Warrior Ritual Customization Questions

[DangerIsGo 0]

I'm looking to get a pair of the Rituals and had a few questions (maybe others have had too) regarding some of the customization options:

Pads:

1) Is there any benefit/hindrance to 0, 1 or 2 breaks? What are the pros and cons of each?

Blocker:

1) What is the difference between the Ritual pro Custom and the Ritual SE Custom?

2) Any advantages or disadvantages to the single vs dual board curve?

3) What exactly is the gusset height?

4) Palm Material: Pros and cons of each?

Catch:

1) Again, difference between Ritual pro Custom and Ritual SE Custom?

2) Two Piece vs Fused: Pros and cons?

3) Internal and External materials (chamois, Nash and Soft (internal) and Jenpro/Robocop, Chamois-Tan (external))

4) What is the cuff wedge? Firm or Soft would be best choice?

5) Regular or skate lace? What are the benefits of using skate lace?

Thanks! I know its a lot but I just want to fully understand everything so I can make the correct decision that best suits me.

[Axxion89 32]

I'll answer what I can:

Pad Breaks - less breaks are meant for those with a wider butterfly to get more coverage. So 2 breaks is if you have a narrow fly to cover the 5 hole more (bend in s curve) and 1 break is in between.

Board Curve - Doubly curve adds a curve to the front to make it easier to go paddle down with less blocker interference

2 Piece or Fused - Personal preference, purely cosmetic with no real advantage

Skate or Regular lace - Skate lace will deaden the puck more and prevent popouts more than skate lace and IMO looks much nicer, go skate lace

Others can add on and answer your other questions. Best thing to do is try and call Warrior or email them these questions and they can provide you the most accurate and specific info!

[Law Goalie 147]

0 breaks yields a straight, rigid pad (think Niemi); 2 breaks (above and below knee) gives you fairly traditional vertical flexibility, allowing the top strap to pull the thigh-rise in to close your butterfly when you use a narrower butterfly (for whatever reason, be it relatively inflexibility or situational selection); 1 break (below the knee) is a fairly recent compromise that allows some flexibility but remains essentially rigid: a narrower butterfly with a single knee-break will have pads that play like Giguere's, with the thighs open like barn doors. Pete Smith recommends 2 breaks with the SP6000/Ritual design.

The only difference between the SE and Pro blockers is that the Pro has an external binding on the board and the SE doesn't. Axx is bang on about the advantages in paddle-down of a toe-curved board, but you do run the risk of taking a puck in the fingertips; still, Warrior's finger protection is brilliant. IIIRC, the gusset height refers to the thickness of your palm: a thin hand likes a thinner gusset, a big meaty hand likes a wider one. The palm materials have all been discussed at length in innumerable threads dealing with player gloves, but I'd ask about the incredibly thin, bright orange 'test Clarino.' I don't know if it's actually Marubeni-brand Clarino, or whether 'clarino' was being used generically, but it's amazing stuff.

The SE glove has a break, thumb-angle and general feel closer to a Vaughn T5500: a very natural, baseball-glove-like feel. The Pro is more like a Lefebvre-style Koho/Reebok glove. The construction of the cuff is entirely cosmetic. Skate-lace or 3mm nylon cord is pure preference: some like the softer impact of skate-lace, I like a stiffer pocket. The cuff-wedge is exactly that: a wedge of foam in the cuff of the glove that supports your wrist (softly or firmly) to hold it open towards the puck/shooter. If you prefer to hold your glove in a handshake position, fingers forward and palm pointing across the body (usually with your elbow glued to your ribs), as per the Allaire Bros., you may not like a cuff wedge; if you like to open your glove towards the puck and hold it there, you'll love it. The internal materials are the same deal as the blocker palm; the external materials simply give you the option of having the Jenpro exterior continue across the palm uninterrupted, or to replace it with a chamois patch, which some generically (and imprecisely) call a "Nash palm." The theory is that using a softer, suedey material in the palm makes the puck 'stick' better if you don't catch it cleanly; personally, all I see it doing is wearing down faster as it gets covered in rubber-burns.

That aside, definitely just ask Warrior: their customer service is awesome, and the goalie division is working double-time to bring some very strong and unorthodox product to market.