Vaughn 7900 glove

[crazykeeper_33 0]

Quite interested by this one but being in the UK I won't have a chance to get my hands on one unitl I visit Toronto in November so was wondering if anyone has tried one out? What's the main advantages/disadvantages to it compared with a traditional style catcher?

Also what are the thoughts on the one piece cuff design I've noticed unlike the Reebok p3 it's also on the lower end model and it made me wonder if it's such a good idea why haven't more gloves adopted it?

[Law Goalie 147]

I haven't got my hand(s) on a 7900 yet, but generally speaking, the one-piece cuff doesn't in and of itself offer any major advantage over the majority of two-piece cuffs; most two-piece cuffs offer very little flexibility, and generally only in wrist flexion (as opposed to extension) because of the way the two parts of the cuff are laced together. I imagine the 7900 fits and plays more or less like the rest of the Velocity gloves, which many adore but I *personally* can't abide.

There were several gloves before the P3 which had either superficially (eg. the TPS Xlite) or actually one-piece cuffs (eg. the Heaton-designed CCM Blockade). The main reason these gloves didn't do brilliantly, and why one-piece cuffs, with the exception of the P3 (and its Revoke/Koho recladdings), haven't really caught on, is simply because they look odd to consumers that are familiar with a two-piece look. People generally expect to see a cuff with a binding laced to the rest of the glove; the visual leap from this to a bindingless one-piece cuff is tricky to manage without throwing people off. One-piece cuffs also pose some design challenges because of the way the NHL rules specify glove measurement, and, because of their extra rigidity, Reebok and others have had some durability issues (which have since been entirely solved).

Basically, there's no real reason to insist on either a one-piece or two-piece cuff, unless you absolutely demand that little bit of extra wrist flexion that a two-piece cuff *can* provide if it's laced loosely enough, and if the strapping allows it. If you're heavily reliant on glove-cradling with upper-body shots, and find that you really flex your wrist when you do so, a two-piece cuff might help. That said, unless things you're heavily dependent on that bit of movement, a one-piece or two piece cuff is largely a matter of cosmetics. Things like the placement of strapping, the placement, angle and structure of the break, and the fit and balance on the hand are way, way more important.

Any idea how much time you'll have in Toronto? There are, as I'm sure you know, a pile of great goalie stores, but they're pretty far apart (with the relative exception of Goalie Heaven and Duke's in the west). It would be a very full day to hit them all in one.

[crazykeeper_33 0]

Cheers for clearing that up, reading the blurb on the websites you can be fooled into thinking that these things are major differences that effect the glove in so many ways!

Personally I love the glove I'm using now which is a Reebok P1 pro just it's really starting to show it's age.

I'm not entirely sure how long I'm going to be there yet as the trip is still in the planning stages hopefully for a week or so (which if I can work it right to take in a Washington away game along the way!) would be good if someone could let me know which stores are the best, although having seen pictures they all look better than my LHS by a long way as they only have one set of leg pads in the whole place!

[jcp2 2]

I haven't got my hand(s) on a 7900 yet, but generally speaking, the one-piece cuff doesn't in and of itself offer any major advantage over the majority of two-piece cuffs; most two-piece cuffs offer very little flexibility, and generally only in wrist flexion (as opposed to extension) because of the way the two parts of the cuff are laced together.

I did block a hard slapshot from the point with a two piece glove cuff in a game. Rather than giving up a juicy rebound into the slot, the puck got wedged between the cuff and the palm. I picked it out with my other hand and put it into the pocket before anybody noticed and chalked the whole thing up to an amazingly quick glove.