Old Goalie same game!

[ColoSpurs 0]

i am an old Goalie starting again after taking 10 years off to do Rodeo full time but an injury forced me to retire from Rodeo so here i am back in the crease and i couldnt be happier!!! some things i have noticed is that Butterfly is in and Hybrid is not even though i still play Hybrid! but i have noticed that players get a little confused at times when i do and some of the other Goalies are scratching their head trying to figure out how i made a save with my leg over my head or i stack the pads just to confuse them! but i still play with my old Eagle Pads and have fun! i have a new stick but i prefer to play with my old "battleax" of a CCM stick and my old CCM Pro Goal Skates still have a lot of blade left on them! i guess my biggest question is why do i keep getting suggestions from novice players on how i should get rid of my "old school" pads and get on the "butterfly train" and get a bigger C/A protector. now here are my stats, i am 6'0" tall, i have a 46 inch Barrel chest and a 33" waist and weigh 200 pounds so covering the net is no problem, not only that but i retired from Rodeo as a Pro Rodeo Bullfighter so i have decent reflexes and i dont mind getting hit with a little puck after playing chicken with a 2000 pound train with Shishcabob skewers looking for something to put on them! so should i stick with what i know or try something new?

[Gummer12 134]

If it's not broke, don't fix it.

[miss0033 0]

I, Like you, took 11 years off of playing and am now getting back into playing goal. I skated in 2 practices this year and notice one thing right away, most of my protective equipment was pretty broken down and didnt protect. I got several bruises under the shoulder floaters of my 13 year old BROWN chest pad, I got a bad stinger on my thigh, and my cup just worries me. I immediately went out and bought new shoulder pads, pants and a cup. After 2 games I feel much better. However I have been warned by the league that my equipment is all too large. I have the original Velocity leg pads and Bauer Reactor 6 gloves (the goofy curved ones from back in the day, haha). So I am being asked to replace all of that.

I just cannot afford it and the pads still have a couple years in them. The gloves are shot, but PRO level and still offer more protection than the basic, entry level gloves from most suppliers. I went to the store to try on the One70 glove and blocker. While they seem fine, the palm of the glove is paper thin... And most pads are WAY out of my price range. Especially considering mine still protect, block the puck, and look just fine - other than being 12" wide. As much as I would love new pads, I just cannot afford them. It is just Men's League but they are mandating I follow USA Hockey rules. So I am going to save up and replace piece by piece for 3 years, we are just in-eligible for playoffs until my equipment complies.

If you arent being forced to switch equipment I would stay with what you have as long as it protects. My shoulder pads had gotten so bad I felt nearly every shot and got a couple bad bruises. 1 particularly bad one near my lower ribs. The gear was left in the bag in my basement which gets humid some times and I am sure some moisture broke down all the foam.

So I would echo what Gummer said. It it aint broke, dont replace it if you dont have to. Also, if you do need to replace, you shouldnt need the PRO level gear if you are just playing Men's league unless it is with ex D-1 or Pro level players. I got a $240 chest pad that protects me just fine, the $500 ones wouldve been overkill.

[wrangler 157]

How can you be any good if you don't play like everyone else, and use the equipment that everyone else uses?

What Joel said.

[ColoSpurs 0]

thanks Miss0033 and i can see what you are saying. my Equipment is all Pro Return Equipment and i replaced my Pants mostly because back then it was in Fashion to wear oversized pants and jersey but i still play with a pair of eagle 12"(thanks to the Dallas Stars) from 2003-2004 season and they are still brand new! the Monkeysuit is an old Vaughn with some modifications and i wear old pro Vaughn blocker and trapper but i havent had the refs challenge me on my equipment (less strict league) that and a lot of the players are ex-NHLers and Farm League boys (and Girls) and still have shots that are killers so they figure that if it was pro Quality then it is good! never the less i looked for a good set of 11" Hybrid Pads but unless i Special order them and spend the rent on them then it is just not worth it! and thanks for your advice Gummer and Wrangler i still think that a Hybrid Goalie is more fun to play anyway!

[Law Goalie 147]

^^ I'll third-wheel the above answers, generally, on 'do whatever you like'.

The only argument I would make for working toward (read: buying appropriate gear and paying for quality lessons) modern butterfly techniques is longevity. Playing a calm, controlled butterfly-driven game can be (done properly) way, way easier on the body than an 'old-school' kick-save and split approach. Given that your body has already taken a pounding, you may find, over time, that this technical approach can keep you playing the game longer and more frequently. Even so, it requires a relatively large commitment of time and/or money to get into, and if you won't enjoy it, there's little point.

For me, moving from total noose-around-the-crossbar standup into a heavily butterfly-driven game has been, more than anything else, an interesting physical challenge. It's a totally different way of thinking about the position, but it's also a really neat way of making the body work.

I would suggest that 'hybrid' is kind of a meaningless term. What exactly is being bred together-- 'The Butterfly' (whatever that means) and 'anything before The Butterfly'? There are videos of goalies in the *first* Lake Placid Olympics using butterfly saves and backside recovery techniques; the only thing they aren't doing is sliding quite so easily. Apart from extremely robotic, programmatic goalies (Giguere) and genuinely original ones (Benedict, Hall, Tretiak, Hasek), goalies don't generally have meaningful 'styles'. Even Brodeur is really just a magpie: he'll learn and try anything. I'm increasingly convinced that the idea of the 'butterfly style' was just something cooked up by marketing teams and self-promoting coaches. Witness, for instance, the ridiculous jargon of so many 'professional' goalie coaches...

The only piece of equipment you haven't mentioned yet is your mask... If you haven't played in a long time, you may at least need to get it re-padded, if the shell is still intact.

I'd also strongly suggest checking out the newer skates. They are astonishingly light (and at the end of the leg's lever, that makes a difference), but more importantly, the shorter, more aggressively profiled blades and taller, lower-profile cowlings actually *increase* the agility of 'non-butterfly' goalies more than 'butterfly' goalies; Brodeur jumped into them in a hot second and never looked back. They are an across-the-board win for goalies over older designs.

[ColoSpurs 0]

Thanks LawGoalie for the Advice! my helmet is a full Kevlar and doesnt have a nick on it! my other is an Itech 961 and both have non-certified cat eye cages (i also have to wear glasses since my eyesight is bad but i wear sports Glasses), i do have an Itech Profile but to me it is flimsy and is also like wearing a heater on my head and i cant breathe in it! i did re-pad the liners in my helmets with mil-spec concussion absorbing foam made for tankers and after a couple of ringers it works as advertised! as for the skates i am leaning toward Graf Ultra G7500 and saving up money for some new ones but the Ranch and livestock comes before new Hockey equipment. my pads were Ron Tugnutts pads and since i play pretty close to his style i figured that they would fit my playing style also!

[Gummer12 134]

These??

[Law Goalie 147]

Tuggerrrrrrrr... sweet.

[ColoSpurs 0]

These??

Yup... Those are my Pads!!! i Bought two pair for $1400 back in 2005.