop I stole off some old elbow pads to the sidewall and ran the wrist strap through it to hold it back a bit. Also, my hands aren't big enough to fill the volume of the blocker's palm, so I stole the massive backhand pillow from my old CCM Blockade and stuck it in there to fill some room. I'll post pics later

[ddbowdoin 0]

Modified my C/A this month:

This is likely not the safest measure out there but it works for me. I am 5'7ish and 220 lbs. I haven't grown in ages (I am 24) but obviously threw on some beer weight. I have used the same Vaughn C/A since I was 12. I am convinced it is an Intermediate LARGE. When I would go down into the butterfly I was getting caught in the stomach with hard shots. This hurt, tremendously.

I took a pair of players shoulder pads and cut off the sturnem (spelling?) part and sewed it underneath the stomach portion of the C/A in order to extend the pads. I then took some foam that I had lying around and covered it with some nylon and sewed that all together. I then sewed the covered foam onto the extended portion of the C/A and boom, homemade protection. I haven't had a bruise in weeks.

Epic thread in the making! :)

Going head to toe...

Mask - put rubber & Jenpro washers around the cage screws for a great reduction in ringing. In future, will try to get some rubber grommets into the screw-holes. Made my own sham sweatbands based on Mike's thread, and they've been brilliant.

Neck - nothing: Maltese combo has served me well.

C/A - added a JB2150 junior chest-plate (heart-shaped, lower sternum and higher clavicle coverage) and rib-wraps to my 403 senior; cut out the collar to improve downward vision and reduce bulk. Will be adding some extra 1/4" HD80 coverage to a few spots on the arms when I have time.

Glove - relaced the perimeter and pulled all the bent/broken eyelets; replaced the basically useless stock sweat-pad with a chamois one, again based on Mike's great thread. Considering a complete take-apart and refurbishing (Int. Bionics are in short supply these days), but would need a backup glove first, since it may go horribly wrong.

Blocker - found a rare Brian's A-Maxx: pulled all unnecessary padding (in the wrist-strap and sidewall, mainly), put an air-pillow in the sidewall, and repalmed with a Nash single-layer Clarino mesh gusset palm. Have since picked up an NOS CCM Gatekeeper (on its way), largely because of the goatskin palm; don't know how much I'll be able to do with this because of Brian Heaton's tight design, nor how much I would want to for the same reason. Every year the RBK blocker gets more like Brian's design... when it goes bindingless next year, it'll be basically identical.

Pants - cut out the awful Reactor6 five-hole blocks and sewed neat little Jenpro patches over the incisions (no way to get them out cleanly); removed the excessive plastic 'kidney shields' from the sides; removed the stock knee-pads from the bottom of the Armadillo setup and velcro'd in my Brown 2000 knees.

Jock - removed the elastic waist-band and now just run the internal belt from the pants through the jock to hold them both in place; also removed the secondary Shock Doctor cup (it's a Vaughn Epic) and put that in my compression tights for a more securely packaged double-cup rig.

Knee-pads - covered in pants.

Pads - not much, actually. Replaced the worn-out knee-blocks with new RBK P2 ones; replaced all the leather straps except the thigh and boot with quick-release polypropylene, saving about 1/2lbs per pad, although only the knee-strap was actually sewn in; played around with angling the thigh and boot-straps to great success. The pads themselves were kind of an interesting design to begin with: one-off Bauer Supremes made post-lockout for J.S. Aubin that felt and played like a traditional pad despite a great many Lefebvre/RBK influences, and, amazingly, still 100% current NHL spec because of how the knee- and calf-wings were built and attached.

Skates - bult from scratch: Nike Flexlite boots in CCM Customlite cowlings with RBK R30 blades, originally Thrust now regular-width. Used some of Johnny McLeod's knowledge base and parts (he sent me the 6-32 T-nuts and machine screws that fit stock rivet holes). Laced them with a very odd combination of traditional cross and Bushwalk lacing with two sets of lace-locks - very fun to explain to incredulous sharpeners. Very seriously considering a new project using One95s and the new 2010 Bauer cowlings, if I can find a set to play with.

law, any pictures of your custom skates... I am interested

[Netminder32 32]

Thought I'd recap some old projects and get this topic back online...

Old V2 blocker converted to bindingless...

Old Mission trapper converted to custom "Halak" graphics before there even were Halak graphics... We used to call it "Potvin" graphics...

and the photo gallery of the conversion...

Cait's Mission trapper reskin photos

[jimmy 194]

I'm not a big "modder" because I usually find gear that works well to start, but I have made a few minor mods like switching to Smith Sliding toe bridges, and removing the new "under the pant" knee pads from My ZeroG's and replacing with older P1 thighboards. I had overdrives on my old CCM 652 skates but since switching to RBK's found the OD's just not necessary. I guess the biggest mod I've made was having my ZeroG gloves made in illegal width by Brians. :-)

[Law Goalie 147]

Hah!-- you must be the only person in creation who got them to play with the base foams.

If my mother-in-law hadn't taken the camera to Gimli, I'd have a few shots of my latest work: rebuilding a pair of Reeboks from the ground up a la bc30. I'm very happy with the results. Still need to get them to a post-office scale, but the weight is significantly down, there is zero under-rotation (that's a story in itself), and the flexibility above the knee is better than a pad with two breaks in the vertical roll (aka 'Turco-break').

BTW, phenomenal work on that bindingless conversion. I was tempted to do that to my A-Maxx, but the extra curve I put in the board cost me the material tolerance.

[McDougalfaschnitzer 32]

Took out the dynamic flex cuff on my X:55 glove. It wasn't dynamic enough for me and restricted movement since I like to hold my hand up in stance. (sorry for cell phone pics)

Rough cut out:

Showing the increased range of motion:

Cuts cleaned up!:

[McDougalfaschnitzer 32]

I also did a simple mod of switching the toe bridges from left to right and right to left so that the lace would end up being slightly more off-set towards the ice in butterfly. With my mask, I took out the chin cup and made my own sling, since I didn't like how far away my face was from the front of the mask with the chin cup. I think I'll be set for now, until I get a stick. I'll need to cut the hasek grip into the shoulder of the paddle.

[EvilPepe 24]

Ize bored.

Head: Numerous re-paddings to get a better fit. Used to make my own plastic padding frames for the insides my Cooper combos.

Neck: Not much. Stitched new velcro onto my Maltese combo a few times.

C/A: On one old unit I replaced most of the foam blocks with some medium density foam. Made a chest plate out of HD foam to act as a "hear guard". My current C/A is a Miller CM9 chest, with another homemade plate on the front, arms that came from a Premier II, new shoulder caps, new shoulder floaters (with a soft foam on the backside to help with those potential collarbone breaking shots). I also have the soft inner pad from the afor mentioned RBK chest that I velcro in and out depending on who I am playing against.

Gloves: Not much. Skate lace pockets and thats about it. Refaced a couple blockers for others.

Pants: Nothing. Basic maintenance (replaced buttons, a couple patches, etc.).

Jock: The elastic was all worn out on my Vaughn, and I didn't feel like buying a whole new jock. Made my own belt and leg loops using a softer elastic. Vast improvement over the normal set-up on the Vaughn jocks.

Pads: In the past I have made numerous knee blocks and calf wedges. My current pads (Battram Fury) only have elastic calf straps and a new toe set up that I added. Instead of a straight toe-tie, I used mini-bungees to make a loop at the toe bridge, and then tied lace to that loop. The mini-bungees cost about 1.50 for a pack of six, so it isn't a big deal if one gets cut.

Skates: I put new RBK cowlings on my Pro Tacks, and I do my own radius/rocker work - just maintenance stuff, really.

Future Project: I'm considering two changes to my pads. First is removing some of the foam from the inside of the boot to taper it a half an inch or so. Mulling over the idea of opening the top of the bad up and trying to shorten it a little as well (don't people usually go the other way?). Small changes, but why not.

[McDougalfaschnitzer 32]

Do you have any pics of the mods? I'd like to see how the C/A turned out the most.

I took out half of my blockers dynamic flex cuff to give me some more mobility, and both myself and my brother want to mod the wrists on our reebok C/As so that the straps have enough velcro to go all the way around no matter how tight.

[Axxion89 32]

To contribute, I wanted to share my primary source of foams, McMaster Carr:

http://www.mcmaster.com/

They carry EVA and others but to my knowledge no Vinyl Nitrile (VN) foam

Also, I have been having problems with my Warrior Swagger buckles consistently coming apart in games and after almost a year of trying to fix the issue, I decided to search for an alternative. I found a Chinese supplier of buckles that included locking buckles. For the price I figured it was my best option and decided to give it a shot. After 15 days, they arrived as advertised and am impressed. Very sturdy, very good quality:

Link to Supplier:

http://www.bestbuynet.com/

[tamtamg 12]

Any time I get a new pair of gloves, I always make the pocket deeper and softer with skate laces.

[Law Goalie 147]

^^ Nice job. I'm in the minority in liking a stiff pocket, but that looks like it'll soak up shots nicely.