The single, biggest innovation in hockey equipment was the addition of foam and plastics. My first pair of goalie pads were entirely leather, felt and horse hair. They weighed a ton. Goalie pads today are so incredibly light and can attach to your legs so securely that you could never play in the NHL with a pair of 1960s goalie pads.

Regarding the "Two Blockers" and Dan Blackburn, the non-stick holding glove was dubbed a "glocker" on the old GSBB. Look close and you'll see the webbing of a catch glove on that hand. This is because Vaughn essentially added a blocker board to a catch glove. This allowed Dan to have the ability to safely cover a puck as if he was wearing a glove.

Trevor Lahey 😂 I bet he watches trailer park boys

Fascinating video. Just bonkers how these guys fiddled with designs to make their play more effective. The adjustments to make the goalie look monstrous were so cool. Resourceful guys. :)

I consider myself a big hockey fan and I learned a lot watching this. Extremely well done and I'm going to check out your other content. Cheers!

Thank you. I enjoyed reliving my 80's and 90's.. Great content.

You could have included the Heaton puck foils that had an incredibly short life in the NHL; there was also the Brian's Ridge pant that had oversized blocks on the sides that flared out to provide extra coverage when the goalie crouched into their stance.

The equipment I used in the 60s 70s were primitive heavy wool.arm and shoulder protection not good.I took the shoulder caps off a catchers chest protecter,and sewed it onto the shoulder area of my chest protecter.I cut the material off the catchers chest protecter and sewed it on the sides of my goalie chest protecter to protect my ribs,also sewed a mesh net between the crouch of my goalie pants Esposito did this.Finally in the 80s,Brown,Vaughn,and others started to make a lot lighter and a hell of a lot more protective gear.Remember back in the days you were getting crashed in the net.Got injured several times,but that was the nature of the beast.What a great sport!Thomas A. Filipiak

A very well-done video. it was fun to look back on some of the changes goaltending equipment went through. I learned a few things. I have never seen the two blocker set-up that Dan Blackburne used. That was fun to see, imagine attempting to play pro like that. I only ever played rec hockey but I loved trying the latest fancy equipment ideas. I used the Curtis curve for years. I believe the idea was first conceived to line the heel of the stick up with the shaft of the stick to feel more like a forward's stick when you were shooting the puck. With the bend just above the paddle, the poke check took some redevelopment. Unlike the typical goal stick when using the paddle down technique the flat lay down of the top half of the stick above the blocker presented over 5 feet of stick right along the ice that most pucks did not get under. The bend at the top of the stick was beneficial for picking up a dropped stick. , but in the paddle-down position, that same hook at the top end of the stick kept a lot of pucks in front of you. For a time I had the GM-LGDC. It was a great glove. To add to your comments, the rollover design along the top of the cheater stopped a lot of pucks from hitting the cheater and still getting by. THE PROBLEM WAS IT WAS DEEMED ILLEGAL. The glove was so big and obvious that you were accused of cheating every game, so you stopped bringing it out. I also used the angled blocker that stuck out away from your body and therefore covered even more net. I also was pleased to discover the power blades. They stopped the pad from picking your blade off the ice. The BIG shirt had many advantages. But it was what was hidden under the shirts that was the real cheating. I understand that for a time with the Avalanche under Pat Roy's very large shirt he inserted "wings," extra padding attached to his gut pad (body armour )that stuck out and helped fill the holes between the belly and the arms. Earlier than most of these innovations D&R developed a knee pad that went under the paint and protected the very venerable thigh and knee area between your pads and your goal paints. I went through a few sets of these and then they went off the market for a while. When I finally found another set my old set were covered in tape repairs. This was effective safety wear. Thanks for collecting some very good footage and photos to illustrate some of the odd and not so obvious goaltending equipment developments.

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼well done my friend!! That was excellent, very informative and on point!

In one interview, Dominik Hasek talked about having used cylinders made of hard foam which he had attached to the side of his arms. It used to be legal until some point. He admitted that this had helped him to make the save on Ray Bourque during the shootout against Canada in Nagano.

Thanks for this educational and highly entertaining video. It was put together very well and I quite enjoyed it. Now I need to check out what else you have on your channel.

Enjoyed this video very much, Thank you. 62 years old and still playing. Yes I am a human target. :)

Very Good video. One thing I didn't see mentioned was the improvement to the goalie cup. Sure made me a better goalie. Back in the 60's arm guards and chest protectors were separate pieces. Your arms would get beat up and there were gaps around the shoulders. Most goalies preferred to catch pucks rather then take them with the body. With the better goalie cups going down and stopping with the body became the better way to provide coverage. This helped to create the butterfly style that we see today.

I had overdrives back in the day and it really did provide an advantage. Fast forward to today and now I’m trying to shake a bad habit (because of the overdrives) of only power pushing from the toe versus full blade.

Nice. That VIC GM506 was my first goalie glove!!!

Fluery was struggling and the year before they beat Ottawa in the playoffs he was sent to a Sports Physiologist in Ottawa (of all places). She suggested the change, and things slowly started to get better from there. He still sees that person to this day.

Great video. Had to subscribe!

I live in Florida, I dont watch hockey and Ive never played hockey, but your videos are super interesting. Keep it up.

I do hope the Goalie Mask video comes out and I hope my old friend Michel Dion is a feature! Great video as always!

The overdrive blades wreaked my knee. Went to push to one side and the blade stayed in its position while I was sliding back the other way. Was out for the season. And took those blades off.

I still have a Curtis Curve stick (I'm not playing anymore) and it sure did help me a lot to shoot the puck. The curve at the end of the stick made a huge difference when I was shooting the puck. As for the stick itself being curved, it was nice to know that, when I put the stick along the ice, nobody could score because there was no room for the puck to go from the heel of the stick to the other end of it. The few years I played with it, it saved me a goal, or maybe two, that's it. Not a huge thing (It was very cool though). I stopped using it because composite stick were much lighter.

I used the Curtis curve stick for most of my youth hockey (specifically the exact eagle brand one shown). During that time, goalie coaches were teaches the paddle down technique. I personally found the curvature to be extremely beneficial for the paddle down technique but I stopped using the Curtis curve when I started playing high school hockey as that was the “stay tall in the butterfly” era and we no longer did paddle down.

I've used a majority of these... Step steel, OD blades, cheater, "oversized pads". Funnily enough my pads I got after the rule changes were actually larger than the ones I had in the 00's. Going from 12" wide to 11" wide made pads much more maneuverable and the outlawing of the thighboards (which could have made your list) made the ability and the need for taller pads. I never had a Curtis curve, but I always wanted the top curve part. I even went as far as bending my own wooden stick to match that style. Of course you can't really make your own bends in modern composite sticks. I love sweep checking skaters trying to wrap around, the top curve allowed the stick to be flush to the ice on its side because it raised the knob off the ice (from my memory the whole point of the Curtis curve was to have a flush to the ice stick, I don't remember anything about changing the grip for the glove). You might have a point though, they started to disappear around the same time the "Turco grip" became the standard way to play the puck. Using your glove over hand instead of under on the stick.

Love this Video so much You definitely earned my subscription

Those curtis curve sticks will always be my favorite. Loved those things.

Shout out to Dan Blackburn, i played against him in baseball when we were younger. Dude was stellar at baseball and it'd too bad what happened to him with the injury. Canmore had the nicest diamond to play on by far.

Re: Garth Snow.....Every time a goalie is playing really well the puck just seems to hit them, and they don't have to make many crazy saves. That's because when an elite goalie is at the top of his game, he's always in position to make the save, and when he's in the right position, the save usually looks routine.

Louisville had a trigger grip on the paddle of their goal sticks in the late 80’s. I tried them a couple times, but they tended to foul up my poke check so I didn’t stick with them. I still miss playing with a Hrudey pattern Vic goal stick though. My favourite stick of all time lol

Over drive is banned in many lower level hockey associations and leagues due to advantage and safety. Also for the Cheater, it was discovered that having a reinforced section along the medial wrist actually helped prevent wrist injuries by dispersing the force of the impact and to help keep the glove from twisting when the puck hits the pocket.

Tkzz for sharing.,.,peace

Jean Sébastien guigere was a a master in using extremely oversized gear

Thanks, interesting stuff.

I love the vintage gear when I was a kid the library had vintage hockey books on how to play goalie I wore those books out. I was mesmerized

Awesome video!!

6:53 I believe that these additional goalie blades would help reduce the number of groin, knee, and other injuries we often see in goalies from push-offs that caused injury. I'm sometimes (okay, quite often) left scratching my head at decisions made by the NHL. Okay, perhaps it's an advantage, but if it's available to all goalies, then all goalies will have the same advantage, if they so choose. Most (if not all) goalies take advantage of other "advantages", like the max size of the goalie pads, or catching mitt, etc.

Overdrive blades are legit. They’re illegal in a lot of leagues, but for guys with hip or knee issues, they’re life changing. They’re also valid in helping build into getting your main blade to bite, or as a backup if you miss your blade in a scrum. When I used them, I’d always try to get some of my main blade to hit and the overdrive. One thing that’s kinda near for goalies.. roller fly. I moved to Hawaii for a while where ice hockey wasn’t so great. There’s a really nice roller facility out west in Oahu. There’s a guy named Io who plays jet out there, him and his buddy designed and we’re behind the invention of the roller fly. Thing makes roller a little more like ice for goalies. Much easier on the knees! Guys going from ice to roller who will drop and try to slide laterally.. your legs stick and can wreck your knees. But roller fly lets you slide a little I liked the trigger finger paddle too! One more tie in to that.. I learned this from Garret Sparks in the GGSU days.. I’d save my teammates fancy broken sticks and I would re shaft some cracked goalie sticks. I had this passau I reshafted with a fancy flex stick. Thing so soooooo nice for smooth sauceys up the ice. That extra little “umph” from the flex just make it so effortless

Kudos for this video from across the Atlantic! Very interesting overview of the development of the equipment. A little joke: now I know that not only the goalkeeper masks of the 60s and 70s could scare little children. The gloves at 01:53 look like something out of a 30s horror movie 🙂

I had a Curtis Curve stick. It took a while to get used to, but I ended up really liking it.

I do miss the form fitting stuff, not for what it physically was, but for the variation of goalie styles it brought with it. Even when equipment got bigger, much of that style still stuck around for some time. But as goalie pads became more and more specially designed to increase the effectiveness of the butterfly style, it became disadvantageous to play any other style, which is why, largely, we don’t see much variation anymore. And why I personally don’t really watch hockey anymore. :’)

the curtis curve was sick i had one back in the day, but you couldnt snap out a poke check as swiftly as a straight shaft, the little curve at the knob was cool for a dropped stick though

Hockey is full of odd gear ideas from small companies or individuals that just didn't take off. Here are a few more that could be fun investigating!: 1. The Onezee Goalie mask 2. The "Kozac" Cut Goalie stick 3. Sever Goaltending and the replaceable pad face 4. Vaughn's inner pad nylon cuts ala Vaughn V2

Loved the pads with the net on the pad

dang, I used the curtis curve stick throughout highschool hockey and into college int he early 2000's. I fucking loved that thing, still have quite a few of them in the basement. I was able to play the puck much better and when poke checking felt better for me and made it easy to get back into the normal grip/stance.

Great video.

I’m glad you mentioned two NY islanders, Chico and Garth Snow, Billy smith was my favorite. You should of mentioned Ron Hexstal

Great documentary

Great 'stuff'.....just subbed.

Surprised the angled blockers like the Vaughn Vision of the mid 90's and I think Brown had one as well, aren't included. Also there were pads that had an illusion design to confuse shooters.

Great vid. Tony O had at one time a puce of netting sewn to the inner area of the thigh of his goal pants. Would catch shots that mighr have gobd 5 hole. 😊

that bit about garth snow was pure comedy lmao

Curiously enough i just tried playing a pick up hockey game with two blockers, weird at first but not that far out. I didn't got scored on the glove side. One thing I did noticed was that when trying to get up after a save where I kinda two pad stack slided I wasn't able to support my self with the left hand blocker to get up it was a way to weird of a feeling! but I'm not goin to do that again. Maybe switch sides all over.

Fun vid man! thanks. I remember the birth of the cheater glove

I like that the older equipment made it so that butterfly style isn't overpowered like it is now.

great video.the only thing you could of added was billy smith being first tp wear colored goalie pads starting in mid 1970s

For some time, many goalies were taking advantage of the grey zones in the rules. Rules have been updated to fit the evolution of the modern gear.

I have a set of those stomps with the netting. Sadly they’re a little small on me now but I’m never getting rid of them lol.

I forget but wasn't there a plastic insert that goalie would use that dropped down from the base of their pads around the toe cap area that prevented puck from sneaking under them?

When Terry Sawchuck first started out, he used goalie pads made from a mattress that originally belonged to his older brother, who died from a heart attack at the age of nineteen.

Probably could have added Patrick Roy's bat wing jerseys, or Tony Esposito's 5 hole web on his pants. Actually found an old Cooper Legends full right glove on ebay a couple years ago, but got sniped at the last minute. Would have loved to seen the reaction of the shooters who already freak out about me being backwards, if I was wearing that bushel basket on the "wrong" hand.

very entertaining

I had a ginormous cheater back in the day. When I got my new "Compliant" trapper, I realized that the cheater was only useful if you tightened your trapper to "near blood circulation stopping." At the same time I was using the cheater, I was using straight 33 inch pads (no +1, 2... I am 6 foot tall). I went to a 32 +1 and now I have 36 +2 pads. So, I kind of went one way on one aspect, and the complete opposite on another. I have standard skates, chesty, and pants.

First the chest protector, then the 47 inch pads!? That man is crazy! 😂😂

Loved the cartoon I saw (looooong time ago) with the refs, a guy with Long Johns on and a coach standing around the goal, with rule book in hand. It looked like a goalie was positioned in front of the net. And the caption read "But he has to be IN the equipment."

Lol....Snowy!!! Damn league...always changing the rulebook because of my Flyers lol. The rulebook like trippled in pages after the Flyers cup wins in the 70s lol. Always gotta be keeping Philly down....lol.

Still waiting on the mask video been two months and I love your count down vids !

I went to a goalie camp where the coach would always tell the same story about JS Giguere using a steel rod attached to his pants to lift his chest protector like those weird fan lizards when he went down for a save.

13:26 I ALWAYS think of Lu's Flordia pads when I think of oversized G pads lol

Wasn't there a Goalie stick that kinda was like an inverted "Slanted T" ?? In addition to the main blade that is like a regular hockey blade... there was a 3 inch or so section ...going in the opposite direction... However, the down side was that U couldn't put the paddle down/flat to the ice (Not sure if my wording conveys what it was... without drawing a picture... ) Anybody know/confirm...??

Leg pads used to be a lot heavier back in the day. They really slowed a goalie's ability to move quickly.

Garth snows chest protector was a lacrosse goalie chest that’s why he was huge

That kenesky retro glove with the cheater looks awesome.

Snow wore a box lacrosse chest protector. As they are stand up in that game, the upper body has more bulk/padding in the chest and arms than found in hockey. I did notice an image of Brown brand gear. For the non regulated who are willing to pay for it, they are better than most in making custom gear that's padded as to how you want it. The owner is also a goalie himself which is helpful. Some of the Canadian labels also sell box (indoor) lacrosse goalie gear as well as the hockey gear, should you decide you wish to play box, which is growing in the US and internationally.

I would have loved those overdrive blades I also wore a 5x jersey when I needed maybe a 1x at most gave me "wings" under my arms

I know the knob on Hasek's stick was different. Instead of being centred on his stick like everyone else, it was to one side so that when he dropped his stick which he did alot it was much easier to pick up. I tried that and used it for the rest of my career

I remember those stomp pads coming out when i was in high school and i wanted them so bad lol

The guys on TNT just talked about this . Goalie stick and how holding actually opens opens up the high corners .

My fave will always be my Jofa 262 ( Irbe style ) and 387 cages.

Does anyone remember the hockey episode of George Shrinks. The goalie in that wore a blocker on her catching hand and a normal hockey glove on her stick hand.

So the netting pattern thing is against the rules in modern hockey Rule 11.1 prohibits Goalies from using "any contrivance which would give him undue assistance in keeping goal".

Man.... those step steel blades would have been a total game changer. I was a little week going right to left. I had a strong glove but still.

3:02 I'm not falling for that one Ricky

I'll never forget when I first saw a goalie in my garage league wear that Cooper trapper in the early 90s with the 3 different netting areas! I was like "How is this even a thing?".

Ambidexterous is the word you were looking for, for the person that has both arms as good in motor functions so they aren't right or left handed.

When I was a goalie I wore an XXL sweater which helped stop shots when I stretched my arms out.

I read somewhere that some goalies have jerseys that have extra material in the armpits (upper arm to chest) to help stop shots.

I had that gray VIC Curtis Curve.

Is there a reason Brodeur isn't mentioned or seen once here?

I live in Buffalo NY. At a Sabres game Garth Snow had added padding in his shoulders and the referees made him take them out. Garth Snow was such a sneak.

i love you man

Interesting and informative but most goalies did the adjustments on their own until the NHL stepped in made a new rule. Eg Belfour had the largest blocker and glove for a time until that was ruled on.

That photo of Gerry Cheevers. The Great.

i used to have overdrive blades when i played in high school lol

There's a legends of hockey video about Tony Esposito and how he tried everything to win. He'd have his pads measured by the refs pregame and then open them up, stuff them bigger again, and sew them back up. He said he even had a small net for the 5 hole once.

you missed the goalie sticks that have a curve to the paddle so when holding it to the ice it doesn't ramp up the stick when blocking - i believe it was/is? a Bauer stick

There were also "dome shaped" masks worn by Hasek, Osgood, Vernon, etc. They have a unique shape. Not many goalies where these anymore.

I hope when Henrik Lundqvist in inducted in the HoF they include the clip of him throwing a fit tossing the net lmao.

Curtis Curve!!!

The one thing I noticed missing from this video were those little "door" flaps that used to be attached just above the knee in the pads, and were meant to seal off the five-hole when in butterfly. I know they were in style when I was in high school, but that was a long time ago (and probably died around the same time too)

I played goal in the 60s-70s and my equipment was like paper compared to the current stuff.