Warrior Ritual Review

[StaubersGC]

Ever since the inception of Warrior Goalie there have been high hopes for the new goalie manufacture. With a slow start and some growing pains, Warrior is coming out for 2012 in full force. Back in April 2011 rumors started circulating around the goalie industry that Warrior was seeking the guidance and help from longtime goalie designer and innovator Pete Smith. After months of anticipation I received my set of Pete Smith designed Warrior Ritual gear a few weeks back and have spent enough time in them now to give you a thorough review.

Before I begin the review, I thought I would go through the long list of possible modifications to the Ritual Pro Custom gear…
Leg pads:
Toe Assembly: Sliding or fixed
Boot Shape: Square or Tapered
Outer Roll Break: None, Single, Double
Leather or Nylon Strapping in the ankle, calf, and knee straps
Leg Chanel Liner Material: Carbon, Classic,420D Nylon, Nash.

Blocker: (Pro = Bindingless and SE = Binding)
Board Curve: Single or Double
Board Position: -1”, Mid, +1”
Thumb Protection: Regular or HD115
Finger Protection: Regular or HD115
Finger Length: -.25”, Regular, +.25”
Gusset Height: -.25”, Regular, +.25”
Palm Material: Micro Nash, BS, Nash
Padded Palm or Pro Palm.

Catcher: (Pro and SE)
Cuff Box: Fused or Euro
Core: Practice, Regular, Easy Flex
Tee: Single, Double, Triple, Mega Depth (+1”)
Pocket Lacing: Single or Double (Pick Colors)
Internal Material: Micronash, BS, Nash
External Palm: Nash, Chamois, BS
Cuff Wedge: Soft or Firm

As with all equipment I highly recommend going to your local store to get fitted. I find that the Ritual thighrise runs rather large in comparison to other companies. The flat toe box makes the pad sit on top of your skates making it feel even larger. My 34+1 Rituals sized nearly identical to my 34+2 Vaughn 7990 V5 Pads for reference but played closer to a 35 with the flat toe box.


One of the greatest features and what I would consider the most innovative feature on the new Warrior Ritual leg pads is the bindingless boot box. Dating back to my very first set of pads almost every set has shown most wear on the inside toe binding found on most traditional pads. This rounded bindingless toe box, along with the table top boot scoop, allow for easy lateral movement in the butterfly and reduces wear on the most prone spot.
The table top boot scoop is different from what I normally order. All of my previous test sets from manufactures have almost always had a closed or defined leg and boot channel. Although much different from what I am accustomed too, there was little resistance when the pad rotated and after a few minutes in the pad I couldn’t notice the lack of boot or leg channel. I felt the table top boot allowed for easy rotation and lifted the pad off the ice so that when doing recovery pushes laterally that the boot didn’t drag on the ice or cause slip outs.





The triangular post wedge found on the side of the pad is another innovative feature brought in by Smith. This wedge provides extra outside calf protection while helping to seal up snug to the post in the one knee down or standing position.





Some other nice features on the boot of the pad are the adjustable boot strap (shown below) and the sliding toe bridge. Having never really used a sliding toe bridge, I didn’t notice any difference from the sliding bridge to running standard laces with knots.
The leg channel is fairly open, but the extended calf wraps with built in breaks really allow you to either wear the pad with a tight leg channel or a lose more open leg channel…great versatility. The open nylon leg channel offered great rotation. Although the Ritual looks like a stiff flat face pad, its looks are deceiving. The flex in the pad is soft like a Vaughn, but I found the rebounds did kick out further then a Vaughn but not as far as a Reebok. The squared upper thigh made for a perfect seal on the ice in the butterfly.





I like the new knee block and the added piece to keep the pad more stable in the butterfly.





One of the smallest but coolest features I found on the Ritual was the all Jenpro side gusset to the pad. I think we have all had a pair of pads with a light colored nylon gusset that turn yellow or brown over the life of the pad….plus I could get baby blue on the side like I have always wanted !


A couple area that I feel could use some improvement are the strap buckle adjustments on the side and boot of the pad. Although the boot buckle is adjustable, it is very difficult to remove from the leather sleeve it sits in. The thigh pad is one area I think almost all manufactures need to rethink. I wore my Ritual thigh guards for 1 session before removing them for some hard plastic knee caps.




Warrior didn’t get to spend a great deal of time redesigning a glove for 2012, but they are offering multiple options and I can honestly say I was pleasantly surprised by my new Ritual SE catcher.
Although ordered as a fused cuff (1 piece), the Ritual fused cuffs are not a true one piece construction like a Reebok or new Bauer. I would say the cuff is more similar to a Vaughn 9580/8880 cuff. If I had to compare this SE glove to any other glove on the market right now, I would say a Vaughn 5500.



The T and backside cuff on the Ritual is very similar to an Epic/Vison on Vaughn gloves. I ordered my Ritual SE mitt with an easy flex palm, which after baking in a skate over for a few minutes, was nearly ready to go out of the box. The thumb angle forced pucks to funnel into the pocket, rather than popping out. The hand position felt natural and not forced like I felt in some earlier model Warriors.


Warrior is offering two different models and breaks in their gloves. I found that the Ritual Pro glove is based off the Warrior Fortress catcher from 2011 with the double break palm. If I could change one thing about my Ritual SE catcher, I wish it had a 1” deeper pocket.

I do like the fact they use a 3 point internal strapping; finger, banckhand, and wrist. The backside of the catcher offers plenty of protection from those after the whistle slashes.



For the blocker I went with the bindingless Pro blocker. The Pro blocker features a higher hand position on the blocker which aids in low stick side shots. The Ritual SE blocker features a binding and regular hand position construction.


When putting my order together I was informed I could not go without trying the “Pro Palm” blocker. The Micronash palm is VERY soft and you can really feel your stick well in this blocker, which I like. From what I can tell the “Pro Palm” blocker does not have mesh in the finger stalls…I really like the soft thin feel of the blocker palm.


The thumb on the blocker is unique in that it has a break making the thumb much more flexible. The finger protection is perfect. I can hold a stick with little interference with the index finger protection. I did get one shot that ramped up the paddle of the stick.






Just a few random pictures when we were messing around on the ice taking shots…





As with all my reviews, if there are any questions or if you’d like a picture of something not shown above please e-mail me at Jim@Goalcrease.com . I appreciate you taking the time to read my review and feel free to leave me feedback. Thank you.

Jim Martin

[Bru]

Finally - a review with a pad stack picture! That just goes to show you that the Rituals can play it anyway you like it!

How did you find the flex in the leg pads above the knee? I talked to Pete about this a while ago, and he said that - despite the fact that the "stock" break is below the knee - the pad had more flex than you'd think above the knee. Did you find this as well?

Also, we've got an "easy flex" glove here, and I can agree that it closes like a dream with little break in required. Any stingers with this flex in the short time that you've had it?

Great review Jim!

[mattmcgiver]

let me know when youre selling them!

[gort]

Awesome looking gear. I wore some Smith SP6000's for about a year and really liked them. I eventually got rid of them as I ordered them a little too short. Is the pro palm blocker the new material I've heard about that is very thin and enables better feel for your stick?

[newyork]

If I manage to play in college, I definitely want a set of these.

[StaubersGC]

Mike- No issues at all with the easy flex palm, not one stinger. Pete nailed it with the breaks on the pad. The foam used internally on the Ritual is very unique in the way it flex and bounces back to shape. I would say the top break is not needed for most on the Ritual pads. We have a double break set in the store and the flexs' feel very similar.

Gort- That is correct, this is the special material that is thinner and I can certainly feel my stick better with this blocker then any others I have reviewed in the past.

[Red33]

Gorgeous Tron pads... how soft is the boot break?

[ollie_232]

Do you guys think that a guy like me coming from Revokes would like theese pads? Because i just love the desing!

[jconc1941]

Warrior gear is boss

[tflem35]

hmmmmmmmmmmmm these with soft boot or 7990s