Youth goalie pads

[Steve86]

New dad to 7 yr old that wants to try goalie. He just started this year, and they have let him play a couple times in just his regular hockey gear and has done great so they told us if he wants to play more he needs goalie leg pads to start. Not a great selection of used stuff around here and local shop has limited stock on hand. I ended up ordering a set of bauer prodigy 2 pads from inline warehouse for 112 bucks. I figured if nothing else I can just keep trying different pads this way with their return policy. Idealy I would like to go into a shop and have him try out 3-4 different brands to see what pads are most comfortable to him. I mean how do you know what pads are going to be best unless you take them out on the ice and see how they feel?? Its like they need to have a demo set in each brand to try out on the ice. Anyway these seem ok but hes having trouble dropping into the butterfly position, he kinda falls back when he brings them both together. will the feel just come with time or is it a equiptment limitation? Also does he need knee pads in addition to the leg pads, sees like double coverage?? Thanks for any help.

Click to read more...

 

[SaintMorose]

Grain of salt these are from my experience.

-One Suggestion for trying more types of gear is talk to some of the local rinks sometimes they let you rent equipment and you might be able to try out different fitting gear (though this can be hit or miss depending on the rink just never hurts to ask).

-If you go to a shop at least you can get good size measurements and try on how different brands feel, go up and down and make sure the rotation works in store.

-Butterfly is a new type of balancing that takes getting used to so practice, practice, and possibly hockey camp (if he's wanting to play even more hockey) will get that to where it needs to be best to make a game out of it sliding across in butterfly, the limitations you see more with pads are clipping into each other as you skate (too tall for the stride) or not having the right rotation when you drop into butterfly/halfbutterfly/stand-back-up

-Knee guards are good, depending on the pad some will have a protective piece behind the pads that straps onto your thigh (looks like a horizontal flap cant be seen from front of pad, or might look like a thick knee brace) and that will be fine at most minor hockey levels, I know many older guys get a decent knee protector at adult levels mostly because you don't want to hit the ice at an odd angle and take a shot inside the thigh rise to the knee; I just use the pad's kneebrace-style guard for beer league (again assuming it comes with one).

-The other piece of equipment that's kinda like knee guards and can be hit/miss for if you see them used are the neck protectors that dangle from masks. You for sure need a good throat guard to go underneath the chestie and come up to protect the neck (this protects from sticks and skates really well and a bit from pucks) and at minor league levels I would also double up and get the neck guard that attaches to masks as it does a lot to take the edge off pucks coming at the neck area and when you are learning the position and other kids are being dumb and firing shots at a goalie facing the wrong way that might come in handy.

 

[Steve86]

Thanks for your advice, I will definitely use it.

 

[I am toxic]

Previous thread (with same title).

Mods could merge.

The Prodigy have the thigh guard. ohsix now supplements with knee pads as he has taken some nasty hits on the knee that get past the thigh guard. Bauer makes a set that works well for ohsix.

Regarding falling back, may be torso strength. Consider exercises doing "perfect plank".

Finally, most associations have goalie pads for the young goalies, ask the equipment manager if you can borrow the different sets and try them out on the ice. This can be done in the off-season when the pads have been returned for storage.

 

[Steve86]

Thanks I had read that thread, thanks for all the input. I am finding that I had his pads too tight and they were not rotating properly as well but he has found he likes the Vaughn V6 pads with the knee rolls, the softer pads seem to be more comfortable for him for now anyway. The butterfly pads he said they felt like boards on his legs.

 

[Sinistril]

If he's falling back, it's probably a balance issue imo, and I can almost guarantee it's because you have him in player skates not goalie skates. As said above, it could also be core strength.

Most of the top straps should be loose. For me, even my bottom 2 straps aren't overly tight, just a bit tighter than the top straps. If I have not attached the velcro/don't have pants/skates on, I can slip my legs out of my pads without much problem.

edit: just saw he was falling back while down? That could also be a pad tightness issue. If the pads were too tight and he's trying to bring his knees together in butterfly of course he'd fall back. That is an unnatural position for the knees to be in unless you're Dominik Hasek and have some seriously messed up joints. You need pad rotation.

And instead of trying to scam a store using their return policy for pads, just buy used off an auction site or a local buy/sell site. It should be easy to get cheap used pads that will be broken in and when you are done with them you can just sell them on the same site for a similar amount. Sometimes you may take a hit, but you may even profit if the market is right.