CCM Tacks Goalie Pads, Glove & Blocker Review — The More Affordable Tacks for 2026

You might be wondering, haven't I seen this before? Didn't these guys already do CCM Tacks recently? We did, didn't we? Yeah. Okay.

We did. You're right. So what are we doing here? Oh, Cam wanted to do it again because now that he's a star on the show Off Campus, and if you haven't already watched it, make sure you can see him in the net getting scored on horse poop technique on a wraparound, but that's what they were paying him to do.

Which means I can follow direction.

That's right. You do follow direction well. Let's see if you can do it now with the new CCM Tacks, not pro. We're here not because he needed a second take, but because there's a second price point, a second line with a lot of pro features. Yes.

So Cam, and quick time out here. CCM, thank you for calling your top end pad pro and taking pro off of your second price point, helping us avoid the needless confusion that we have with so many other companies. Okay. Back to Cam. CCM just tacked.

Yeah.

Don't make me tack it to you.

Second price point, walk me through the differences. What's the same? Clearly, I see a similar shape, steep boot. Yes. We got that sort of 150V core shape.

[crosstalk] Yes. But do we have the same materials? No. Okay. So walk me through it. Let's go.

This is your chance to shine.

Oh, thanks.

Do a better job than

you did on that wraparound and off campus. CGT. We'll talk about that first because that still makes Look.

It's the slide technology on the second price point, Pat. So ding. There's one for CCM.

Come off in the EFlex 7 is why we started seeing that. Now again, continuing on and honestly, it's working quite well. Feels just been pretty fantastic.

Yeah. We've had a ton of good feedback on this and especially noticeably on the stiffer profile of this pad in the Tacks Pro line. Again, stiffer pad usually means stiffer materials on the inside and then you get that sort of stiffer edge combined with CGT slides really well. We've built out a really stiff EFlex seven pad and the difference between stock and stiff. It it helps your sliding for

sure. For sure. So you already kinda talked about the actual Shape? Shape of the pad with that 150V kind of style. So guys with a little bit narrower of a butterfly, you know, we've always been said, oh, narrow butterfly.

You need a soft pad. I don't think that's correct. I've been saying that for a little bit of a while now. I think it's different.

You were ahead of the curve, weren't you?

I but I I'm one fifty the curve. So what I mean by all this is that because of the shape of that pad being a little bit stiffer, you can butterfly with your knees a little bit tighter and still get that closure that you're kind of looking for instead of

[crosstalk] having this gaping five-hole. And it's all designed to also be a little easier on the hips. Something we heard specifically from Ann-Renu00e9e Desbiens of the Montreal Victor. She's noticing reason for that though? Because of the knee stack.

Because of how thick it is? Yes. Also with that knee stack, one of the things that we do notice here and how they've connected it into the pad as well, a) we're getting a lot more of that stability but it's almost like you have a little bit and it is I have to use the term, bit of a knee drive system here that we found.

Yeah. Warrior asked for sure. They were the first ones to do that, but that little bit of that angled connection helps reinforce it a little bit, but also just it man, we keep going back to that term connection, but there's a lot of connection with the knee.

There it is. Connect counter.

Yep. One thing I forgot, we do get the CGT on the inside edge, but you'll notice folks, there is no speed channel. So on the CCM Tacks Pro, this was segmented. You had a gap, and then it was sort of angled to where the calf actually contacts the ice. Lace in it.

And and so that indent creates a space where there's less friction. This is flat, so more pad contact in the ice that you're sort of sliding against, more material on the ice that you're sliding and pushing against. But, again, because of the CGT material and the stiffness, it's still gonna slide really well. But that's one of the differences. You're obviously getting less when you don't have the full pro line.

That's one of the things

you get less stuff. Okay. Next. So still that same adapt fit. Correct.

Adjustable as well on the inside. Nice wraparound connection to that calf. Again, too tight, make it a little bit looser, not tight enough, crank it down but you crank down on this type of pad. You are, unless you're really, really flexible in your hips, might cause yourself some problems.

Yeah. We've we've and the interesting thing about this is we've had goalies test it that want it looser. Yep. But we've also had goalies that really like this system because they can pull this pad up and tight over their calf. So again, with wider butterflies and they don't need to worry about it, but the ability to do both.

Yes. We've lost have we lost

the strap from the Again, something that changes when you go into this. Again, more of those pro guys are asking for that strap kind of download to kind of close it off. It's not here. It's not here. A little bit kind of on purpose.

I'm not finding that as much in that kind of like mid price point. Also, again, not to say that you should just bump up just for a strap to go to the pro, but that said, some of the differences that start to separate themselves when you come to the mid price point. I noticed this has

[crosstalk] bootstrap connectors. It's got Which aren't stock The Podcast. Pro. Doesn't come with the bootstrap? No.

But you have the ability to add it?

If you do. K. Yes. Good to know.

They still have their hybrid

kind of style toe type. Noticeably absent is lock and push. Yes. Exactly. Again.

So more of a standard pro feature. Onto the pro pad. Ironically, we've had again, on the lock and push, that thicker sort of triangular shaped toe bridge that we saw on the pro. Mhmm. It you call it a pro feature.

Ann-Renu00e9e's loves it. So for her, it's a pro feature. Didn't even notice it. Felt like maybe it gives her a little more push off. A lot of the higher end junior goalies that we've had tested are like, you know, like, I hit my laces perfectly.

I don't need this. I would prefer not to have it because it's different. So don't have to make that choice on this one.

Yeah. Last but not least, just quickly talk about how they've again angled that outer tapered. Tapered. Exactly. And they all that is to do is to move more material from the pad that's not necessarily needed.

Help lighten up the weight of the pad itself. Right. Because when

you have a stiff pad and this is this as stiff as the Pro? Probably not quite, but still Because

you don't have that same rebound material on the front.

[crosstalk] Again Infinite power. Infinite power. Again, you're paying less. You're getting less materials. That's one of the differences.

But still a relatively stiff

Oh, yeah. It's quite a stiff for especially a mid range level pad. And so when you use when

you stiffen up a pad and you use HD Foam, weight goes up, and that was one of their ways of keeping the weight down. I know on our ProPad and a thirty four two, we were just right around five pounds. Correct. So alright. Okay.

Glove, five ninety. Vortech palm or pocket. Look how

big it is. So plus one inch depth being the mid range level glove, they can get away with adding that as a stock feature for making that a little bit deeper. Skate lace pocket as well. Great. Fine.

With the

the nylon in between? Nylon in between. Correct. Which actually might be a good thing, to be honest. Our Vortex pocket and our stock glove had skate lace, and it felt like they tied it a little tight, which kind of didn't allow it to take that form.

A running change, think they're making it the factory right now. Yeah. Close that glove. I mean, that's brand new out of the box. You

nobody else has tried that on. Yeah. Pretty good. 590. Great overall feel that's in cross form on the back in terms of for the strapping as well.

So similarities, differences, just materials on the inside? No d three o?

No D30. Open that up a little bit so we can let everybody

see what we're actually dealing with here. Oh, I feel like this Castanza, like I'm

a hand model. Finger stalls. Finger stalls. So not like the AXIS XF. This glove's completely different.

Redesigned. Much better fit and advancement in the five ninety line. Not something that's like completely different. Still has that same style of closure, but again, that deeper pocket reduced overall palm size to create that deeper pocket and wider pocket surface as well. Definitely worth checking out.

You've had CCM gloves in the past and you're like, bah, this is definitely something to come back to and check out.

They made significant changes to their gloves. Some were a little hit and miss, but the weight on them compared to when they sort of redid their manufacturing noticeably lighter now, and they've come back to the same field they used to have. They've really made strides in the glove over the last couple generations.

[crosstalk] It's kinda from EFlex seven. You're a five ninety fan, you should lose a good size.

Blocker. Last one. Let's go.

Alright. Okay. Still get light core. Right over here.

Still get light core in the second price

Blockers like noticeably light. You really do feel it. Okay. Right off the bat, you're still gonna get a nice hard punch. Again, you don't have the exact same core material as what you would find in the Tacks Pro.

No D30 on the index finger. Another place to kind of

call it out. Still get that. Love the flex motion cuff. Big fan of the flex motion cuff and the ability to just prank that thing wide open.

So very, very easy to then this blocker forward.

Love that they continue that

in back end. Price point.

Yeah. This blocker feels great for especially a mid price point. If you were in a

blind taste test, it'd be really hard to be able to tell. Gonna say, like, it it it's unreal how much things have changed. Correct. Second price point, like, I bet you if I were to find a time machine, I don't know if this is how I'd spend my time if I actually had a time machine. But if I could, I bet I go back, what, five years, grab a pro set of gear off the rack and compare it to this, and it would be very similar.

There's so Do

I even have to go back that far?

There's so

How far do I set the dial cam? Yeah. My point is second price point gear has come a long way. Yes. It has.

This feels like again, thank you CCM for not calling it pro, but this feels like pro level gear. Yes. And what? Ballpark? Half price?

A little little above half what a pro

Hold the phone here for a quick sec because the one thing that we almost didn't talk about was where to

phone you. Well, that, but custom. Come on. This is the second price point pad. What do

mean custom? Available custom. So you can change your colors. You can pop your name on it. You get your name on a second price point pad.

Few minor specs, including the option for 580 to order at the customer.

You can order the 580 in a second price point.

That's correct. So if you wanna learn more about that, you can give me a call. (604) 589-8299 or 1-800-567-7790 or check us out at the hockeyshop.com. Oh, CCM,

I was, like, so full of praise for not putting the word pro on this, but then you gave us so many pro features. I'm now confused. But thank you.

It is remarkable, my friend. Just how good the second price point stuff has become. Unbelievable. Like, genuinely, I I I do have a little trouble sorta how long ago would we how far would we have to go back? But I I I think it's, like, probably less than five.

Unbelievable. Like, genuinely, I I I do have a little trouble sorta how long ago would we how far would we have to go back? But I I I think it's, like, probably less than five.

You could take the second and including this CCM Tacks stuff and put it up against the pro level stuff, like, what, four, five years ago. And it's I mean, it's right there. It's right there. You don't get everything. You're not getting D30.

Cam walked us through all the things you don't get. But to get their sliding material, to get a lot of the same innovations in terms of the strapping, the knee stack, and all the things that have made this patent, we've really had good feedback from our testers, the glove at that price point. Like, it's As

you and Cam were going through, what separates the two lines, I sort of thought to myself, really? Like, that's it? Like, there's a strap that's different. There's the way the toe ties attached to the pads is slightly different. Like, I'd find it tough to tell my kid he needs the pro pad or to let my kid have the pro pad if if we had to order something new.

Those are just remarkable. And as we've seen over the

years with our own testing, they're like pro level gear might last a little longer for sure because there's there tends to be higher density foams and things that don't break down as much. But, man, if we had some success with some of our second price point stuff lasting well through a season, even at rep level hockey where kids are on the ice five times a week.

Got one of those sets from many years ago. Bauer's second tier in this case was playing junior hockey actually And in its second or third year of life.

Yeah. And and here's full credit too. Right? Like, like, let let's give the the hat tip as they say, the stick tap as they say to Bauer, I think, was one of the companies that led the way in terms of making this second price point stuff as good as it is now. And kudos on CCM for following suit.

Make sure you check it out, folks. If you have any questions, check out the hockeyshop.com, Hockey Shop Source for Sports, Cam and his crew. It's not just him. Everybody there plays the position. They can answer your questions about, hey.

What level are you at? Which which price point do you need? And other part too, like, this is a unique product, the Tacks pad, different shape, the v shape, little easier on the butterfly, stiffer pad. Is this for you? Is this gonna fit your game?