Sunday 30 March 2014

The 'no shoulders' mod

Another chest pad modification that you can sometimes see at the elite level of hockey, is chest pads modified with the shoulder padding cut away, which allows for maximum movement at the shoulders, for full rotation at the shoulder cuff for those quick reaction glove saves and for maximum turn for rebound control when driving etc.

One wearer is retired Dutch international Guus Vogels. If you avert your eyes from the European nakedness (! is a bit of a random photo), you will notice the chest pad at Vogel's feet and how it's taped at the shoulders. This is one of the earliest Obo chest pad designs with the layered protection over the stomach area. And if you look closely, you can see how Vogels modded the chest pads to have no shoulders, taping over the sections where the cut was made to make the sure the fabric did not wear down under use.


Ian Scanlon uses this mod playing for HWHC in the Premier League, giving him maximum freedom of movement as mentioned, for reaction saves with his gloves, like the saves he makes early on in this clip:



Andrew Isaacs also uses this mod; known for being more of a sweeper than a keeper, as a 'sweeper keeper', this would allow him extra motion when flicking the ball up to punt all the way down the pitch with a self-pass, as shown by his goal scoring assist against Brighton two weekends ago. If you look at these action photos (courtesy of Peter Savage), it's noticable where the chest pad stops and the shoulders are missing, under a tight fitting jersey.



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