The spring season ended without a championship for any of my teams but playoffs were fun and the summer season has already started.
I've been tracking my 2019 games and passed 100 in early July with just over half of those in net. The GAA and Save % stats are taking a beating but I'll save the summary for the end of the year. I think I'll get close to 200 total games if I stay injury free.
Oh ya, I got all new goalie gear! My vehicle was stolen in June and inside were my pads and sticks (Big Oooof) while the rest of my gear was inside my garage. RIP those beautiful all-red CCM Retroflex pads. I've given up hope of ever seeing them again.
I made a trip to Goalie Monkey in Allen, Texas and was helped through the process of buying my first ever all-new set by Chris Dudo and Sam Solomon. After a few hours and trying a bunch of brands and models, I decided to pull the trigger on the CCM Koho Revolution 599 with matching glove and blocker and got a sweet deal. You can read more about them here and here.
I've played a handful of times with the new set at the time of this post and I can say I am in love with the strapping system the reduced weight and the seal on the ice. I've had several fellow goalies tell me I look more mobile and quick wearing this setup.
To go along with my new gear, I received my GGSU raffle prize from Ray at New Image Goalie Masks– a custom made Shark 954 Classic Pro.
I've been using my CCM 9000 for about three years and moving into this Shark was amazing. The fit is perfect and I've already taken a few clappers to the face without any vibration or ringing. Can't say enough about how much I like this mask so far. Thank you Ray for the great prize!
Finally I ordered some new sticks from Jonathan Ayla at Lonestar Hockey– who is a good friend to me the DFW hockey community. He has a good selection of player sticks and I've grown to love his goalie sticks after saying goodbye to the last of my Sherwood T-120s. Hit him up if you are local.
So will all this new gear thrust my game to new heights of beer league excellence? So far I'm 1-3 with a GAA north of 6 in them but I'm quick to say that a carpenter never blames his tools. I love this new gear and a huge thanks to everyone who helped me along the way.