Giguere or Michelin Man you Decide

[ttbrunke 0]

I think the NHL needs to look at this a little closer, I know they downsized the leg pads but I think they need to look at the chest protectors.

I know, I know, before you even start "Goalies need the protection, guys shoot harder now". Fine I'm sure there is technology has a way to make it safe and smaller than strapping a Tempurpedic to your chest. I think you can look at the blocker and glove to.

Luongo looks huge too is there anyone else?

[toby91_ca 620]

Luongo and Giguere are big guys without pads, that's part of the reason why they look bigger. There are restrictions on size of equipment for all goalies, some goalies may use smaller chest protectors because they feel they can move easier without the bulky pads, but I really do not think that Giguere, for example, is wearing pads that are any bigger than the norm.

[Vilmer 0]

Martin Brodeur is a big guy as well, but he honestly doesn't look like a Gladiator like Giguere... His shoulder pads are very large, as is his jersey. While they may have cut down on pad size and such, it sure was an advantage a couple of years ago.

[Guest Tunbo Batman]

how do you thinkg giguere made it to the SCF in 2003 ? he's not that good. he simply wore illegal equipment. 67 consecutive saves, none of which were spectacular, because he didnt have to move to make them. actually, he is one of the guys who forced the leagues hand with the new rules. now that the rules have changed, but are still too lenient, he wears stuff that is barely legal.

[ttbrunke 0]

how do you thinkg giguere made it to the SCF in 2003 ? he's not that good. he simply wore illegal equipment. 67 consecutive saves, none of which were spectacular, because he didnt have to move to make them. actually, he is one of the guys who forced the leagues hand with the new rules. now that the rules have changed, but are still too lenient, he wears stuff that is barely legal.

Ever seen the Amstel Light commercial with the big fat guy playing goal. He just backs into the goal and fills it, then shots start bouncing off of him. Giguere is close to that.

[Roberto Who? 0]

I think the NHL needs to look at this a little closer, I know they downsized the leg pads but I think they need to look at the chest protectors.

I know, I know, before you even start "Goalies need the protection, guys shoot harder now". Fine I'm sure there is technology has a way to make it safe and smaller than strapping a Tempurpedic to your chest. I think you can look at the blocker and glove to.

Luongo looks huge too is there anyone else?

not this again...blame the pads for the reason he blocks shots...same thing canuck fans did...are u gonna start blaming the refs to?

[ttbrunke 0]

not this again...blame the pads for the reason he blocks shots...same thing canuck fans did...are u gonna start blaming the refs to?

The canucks shouldn't have had anything to say, Luongo has as many pads as Giguere. I thought I was watching Sumo wrestling for a minute

[livediehockey80 0]

Look at Giggy. Either Giggy is eating too many pizzas and he got fat OR he has illegal body pads.

I mean this guy is the Incredible Hulk of goalies:

[WingNutt 12]

As a fellow goaltender I have to disagree guys, Giggy does seem like he uses bigger stuff but every goaltender is different some like their pads more snug and tight to their body some find it to constricting. If you want to see a goalie who uses way way over sized pads check out. Garth Snow when he played used the biggest stuff he could find. Giggy uses bigger pads but I'm quite sure they are legal. Giggy is a technically sound goalie and plays almost flawless angles, He doesen't have to speed and reflexes as some of the other NHL goaltenders though.

another interesting fact about him is he uses a straw on his water bottle. If anyone has been wondering why he does this, is because he has a condition where he sucks to much air along with his water, and it makes him puke.

with all that said, Go Wings

[Hank 0]

As a fellow goaltender I have to disagree guys, Giggy does seem like he uses bigger stuff but every goaltender is different some like their pads more snug and tight to their body some find it to constricting. If you want to see a goalie who uses way way over sized pads check out. Garth Snow when he played used the biggest stuff he could find. Giggy uses bigger pads but I'm quite sure they are legal. Giggy is a technically sound goalie and plays almost flawless angles, He doesen't have to speed and reflexes as some of the other NHL goaltenders though.

another interesting fact about him is he uses a straw on his water bottle. If anyone has been wondering why he does this, is because he has a condition where he sucks to much air along with his water, and it makes him puke.

with all that said, Go Wings

At the same time though Giggy didn't explode on the NHL scene until he exploded his equipement. Just look at his upper body protection. He has padding up to his ears. I thought this stuff was used to protect the body not protect the net? Last time I checked the human body didn't have bone and tissue parallel to one's ear.

I have a friend that works for a goaltending manufacturer designing and creating goalie equipment.

I spoke with him a few weeks ago at a hockey tournament and asked him about this stuff. He said it would be very easy to design goalie equipment using kevlar and even the material used in composite sticks to make slimmed down upper body protection. He said it would be just as light, if not lighter, as the current stuff but it would be the same size as what Ken Dryden wore in the 70's.

Why they haven't done this yet? Because no NHL goalie would ever use them because they'd be giving up a severe advantage to stopping the puck.

For the reasons you described above, Giguere is a bad goalie. He has no reflexes and relies on stopping the puck with sound positional play and oversized goalie eqiupment. He stays on his knees almost the entire game and tries to puff himself out to block the upper corners. If you shoot high you'll beat him a lot.

I guarentee you if all the goalies in the league were forced to wear equipment the same size as the 70's goalies, Giggy would be in the ECHL.

Edited May 9, 2007 by Hank

[puertoricanWingsfan 5]

hahaha I've always thought Giggy looked a bit overpadded...

[canucks1988 0]

nabokov chest is HUGE the nhl should check him out

[Izzy24 44]

As a fellow goaltender I have to disagree guys, Giggy does seem like he uses bigger stuff but every goaltender is different some like their pads more snug and tight to their body some find it to constricting. If you want to see a goalie who uses way way over sized pads check out. Garth Snow when he played used the biggest stuff he could find. Giggy uses bigger pads but I'm quite sure they are legal. Giggy is a technically sound goalie and plays almost flawless angles, He doesen't have to speed and reflexes as some of the other NHL goaltenders though.

another interesting fact about him is he uses a straw on his water bottle. If anyone has been wondering why he does this, is because he has a condition where he sucks to much air along with his water, and it makes him puke.

with all that said, Go Wings

As soon as I started reading this thread I thought of Garth Snow and his "shoulder extension things" that were practically on the sides of his head. Also, I hope Giguere suffers from his "condition where he sucks" in the WCF.

[interminded 1]

how do you thinkg giguere made it to the SCF in 2003 ? he's not that good.

You're absolutely right, a average goaltender becomes a awesome goaltender by having pads 2 inches bigger than everybody else.....

Giguere is a premier goaltender.

Let's not act like he isn't by making some moronic claims about equipment.

Edited May 9, 2007 by interminded

[puckbags 863]

not this again...blame the pads for the reason he blocks shots...same thing canuck fans did...are u gonna start blaming the refs to?

It wouldn't matter to the Canucks if he was wearing phone books on his legs...they never got a shot on net the whole series did they?

[ultrapail 0]

by looking at the above picture, Jiggy's sweater is too big and his glove is too big, his pads and blocker are fine, the nhl has placed limits on the width of leg pads but not the height. you can have them covering your whole leg if you want, this does add to the ability to close the 5 hole.

I have no idea if his chest protector is too big because I can't see his body, but in comparison to his head, it looks quite large.

I also don't need anybody telling me I don't know what I talking about because I play goal and have talked many times to professionals who custom fit goalies to their equipment

[Hank 0]

by looking at the above picture, Jiggy's sweater is too big and his glove is too big, his pads and blocker are fine, the nhl has placed limits on the width of leg pads but not the height. you can have them covering your whole leg if you want, this does add to the ability to close the 5 hole.

I have no idea if his chest protector is too big because I can't see his body, but in comparison to his head, it looks quite large.

I also don't need anybody telling me I don't know what I talking about because I play goal and have talked many times to professionals who custom fit goalies to their equipment

The funny thing is, if you watch the handshakes after the Devils beat the Ducks in 03 you can see how much bigger Giguere looks than Brodeur despite the fact that Brodeur is physically bigger than Giggy.

[RedLightGoesOn 81]

He is a good goaltender, just because his pads are two inches bigger than Brodeur's does not make it illegal, now if it were about a foot bigger, yeah,but then it would be pretty obvious. He got to 2003 SCF because he was on a hot streak, like Roloson and Kipper. Sorry, but this kinda crap is a tad bit childish.

[haroldsnepsts 4,826]

Giguere is a very good goaltender.

Yes he's a big guy who uses gigantic equipment, but it's legal. And he's not the only one doing it.

Before the NHL considers increasing the net size by even a millimeter, they need to do a better job at restricting goaltender equipment.

Doesn't seem any more out of line than Luongo's pads, but I don't hear anyone complaining about him.

Edited May 9, 2007 by haroldsnepsts

[YoungGuns1340 1]

Giguere is a very good goaltender.

Yes he's a big guy who uses gigantic equipment, but it's legal. And he's not the only one doing it.

Before the NHL considers increasing the net size by even a millimeter, they need to do a better job at restricting goaltender equipment.

Doesn't seem any more out of line than Luongo's pads, but I don't hear anyone complaining about him.

Actually, the original poster says that Luongo's pads look huge too.

Luongo looks huge too is there anyone else?

Edited May 9, 2007 by YoungGuns1340

[Firehawk 305]

I had this discussion with a friend of mine the other day. When you look at Giguere in the net he does look ENORMOUS, far bigger than most other goalies.

[w00p33 2]

I see points both sides of the argument. Giggy's a good goalie but he also "pads" his stats with big gear. He does look a bit Santa Claus'esque with his huge chest protector but he can also move around well to get square with the puck. That said, he's not a small guy to begin with.

The league made rulings on glove (the cheater portion behind the glove) and leg equipment and it has helped slightly, mainly in increased 5-hole goals. That said, chest protectors are not limited. Watch a documentary on History or Military Channel and see how tight/form fitting chest protectors are for military personell. You can't tell me that we can't make goalies safe with smaller equipment on the chest. In fact we could make it much smaller and make them SAFER than they are now, not to mention more flexible (dragon skin body armor with individual plates conforms to body poisiton). So why not take advantage of new technology and make smaller protection which not only would get rid of advantages to bigger armor but also offer more protection and moblility to the goalie?

[Drake_Marcus 890]

You're absolutely right, a average goaltender becomes a awesome goaltender by having pads 2 inches bigger than everybody else.....

Giguere is a premier goaltender.

Let's not act like he isn't by making some moronic claims about equipment.

Thank you.

We'll win because we still have our original team spirit:

[ultrapail 0]

He is a good goaltender, just because his pads are two inches bigger than Brodeur's does not make it illegal, now if it were about a foot bigger, yeah,but then it would be pretty obvious. He got to 2003 SCF because he was on a hot streak, like Roloson and Kipper. Sorry, but this kinda crap is a tad bit childish.

anybody who says that two inches of extra padding anywhere on goalie eqiupment doesn't matter, obviously has never played goalie

[shadow47 1]

Goalie pads are 11" wide but they DO have a max height of 38". Goalies "cheat" by making the toe the minimum length and putting the added height on the rise...some compensate further by putting foam blocks on top of their skate, raising the leg pad even higher. Honestly, the WIDTH change has done nothing and possibly made keepers even better than they were. The height thing has a small effect. Jiggy's still looking big, but you really can't compare him to a guy like Brodeur who wears a chest pad modeled from the early 90's and minimal padding on the arms. If you think Nabokov has a big chest pad, he wears the exact same one as Hasek so you might as well include him, too. The reason Nabby's looks a little big is he doesn't clip it at the waist so it rides up. Hasek has the waist on his cut a little shorter and tucks it in also making it a look smaller. Basically, goalies are wearing NHL approved equipment and players are going to score goals no matter what size of equipment they are wearing...there is a standard in order to regulate fairness, so there's really no way to say Giguere is being anything less than fair.

The league made rulings on glove (the cheater portion behind the glove) and leg equipment and it has helped slightly, mainly in increased 5-hole goals. That said, chest protectors are not limited. Watch a documentary on History or Military Channel and see how tight/form fitting chest protectors are for military personell. You can't tell me that we can't make goalies safe with smaller equipment on the chest. In fact we could make it much smaller and make them SAFER than they are now, not to mention more flexible (dragon skin body armor with individual plates conforms to body poisiton). So why not take advantage of new technology and make smaller protection which not only would get rid of advantages to bigger armor but also offer more protection and moblility to the goalie?

This is not a good argument...military equipment is developed with different agenda than goaltender equipment...I have a feeling the pricepoint would also be prohibitive. In addition, you have to allow a certain degree of "blocking privelege" for the goaltender, lest the scores in games be 20-18 and the defensive play gets even more furious. Also, they do limit chest pads--they have to fit the person wearing it and their are regulations that limit the layering as well as the height of the shoulder wings. People complaining have just forgotten how much bigger they USED to be.

anybody who says that two inches of extra padding anywhere on goalie eqiupment doesn't matter, obviously has never played goalie

And any goalie that believes a couple inches of equipment makes much difference has a problem that isn't his equipment.