Koho Pro Trapper: Good enough for Patrick Roy; good enough for me, or is it?
Written: Apr 28 '04 (Updated Dec 13 '05)
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Pros: Light, durable, makes you look like Patrick Roy
Cons: A bit on the small side
The Bottom Line: You can probably do better in the glove market. However, you can certainly do worse.
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| puckmugger's Full Review: Koho 14 Pro Senior Goal Catcher |
The first set of gear I purchased as a fledgling adult goalie was pretty much the cheapest stuff that I could find which still looked passable to my untrained eyes. Unfortunately this meant that I bought a great deal of Franklin gear which got replaced after about a year. Franklin did a great job of making their gear look up to the job without actually being up to the job. My Franklin trapper might have still been a steal at $50 with a list price of $180, but it didn’t take long for me to upgrade to a glove that I could actually close when the puck was in it.
Patrick Roy was the newly arrived Colorado hero who had backstopped the Colorado Avalanche to Colorado’s first major pro sports championship. He also used Koho gear. I liked the science behind Koho’s leg pads at the time (something for another article) and I found my inexpensive Koho skates to be quite comfortable. I figured, hey if the Koho 14 Pro gloves worked for Patrick, it should do the trick for me too.
Using the 14 ProTrapper
I actually had been using the Koho 14 Pro trapper for a few months before I stumbled onto a reasonable deal for the catch glove. In my vanity to have matching gear, I likely would have picked up the catch glove even if it was only slightly better than the Franklin that I started with . . . did I mention that I once parked my car on the Franklin glove in an attempt to make it easier to close? Maybe I should have used the truck, because it didn’t help.
Anyway, back to the Koho 14 Pro - when I first picked this glove up, I was impressed with the off the shelf break in that it had. This being a few years back, gloves weren’t generally ready to use right off the shelf. Some of the better brands had come up with this novel idea of making them easier to break in. Not a bad idea for impulse buyers with $300 burning a hole in their pockets. “Hmm, I would get a new trapper, but what’s the point? I couldn’t use it today anyway. Wait, look at this . . .”
So my first day in the locker room as guys were eying my trapper with a gleam of hope, I secretly knew they would be disappointed. One guy even asked, “So you haven’t broken that in yet?” I gave him the answer he wanted to hear, “Nope, haven’t used it at all yet.” Little did they know that the new gauntlet - I use that word because I knew there would be no passing the glove side that day – was game ready from the shelf.
The Koho 14 Pro is a pretty light trapper. It is in fact lighter than the one I am currently using. The shape is very different from any other trapper that I have seen. It is designed for good vertical coverage, but not very wide.
I found the shape to be both annoying at times and a pleasure at others. Certainly any goalie will go for a bigger glove when given the choice, and the 14 Pro is not especially large. The low weight will compensate for some of that issue by making the catch hand a little quicker. However, the size of the glove left a few more pucks just out of reach than I would have liked. Hence, the reason that my new glove weighs more than the Koho 14 Pro did - it looks like a garbage can lid in a size comparison to the Koho 14 Pro.
The other issue that I had some difficulty with in the Koho 14 Pro was Stick handling. The shape of the glove made getting any sort of purchase on the stick a very tricky thing. This is already a challenge for newer goalies, but the 14 Pro made it more of a struggle than challenge. I put a notch in my sticks to compensate and despite the many questions it generated it helped a great deal.
The one very nice thing about using the Koho 14 Pro was the quick ability to put pucks back in play. As an aggressive goaltender I am often looking up ice for a breakout pass that I can make myself. If someone shoots and I have a chance to send one of my teammates on a breakaway, getting the puck out of my trapper quickly and predictably is imperative. The 14 Pro was the best glove I ever used for putting the puck into play. Pucks came out when and where I wanted them. With my current glove, putting the puck back into play is sketchy at best. Sometimes it takes a couple shakes to get the puck out, other times it goes in a completely unexpected direction.
The Trapper offered adequate protection, although I would think the Pro rating was a little high. I should now mention that Patrick Roy likely used custom gear built specifically for him by Koho. It looked just like the 14 Pro and 570 series gear, but when you’re paying a guy several million a year to wear your stuff, if he wants his glove made a little differently from what you’re selling it isn’t a big deal.
The 14 Pro did yield a few minor stingers over the years that I used it. I had no injuries bruises, broken bones, but the guys I play hockey with shoot at 80 miles an hour, maybe a rare 90 mph shot at the most. Pros are consistently hitting 90 and the best shooters can move the puck a little over 100. I think that there might have been long-term nerve damage from repeated impacts in this speed range.
Materials and Durability
The catching face and T-Web of the 14 Pro is made of real leather. No imitation or synthetic wannabe here. The wrist guard and a large portion of the back are either leather or high grade synthetic as well. Without scuffing them, it was impossible to tell. I would suspect that they were from synthetic as they were less important to the break in of the glove. The remainder of the exterior of the glove is a heavy nylon.
The fingers and hands are leather-lined as well. The glove opens up for quick drying (as most goalie gloves do). Fit is adjusted through two straps under the back of the hand pads.
I used my 14 Pro for about two years. It sold on Ebay for close to $150 this year after sitting in the basement for another three years. That’s a heck of a resale value for a five-year-old glove that I paid $225 for. The condition of the glove was outstanding after two years of play. It had numerous puck marks, but aside from some light scuffing on the top of the T-Web, there was no blemish to be found.
The only durability issue that was mildly annoying was that the glove didn’t stay open very well after a while. Essentially it was overly broken in. I suspect that this was partially my fault for storing it in a closed position. This was likely an after effect of having a glove that wouldn’t close before I got the 14 Pro rather than any true fault of the Koho glove.
Bottom Line
Honestly, I never noticed the small size of the glove until I switched to a newer, bigger one. Originally, I had planned to replace my leg pads and keep my gloves, but having found a killer deal on a full set, I set the Kohos aside.
The 14 Pro is as good a quality off-the-shelf glove as you will likely find. Some of the newer styles certainly are a little lighter or a little slicker looking. However, if you can get a 14 Pro for a decent price in good condition, it is a proven trapper that will last a long time. If you can get a new one for $200 or less it is a steal compared to other gloves that you will find in that price range.
I would recommend this glove for fairly advanced goalies who have a quick glove hand that will put a higher premium on speed than size. The stick handling issue will have a minimal effect on unorthodox methods like flipping the stick or reversing the trapper hand as many goalies do. Again, advanced goalies will know if this is their style.
Rating the 14 Pro Catch Glove is a tricky thing, because it was a well-built, lightweight, durable glove. However, it suffered from small blocking size and poor stick handling characteristics. The bottom line is that it will get 3 stars as the good and the bad balance each other out.
A few of my other reviews that you might find helpful:
Fitting Goalie Gear
Itech 4.8 X Factor Trapper
CCM Blockade Trapper
Battram Custom Goalie Equipment
© 2005 Scott Noble – All rights reserved. Unauthorized use prohibited.
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