Vaughn Ion Goalie Pads and Gloves – Charging Ahead? Review

Everything. That's kinda what it that's kinda what it feels

like every time I go into the Hockey Shop Source for Sports. They have the new Vaughn ION. We're gonna give you the pads and gloves today as part of our Gear Segment. And in coming weeks, we will also walk you through the new chest protector for the Vaughn ION as well as new pants that have an extra layer in the front. Basically, a built in, not full cup, but an extra cup protection layer.

I believe we call it the PP protector. At least we did here at InGoal Magazine. So that's coming up. But today, we've got Vaughn ION, which is a continuation of a building off of their SLR line. And you know what that means before we get to the Vaughn Ion.

It means that Vaughn's SLR line, which we were fans of, SLR four, and if they've got any three left, are all on sale massive discounts at the hockeyshop.com right now. And, of course, unlike Bauer and CCM gear, which is restricted in terms of shipping across the border, the Vaughn stuff can cross the line. So the discounts you get, if you're an American customer on those Vaughn SLR four, SLR three past generations, they're massive. Add 30 some odd, 35, 38. I almost cry when I hear it.

Discount based on your American dollar going further up here in Canada. So can't say for sure what happens when it crosses the border in terms of that magical t word tariffs, but you're gonna save some big bucks on the Vaughn previous generation SLR line at the Hockey Shop Source for Sports. Call them if you've got questions or the hockeyshop.com.

Hutch, what do you say about this, Vaughn line?

Gotcha. My eye on Vaughn.

Yeah. There you go. Pads and gloves coming up in our Gear Segment on InGoal Radio, the podcast.

Christmas is over, but not at the Hockey Shop, not for Santa Cam because this is Santa Cam. New gear. New gear in January from Vaughn, and it's something you're gonna wanna keep an eye on. We're gonna ionize this review here pretty quick. Don't even know if to the OG of dad jokes, David Hutchison behind the camera for bringing us the ION.

This is the Vaughn ION. You've seen it in the National Hockey League used by one Calvin Pickard. Ion Select. Ion okay. So Pro Select, actually.

Uh-oh. Oh.

See? See? So there's a lot we don't know about this gear. I'm gonna get Cam to fill us in. All I've all I know is I've seen Calvin Pickard wearing it. Yes. So tell me what is new, what is different.

You can check it out at the Vaughn website. This is available now. They've got it in store at the Hockey Shop Source for Sports. You can custom order it. It's ready to go early in 2026.

So walk me

through it. Okay. Let's start with the pads. Yeah. Okay.

Rigid, rigid construction. Even I would say more so over the previous year's Ventus. Soft boots. Boots. Soft boot.

It's rigid from the Buddha. Yeah. We are quite a bit stiffer. I would go as far as saying this is the stiffest Vaughn pad stock off the wall to date. Well, that stiffness transfers, I noticed it right out of the box too, this is one of their callouts.

They've integrated the knee stack into the face of the pad, so the stiffness continues with, you know, a little or a lot more sort of tie in between the face and the knee. What's that s word we're looking for? Stability. Wow. Yeah.

Wow. That was neat. Look

at us. Look at us.

But yes, quite a bit more stable. Less of that over rotation of the pad, less of that rocker as you're, like, dropping down into the butterfly. Gets you into the ice faster Snap. As Down. What's the other s word we're looking for?

[crosstalk] Slidability. Slidability. What's that material called? Quick Slide. Quick Slide.

[crosstalk] Yeah. Can you even make the sound? It makes on ice. Yeah. It's kinda like a if you're a Brian's guy, it's very similar to Primo.

[crosstalk] I've yet to see if you're explain to me the difference, but it's it slides real good. Yes. Yes. So that maintains we again, we see that return. We have a definite design that's working here.

NHL legal lace as well. Nice little bit of a call out In terms of its contact point too, this is almost like a bit beveled in terms of the Yeah. Noticed that was rounded. Yeah. So less surface area contacting the ice, but still allowing it to give that good seal.

So again, helping to improve that slide a bit more.

Pretty firm. Firm. Yes.

Exactly. So again, stability, slidability. We all got it there. What else? Strapping.

Strapping. Let's see the strapping.

Open it up, Cam. Open it up.

The return of RRC. RRRC strapping from Vaughn. Adjustable, easy to get that nice wraparound. You get the ability to move the strap around a little bit. I can now mount these straps here on the inside if you want a really super tight fit to the pad itself.

Again, that agility to customize the pad even after That's it's arrived as correct. That's nice. It's a nice easy adjustable. It's very deep leg channel. It gets really connected to this pad.

A 100%.

It being a rigid pad. Correct. I like that adjustability. So what I would say The her her feet pad.

I'm doing

Reedy. Reedy.

So no mystery about these pads because we've obviously let the cat out of the bag here. We're okay. Really flat boot. Very flat boot construction, so that still continues with the Vaughn sizing that we know and love now. So same VX1.

[crosstalk] ION, we're going have a similar sizing. It's going fit a little taller than older. That's correct. That's why you do see thirty one inches as a stock senior sizing now as well. Wow.

Yeah. Thirty one point two, thirty two point two up from there. Stiff pad, I would say your more flexible guys are going to benefit a little bit more from something like this to be able to really get that flare out to that pad. If have a very, very narrow butterfly, you are going to experience a little bit more of that, I would say, openness. Can you custom order it with more breaks above the thigh rise to help close that?

So with Vaughn being a custom company, yes, you can help. So if you need a little bit more flexibility up to the top, that is a possibility. But again, I wouldn't try to mess with a pad that's designed to be stiff too, too much by trying to make it softer. So again, those are kind of what we're kind of specifically looking for in terms of that fit. They thinned out by their standards, the top edge?

Yes. Little bit thinner in terms of its overall profile. I would still say one of the thicker ones up top versus

to some other, but that's that's where they get a lot of their rigidity from. Correct. Okay. Plus I do wanna ask about Pro Select and the different models, but first, let's go into the gloves. Yes.

[crosstalk] Because I've got I've got what do I have? I have the 70? You have a 70. They call it the 70. Feels like it closes much like a five eighty.

They're really comfortable that five eighty kind of style of closure. That's correct.

Have the

Pulling my fingers into the 60. Thumb, base of the thumb. In my hand. So more of that five ninety style in particular. So you get those two options.

Stock off the wall. Double tee, they've gone back from they used to have the single tee in the SLR four. They switched back to their double tee. Skate lace? Skate lace stock.

Nice wide open pocket. Shock shield in terms of for the palm padding. So this has been quite a bit better since jeez, when did they come up with it? I think it was like B10, I think it was. Just a better way for that impact padding.

This is still a game ready glove, but still feels quite thick on the hand. Good overall protection right off the bat. Strapping on the back. Very traditional esque, very Vaughn esque. Not too big of, like, changes to be expected here.

[crosstalk] Again, something that's It works. Breathable. It works. Not too much more to say about that. Four fingers with a pinky loop to separate those two.

[crosstalk] Correct. You've got some adjustability on the top in terms of being able to tighten it and loosen it and really crank it down over the fingers if you want that to prevent slip out and the same adjustability over the

back of the hand to be able to lock it in. It's a it's a this one in particular is a really just right out of the box.

Both of these are right

out the Literally, we just took

them out of the box. And they're they've got great closure to them right off the bat.

So It feels good on the hand as well.

Exactly. Minimal break in time probably required for these Feels like that. The break on that, like, is it feels a little thicker, like you're closing around it compared to this one? Yes. I mean, a thick print, but at least you know that there's padding there so it's not like it's something taken out to be able to get that closure.

Right? Okay.

So now

Blocker. The blocker? He's a she's a beefy boy. She you have beef? He's a beefy boy.

17 millimeters. Seven. Of HD Foam in there. Carbon layering on the front. Active rebound.

[crosstalk] Rigid blocker but you are gonna get Ica pads rebound positive I believe is the nomenclature rebound positive. In other words, it's designed with this stiffness to produce a more active rebound by a little more time to recover. Exactly. So that goes along with the blocker. To be honest, for how thick it is, it's not heavy.

It's not chunky feeling. So it's balanced on your You are gonna get a hard, hard rebound off of this guy. So I I I actually quite like the feel of this again for really being able to get that, like, rebound quality level of it. And I'm still able to get really good flexion with it too as well. So Okay.

[crosstalk] Even though it is, again, something that's a beefy blocker, you get really, really good control over it. I like that. Like, the steeper angle at the top sort of keep pucks from rolling over. Get that deflection up and out and away from that now.

Okay. So now we talked about ION Pro Select. This is

the highest end because we've Domestically made in Canada. And in The United States? Yes, but we don't get any of that product. Okay. Yes.

Only Canada only. Okay. That said, all here. All awesome. If you wanna learn more about it, give us a call.

604 Are there other are this 589-8299 or 18005677790. There will be more to come. There are subsequent lines, but that is a video for another day. Is there

a beep beep beep beep beep beep.

Cam, I had some questions about whether there were gonna be other like, is there other availabilities at lower price points coming or do you have them or what? Yes, Kevin. And that's for another video for another time later on closer to the spring.

Wonder if Ion was created because of that little play on words that you made Hutch, the ion.

I think in more like it's a real positive for your game.

Are are are ions the positive?

Well, it could be positive or negative. They're just charged.

But I just wanted to get a science science lesson from Science Hutch

If you're feeling negative, you might wanna have a positive added to your game.