R/G6 is one of the biggest steps forward for Warrior’s goalie line since they brought on Pete Smith. Simply put, if you like Warrior - you’ll love this line. But if you’ve been on the fence about Warrior, you’ll want to keep reading as R/G6 is one of the best goalie product lines on the market. PERIOD.
Leg Pads
The G6 pads keep Warrior’s trademark attributes like exceptional stability and effortless mobility in an incredibly light weight construction. In addition, they have made dramatic enhancements in several critical areas: sliding, strapping and core stiffness.
Beginning with sliding, Warrior has made a huge splash by adding a first-of-its-kind SlidePlate to the knee landing. The clear polycarbonate plate is impact resistant and essentially eliminates all friction between the knee landing (the portion of the pad that experiences the most downward force) and the ice. Coupled with HD internal inner gussets, the results are incredible pad mobility across all ice services (AIRslide 3.0). These additions make the G6 line one of, if not the, best sliding pads on the market. Just check out this clip Goalie Parts:
Warrior G6 Pad Sliding. Filmed by Goalie Parts.
It’s easy for designers to fall in love with their own inventions, but we have to give Warrior extra kudos for making their groundbreaking slide plate removable. Aggressive goalies, or those who are still developing the strength of butterfly pushes, will love how the slide plates allow them to fly across the ice with complete ease. But for those goalies who find they are over-sliding, they can easily remove the plates by simply unfastening a couple of straps. Warrior G4 and G5 users can also purchase a plate separately and retrofit them to their current pads.
While the slide plates are the most obvious addition to the G6 pads (and it should be noted that they come on ALL G6 pads, from Senior Pro+ down to Junior E+), Warrior also made major enhancements to the leg pad strapping and leg channel. The most significant addition to the SlingWrap Knee is a new adjustable top calf strap which adds control (a la a Professor Strap) to give the pad an optimal connection point to the leg and rotation ability. Warrior also changed the shape of the shin area to contour it to the wearer’s leg, thereby increasing the leg’s connectivity with the pad. Lastly, for those goalies who prefer more traditional skate lace or elastic toe ties, Warrior has made the toe box on the G6 pads removable so goalies can customize how they lace the pads to their skates.
Historically one of the pieces of feedback from pros wearing Warrior pads in the KHL and Europe has been that the thigh rise could be stiffer. Warrior has listened and brought this enhancement to their retail pads. Though not overly stiff (and while still maintaining a nice soft boot), the extra stiffness in the thigh rise helps keep pucks from squeaking into the 5 hole.
Trapper
Had Warrior only made the above updates to their pads, we still would be praising them for taking a huge step with the G6 line. But as the Navy SEAL expression goes, anything worth doing is worth overdoing. Which is exactly what Warrior decided to do when they dropped TWO new glove and blocker lines – the G6 and G6.1. Both lines share some core features but have critical differences. We went in assuming we’d prefer one particular line but ended up quickly switching to the other!
As mentioned, Warrior’s latest trappers share some common features (e.g. CoverEdge+, HyperComp core, AxyFlex T, superlight weight, etc), however while Warrior claims both have a 75 degree closure (I’ve never seen a goalie use a protractor to confirm this), the G6 and G6.1 and VERY different shapes and closing feel. The G6 presents a rounded target and the closure is from index finger to middle thumb. In contrast (and trust me if feels like a big contrast when trying both) the G6.1 has a longer, almost football, shape and closes from index finger to the low thumb. In our testing, we found that we could reach pucks further from our body with the 6.1 but had more control with the G6. Stick handing ability was similar with both. The G6 also features a removable liner, allowing goalies the ability to change the closure angle from the stock 75 degree to a 60 or 90.
Blocker
Non-goalie gear nerds will say “a blocker is just a blocker.” And we cannot blame them for this belief; while many goalies will say they like “x company’s blockers the best” they will have a hard time describing the differences between a given company’s two blocker lines. This all means to say that, Warrior knew that if they were going to release 2 blocker offerings they needed to have some significant distinctions between them. With G6 and G6.1 blockers, the most significant differences thickness and curvature of the boards, with the G6 being flatter and thicker while the G6.1 is thinner with more curvature. Both are extremely protective, but the G6 provides slightly more coverage (due its 20° board angle vs the 35° angle of the G6.1) and higher/hard rebounds (due to the thicker board). In contrast the G6.1 help goalie deflect pucks downward as well as provides more mobility when paddle down. Just like the trappers, the liner on the G6 blocker is removable whereas the G6.1 is sewn in. We assumed we’d prefer the G6.1 based upon the thinner board and extra curve, but quickly fell in love with the G6.
