Bauer Elite Goalie Chest Protector & Pants Review — Mid Price, Pro Features

Well, we talked about second price point gear, and we've got a bunch of it coming up here. The kind of stuff you can just walk in and buy because they've got so much of it in so many sizes and in a lot of cases, color ways. That's where we're gonna continue this week with Cam walking us through another new option on the second price point level. Welcome back to the Hockey Shop Source for Sports. I'm Kevin.

I'm here with Cam. That's me. I've got our elite.

Well, if you were about to say that this already existed, you're kinda correct.

Okay. So why are we here today?

Because it's got a bit of a facelift.

But what is it?

What is it?

It's like where where does it fit in their in their lines?

Their mid tier price point gear.

Okay.

So this covers

Good, better, best? Good is GSX? Better. Is Elite? Yes.

Best is like your Fuse and your Hyperlite. Your Fuse

and so on and

so forth. So it's their midpoint? Yes. There is a couple

of updates to the chest over this, you know, this version versus last year's version. One of the things looking into the unit a little bit more that I really really like, we've updated like some of the segmentation on the shoulder floaters. This is all actually one fused unit now as opposed to being segmented as it went through. The problem with that segmentation that it would catch and kind of grab underneath the floater as you went to go flex your arm up. So this allows a little bit better mobility and then also it just adds to the coverage of the chest as well.

Actually

Oh, it's got shoulders look a little bit wider.

For mid price point, it's got adjustable arm length. That's correct. I like

that. Continuing on from so easily adjustable arm. Again, something we can ideally fit a little bit bigger and then basically shorten it up and then long it out as as the kid grows. Moving on to the backside of the chest, there still is there's similar familiar arm design that we've seen previously. So still the elbow cup.

Soft soft double they have a hard cap in the pro stuff? Is that That's one of the correct. So you get a soft cap there. That's the difference.

Still that tricep pad that wraps around so again you're getting those reverse

I don't need it. I don't have triceps.

There you go. Sweet. Little little back protection.

You get caught that way. There we go. Yeah. Glove up. A little bit of

a wrist guard to give you some of that impact protection as well. Easily adjustable backplate. That doesn't change the inclusion of the fight strap as well. Do you need to fight down?

Your mid point because some people get a little aggressive when they're playing mid.

It can happen. It can happen. So a couple of cool additionals this year. Tie down loop on the

inside. Down loop.

That's correct. Yeah.

On the mid price point Bauer Elite chest. Yeah. I like it.

So again, giving you more options in terms of how you wanna wear your gear. You want it to fit, how you want it to integrate with your pants.

And of course, I I mentioned this was already on there. The belly and the side flap extenders come stock.

Dial in that fit whichever way you need.

Okay. Perfect. Now Yes. When we're talking about fitting a chest protector, not just the arm length, but this is adjustable, obviously your shoulder length, how it fits on you, but how it integrates with your pants. And we have the pants.

Bauer Elite pants. Again, it's good.

Good, better, best? Better. Mid. But not in the mid the way the kids use it as a derogatory term. Middle.

Mid as in it's still good. Really really even more so than the chest. The pant is pretty close to the same thing as it was.

Okay. So walk us through some of the features.

The good news is is that if it ain't broke don't fix it. Great overall fit in the pant, a little bit of wider set, You know, can tuck in It and depends on you. Inner belt. The one thing that irks me a little bit about these things is when they do say removable belt on the inside. It is actually stitched in so it does make it a little bit difficult to remove. Listen, removable, I mean you could just, you know Pair of scissors. Pair of scissors. Still remove it.

But like the option is there.

Yep. So if

you're crafty, you can get rid of it and then hey, if you're crafty again, you want to stitch it back in, also a possibility.

Cam does a lot of crafting.

Just crafting is all it's what you do around here. Removable inner and outer thigh pads. In most cases, I do say get rid of these because they do tend to get in the way. What it is designed to do is center the leg inside the leg channel. What it can do is get ripped off every time you put your pant on and put your leg through.

Depends on the size of your knee pads. Cam wear super big cheater knee pads.

It can also interfere when you have some of those bigger knee pads and things are actually closing that five hole too as well.

So Okay.

One thing to just remove potentially, they do have the length extender from the pant as well again. So by unbuttoning that pant down one all the way throughout, I can get an inch of extra length out of that pant. Okay. So I like that.

So some size adjustment. Now the one thing I noticed here, like clearly it's a really mobile pant but when you're got this much mobility and there's layering of segmentation and duplication of protection, but anytime a pant moves like a pair of gym shorts, I have questions about protection. So in fairness, what levels are we looking at here in the middle price point Bauer Elite? If you're not wearing this out to a pro skate?

No. I mean, I necessarily wouldn't. Don't get

invited to a pro skate.

Quite often actually. It used to and you used

to invite me out and then we'd

make fun of how bad you were.

Well, yeah. Like now that you're on Off Campus, you you get invited out to all the Superstar.

So the overall fit and feel and like who it's for, this depends a little bit on exactly what value you're looking for out of your pants.

Mid level beer leaguer surviving this?

Exactly. Even a high level beer leaguer is a quite thick pan for what's being offered kind of now. The mid tier

price point There is a fair bit of padding, but like this Yes. It's just there's a looseness to it.

Yes. That doesn't necessarily mean that's a bad thing.

Okay.

Being out of the pant game for a little while there, he forgets that that looseness actually can aid in that mobility. That mobility, as long as those plates are interlocking and cover each other, you're not creating that gap in protection. So even as this pants slacks out a little bit as you play in it, which will naturally happen with that one, you're still getting actually a lot of coverage of the thigh. So overall, yes, I, you know, hey, as a kid that's growing, a little bit more cost effective looking for my gear, this is still a great option. Is it the best option? No. That's why there's the Pro Pant. That said, I still think this can cut it some of that higher level hockey too as well.

Okay. So GSX is here. Good. Better is Bauer Elite, which we have here and then best you're gonna do your Fuse and your Hyperlite in your pro models. Correct.

Okay. So there you go. There's if you got any more questions about who this is for, whether it's for you, sizing, fit, availability, where do they get you cameras?

(604) 589-8299 or 1-800-567-7790

or the hockeyshop.com

where you can also find the sales stuff from last year.

Is this a fun time of the year for Cam or is it stressful for Cam?

I think it's probably more stressful for everybody there. Once the kids are out of school, right, like, they're at the hockey, it's it's a fun and exciting time, but it's just a really busy time. So, like, when you love your job, it's fun. But at the end of the day, there probably isn't a chance to because Cam does so much more than just sell gear, but if he's being pulled onto the floor and into the sales side, which I think he enjoys, you know, there are other parts of his duties that end up having to be done probably after hours or or at other times. So busy is good.

I always say that busy beats the alternative, but it's probably there's probably a stress element element as well for Cam and his entire crew. And that's the thing, like, we we pumped Cam's tires pretty good. I give him some jabs on this on on the on the gear segments and playful, but it's not just him. It's the entire team he's built there. Like, they know goaltending.

They're not just hockey players. They're goalies, and they they live it. They breathe it. They try all the different gear. They've got, you know, truly expert opinions.

This isn't like another store where you're just getting some kid in high school that may or may not have played the position. Everybody in the goal department at the Hockey Shop Source for Sports plays it and understands it and will help you play it better by finding gear that works for you.