Hockey Equipment Notes: Reebok Creates New Goalie Cushion

Reebok Introduces New Goalie Pads

Reebok’s The Hockey Co. has created the Xpulse 10.0 Goalie Blocker, a $299 cushion “designed to deflect high-velocity shots.” The item, worn on the stick hand, is “meant to serve the needs of today’s more limber goalies.” It hits retail this month, although NHL players, including Devils G Martin Brodeur, “have been wearing it since November” (Brendan Koerner, N.Y. TIMES, 1/7).

HONEYCOMB HIDEOUT: Cascade Lacrosse has a new helmet that “increases protection in both hockey and lacrosse.” In tests, it “reduces the shock sustained by the brain by 40% or more, compared with current helmets.” Instead of standard plastic foam, the helmet has a “honeycomb-like material under the shell” that distributes impact “over a wider area” (John Carey, BUSINESSWEEK, 1/15 issue).

TRIBUTE: Artist David Arrigo has designed a military-themed goalie mask inspired by the October death of Canadian solider Mark Wilson in Afghanistan. Arrigo and NHL photographer Dave Sandford, Wilson’s cousin, are “talking to at least one goalie about wearing the mask” during either the NHL All-Star Skills Competition or the All-Star Game. The two have photographed the CBC’s Don Cherry with the mask, and were scheduled to shoot Penguins C Sidney Crosby with it as well. The pictures will be posted at NHL.com and on Arrigo’s Web site, davidarrigo.com (TORONTO SUN, 1/8).