STX Surgeon Protective - Miserable

[JR Boucicaut 3797]

Open

[Miserable 6]

First off, I would like to thank JR, MSH and STX for allowing me to review the Surgeon 500 shoulder and elbow pads. Living about an hour from Baltimore, it’s nice to be able to support a local hockey company.

Background:

I’m 6’0, 185 pounds so both the shoulders and elbows are Sr. size large. I play at least twice a week but also coach and take my little guy to as many stick and pucks as we can get to so, I’m on the ice several times a week.

Current comparable equipment:

Shoulders – CCM RBZ 130

Elbows – Reebok 8K

Initial Impressions:

Shoulders:

Out of the box I was fairly impressed with the construction of the pads. It was strange not having a hard shoulder cap but the HD foam shoulder caps feel like they will offer solid protection. They do look like a modified lacrosse pad but that’s to be expected and not necessarily a bad thing.

They weigh a touch more than my 130’s but not terribly noticeable once on and definitely lighter than any of my older pads.

As for fit, I absolutely hate wearing shoulder pads, I only wear them due to injuries in both shoulders. I prefer a really low profile pad with a tighter fit in the chest and back area. So far this pad delivers just that. Trying on at home, the shoulder caps sit a touch higher than my 130’s but still these things are really low profile. The chest and back area fit really tight to your body, the stretch mess seems to provide good mobility and the floating chest and back protection did not get in the way at all and moves with you. The bicep guards are adjustable and made of HD foam. My initial thought is they could be a bit more form fitting but a not huge deal. The pad as a whole moved really well, stayed were it should and provided decent mobility.

Some thoughts on the bells and whistles:

The HD foam seems like it will not retain any moisture so I don’t anticipate these pads getting weighed down with sweat. The chest strap retention seems like a good idea, I haven’t really had issues with that strap getting caught on my jersey but I see how that could help. It should also keep the strap secure, that is an issue I’ve encountered as other should pads got long in the tooth and the Velcro started to wear. The bicep sleeve will take some getting used to and I’m a little concerned about that piece stretching out over time and not keeping the bicep pad in place. I also wear short sleeve base layers and I could see it bunching up the sleeves during play. Time will tell on both of those items.

Elbows:

The elbow pads remind me of a beefed up lacrosse elbow pad. As with the shoulders, this is not a bad thing. The interesting thing is how flexible the entire pad is. You can almost scrunch them into a ball if you wanted to. The HD foam cap seems like it would cushion your elbow during a fall and all the beefed up areas feel protected but very flexible.

The weight seems to be pretty close to my 8K’s. The advantage here is that the HD foam should keep them from collecting moisture and getting heavier as the game goes on which does happen with my current set up.

The pads fit pretty close to the arm and the elbow cap is not bulky at all. The sleeve seems to keep the pad from sliding down with the help of the grip print on the mesh liner. The strapping system secures the pads very well and I encountered no movement while messing around with them at home. The pads are very mobile and I felt like I had a full range of motion. The forearm portion is a touch shorter than my 8K’s which is fine with me but I can see where this could cause a gap between the pad and gloves if that is something that matters to anyone. There is also an extra layer of HD foam on the top of the forearm pad which is still very flexible so you don’t lose mobility there but still have the extra protection from slashes.

The sleeve is an interesting concept, I know it works well in lacrosse but not sure how that will translate to hockey. So far it kept the pad from sliding while testing so I see no reason why that would change on the ice. The 360 strap is made of a sweatband like material with a nylon backing so it stretches around the forearm but still allows for material for the Velcro tab to stick to. There is also an indent in the HD foam to recess the strap into the padding so it doesn’t add bulk to that area. The backing on the Velcro tabs of both straps are made of rubber. That always seems to be a point of failure for elbow pads for me so I’m glad that was addressed. Seems like they will hold up to a lot of abuse.

Overall:

I’m really impressed with these offerings from STX so far. The precision fit concept has been executed very well and there doesn’t seem to be any sacrifice in mobility or protection to accomplish this. I’m looking forward to putting them through their paces on the ice.

[Miserable 6]

First Skate:

My first time on the ice with the pads was at a pick-up game with not much contact with players or stray pucks so not much opportunity to test the protection. This review will focus on fit, mobility, and some of my thoughts.

First, some thoughts on fit and integration with the rest of my pads:

There were no gaps, overlaps, or interference between the shoulders and my pants or the shoulders and the elbow pads. Also no issues with the shoulder caps and my cage when I turned my head. There was some space between the forearm pads and my gloves. Not a huge gap and not a concern to me. Something that could easily be remedied by wrist guards if one was so inclined.

Also, no annoying sounds of Velcro getting pulled or snagging my jersey on a part of the shoulder pads while putting my jersey on.

On the ice:

First, I think the best thing I can say about the fit and function of the pads is that I really didn’t notice them while playing. They are slightly heavier then what I was using and I did notice that at first but that was mostly due to playing so long in my other stuff and something I got over very quickly.

Everything seems to fit really well. The pads were tight to my body and stayed exactly where they were the entire 90 minute session. I literally didn’t adjust anything while playing which is a welcome change.

The shoulder pads are as low profile as I thought them to be and I did check myself out in the reflection of the glass during warm ups to confirm. There were no restrictions in mobility what so ever. The pads moved with me at every turn and I had no issues at all as far as fit and movement. They didn’t retain any sweat so there was no extra weight to the pads as the game wore on. I also didn’t get very hot in the pads. I was sweating my ass off from skating but I didn’t feel that the pads were making me warmer in anyway.

The elbows fit really well and also moved with me as I played and caused no issues either. I noticed the lack of bulk as I was playing and sitting on the bench as well. The sleeve seemed to really hold the pads in place and actually holds better as you sweat just as I’ve experienced in lacrosse pads and sort of expected from these. There was no slipping what so ever.

Random Thoughts:

Not sure I’m sold on the bicep guard sleeves. First, I put my elbows on first and can’t do that with these. It was also a bit awkward getting in and out of them. I did snag a couple fitted under armor shirts on the way home last night so that removed my concerns about the sleeve binding up or interfering with my base layer.

The 360 strap on the elbow pads worked fine. It wasn’t an issue getting dressed or out on the ice. I don’t know if it’s better at securing the pads versus a traditional strap but I had no issues with it either.

One strange thing I noticed was the feel of the padding in the elbow pads towards the end of the game. Traditionally by this time, my elbow pads are full of sweat and feel pretty warm. The padding in surgeons actually felt cool all the way through the game. Not sure where the sweat is going but you can tell that it’s not being absorbed into the padding just by how cool they feel while wearing them.

So next up is a game tomorrow night, should get a chance to test the protection a bit there. As for the first skate, I was rather impressed overall with both pads and the way they performed.

[Miserable 6]

Second skate, game time!

I said I thought I’d get a chance to test the protective side and that really proved to be the case.

First, someone noticed them in my bag during the usual pre-game BS so they got passed around the locker room a bit. General consensus was that they looked cool and were really light.

On to the game and protection testing……..

I play forward and like to hang out in front of the net most of the game. Went through the usual elbow throwing, body contact, and stick to the back push from out in front. Made it out of all that unscathed.

Here’s where it gets interesting:

A teammate got into it with someone and ended up getting jumped by a second player. I grabbed the second player and just held him away but mixed it up pretty good while doing so. Also, the other two guys decided to go so I then got hit in the arm and shoulder with a stick and possibly a helmet. During all of this, no issues at all with protection, stick came at me pretty hard and just bounced off.

As if that wasn’t enough. We’re cycling in front of the net and the goalie covers the puck. I hang out for the usual 10 seconds afterwards where everyone stands there and lets go of the other player. Out of nowhere, some DB on the other team cross checks me to the ice at full speed.

I had my back to him so the side of my shoulder pads took the initial shot. Said DB only weighed about a buck forty but he got me good enough to knock me down. I believe the front of the pad right at the strap was where I got hit. Once I got up, I gave the guy a nice shoulder hit on my way to the bench.

End result from this was a small sore spot where I took the stick but not even a bruise. It’s worth noting that I was hit hard enough that my neck was pretty sore the next day from bouncing my head on the ice. I have to give the protection a passing grade based on all of this especially since I still have a bruise on the other side from a lighter cross check in my old pads a couple games back.

As for fit and mobility, nothing new really. Pads stayed in place through all of the normal game time push, pulls, and rough stuff. Still stayed as cool as I was during the pick-up session from the other day.

One thing I picked up from the game was how dry the pads were once I got home. The pick-up game the other day was in the AM before work and I had a happy hour afterwards so unfortunately for my car, the pads sat in the trunk for 12 hours. I got home from tonight’s game about 90 minutes afterwards and even though most of my stuff was still soaked, the surgeon items were pretty much dry. The sleeves on the elbow pads were a little damp but that was about it.

So high marks for my first game with the pads.

[Miserable 6]

Update:

Skated again this morning and no issues at all.

This was a pick-up session so no contact but I did catch a deflected pass in the shoulder cap without any issues.

Pads look as good as they did the day they arrived.

Fit remains snug and form-fitting.

Pads are all staying where they belong even as the session gets to that ugly “I should have jumped off 10 minutes ago” part where you are pretty much drowning in your own sweat.

Still staying relatively cool in the pads.

Still no sign of moisture retention or excel weight as the game wears on..

[Miserable 6]

Update:

Another game last night. We had a short bench and got out to a lead on the team that won the league in the winter so there was a lot of neutral zone play in this game vs. a game where I could camp out in front of the net most of the night.

Nothing really new to report this time around. Got into it against the boards a couple times without any issues but that was about it.

I did have some issues with the sleeve on the shoulder pads last night. Not sure if it got tangled or caught up but it was annoying me on one side for a while. I was finally able to adjust it though. Still not sure I like this feature.

I also ended up catching a puck on each wrist last night. Both were off of deflections. The one on my top hand was as the other team was coming in our zone. The pass in got tipped up near me and I purposely tried to knock it down with my arm. Caught me on top of the wrist/forearm. I feel that this could have been prevented if the pad was a little longer. The second one was if front of the other team’s net, I caught a deflected shot on the bottom wrist. This one got me right above the glove and would have found skin no matter what so can’t blame the pads for that one.

[Miserable 6]

Update:

Played 3 times last week, nothing new to report really.

Pads are still going strong. Had some opportunities to test the protective aspects during play and no issues there. Everything is still staying secure and in place throughout the game. I’m really surprised but I’m having zero issues with movement of the pads. Once they are on and in place, they stay there.

One minor thing this week: I had to grab a couple of new jerseys for a team I’m playing on. My regular shirt size depends on the shirt but I’m mostly a large but sometimes need an XL. For my jerseys, I’ve historically had to go 2XL to get everything on with my pads. Not just for the room in the shoulders but also needed some room on the arms for the elbow pads. I took a shot at an XL this time since it looked like it would fit when I picked one up in the store. Tried everything on at home and XL fits just fine. Same jersey brand and model as I previously had so the bulk is really reduced in these pads compared to my older set up.

[Miserable 6]

Time for another update.

I’ve used the pads exclusively since getting them and in 8 – 10 games since my last update.

So far everything is still going great. Fit is not an issue at all, the pads are staying where they belong throughout each game and protection has been top notch. No signs of wear and tear at all, they still look exactly as they did when I received them.

The best thing I can say about these pads are that previously, I would only wear shoulder pads for league games. I have worn these pads every time I’m on the ice now. I hardly notice that they are on.

I’ve also tried on a couple different bicep guards with these and haven’t really liked any of them so I’m sticking with the ones that came with them and dealing with my dislike of the sleeve.

Only negatives I can find (and I’m really not picking here) are that the neck hole could be just a little bigger, it rubs my head when I take them on and off and that the chest strap tab really isn’t needed and is just an extra step when taking the pads on and off.

[Miserable 6]

Update:

Still using these pads exclusively. I probably have about 30 sessions on them now so they are well broken in. Nothing really new to report at this time. Pads are holding up well and I'm still not having any fitment, pad movement or protection issues.

[Miserable 6]

Update:

Still going strong as far as protection and fit goes. Not having any issues what so ever.

Only new thing to report is that the rubber like 360 logos on the elbow pad straps are starting to wear off. Not an issue for me but did prompt me to look over the rest of the pads and I've found no other wear issues going on.

Also used the elbow pads with a long sleeve winter base layer shirt for the first time and had no issues with the pads moving around over the sleeves.

[Miserable 6]

Still using the shoulder pads exclusively and they are holding up fine. I'm playing 3-4 times a week and still no real issues to report. 

 

Unfortunately, I've run into issues with the elbow pads.

 

I started getting a rash on the inside of my forearms a while back. I initially thought it was just due to dry skin from the cold weather and that the pads needed to be washed.  Washing them didn't really help at all. The only thing that did help was wearing a long sleeve base layer. I have been fine with that but I want to move back to short sleeves since it's getting warmer and the pads slip a little bit with the long sleeve shirts.

 

The last straw for me was the other day. My son asked me to play lacrosse goalie in the yard for a bit so I suited up in my hockey equipment to keep from getting killed. I only had it on for 15 minutes but ended up with the rash really bad again.

 

My doctor thinks that my skin is having a bad reaction to the sleeve portion of the pads. I always spray my stuff with anti-bacterial spray and hang it to dry with a fan blowing on it after every game. I also washed these pads thoroughly twice and put them in the freezer for a day or two just in case something was growing on them. I even tried changing the detergent I was my base layers in just in case. 

 

I've switched back to my old pads and the rash hasn't returned so I'm going to stick with them for now.

 

The pads performed really well, so well that I tried everything I could to get around the rash issue. I just couldn't deal with it anymore.