Sher-wood Cerberus Goal Pads – If two heads are better than one, what about three?
Written: Jun 01 '05 (Updated Dec 13 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great improvements on the flat faced pad
Cons: Leather straps are about it.
The Bottom Line: The best flat faced pad thus far. It's that simple
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| puckmugger's Full Review: Sher-wood Cerberus 10 Pro Goal Pads |
Why a three headed goalie?
Granted three heads would make seeing around screens quite a bit easier. It would also give a goalie two extra blocking surfaces for the upper section of the net. However I would prefer to not have three times the likelihood of being hit in the head.
Most of you are probably wondering if maybe I haven’t been hit in the head a few too many times already if you aren’t familiar with the logo on the Cerberus line. Sher-wood has a crazy three-headed goalie as their emblem for this gear. Of course the wise and overeducated among my readers probably made that leap already. You see, Cerberus is a three-headed dog from Greek Mythology.
Woe to those who play with a three headed dog while he is eating. And woe to those who whack at the back of a three headed goalie’s legs. You will be caught. You will be punished in triplicate.
The basics
Now that I got the all important explanation of the logo out of the way, I can move on to the basics of the pads themselves. Goalie pads are devices that are used in ice hockey to protect the goalies legs and keep pucks out of the net. These devices strap directly to the . . . oh, a little too basic, huh?
The Cerberus 10 pads are a flat faced pad. Like CCM’s Blockade, they have no knee rolls or straps on the face. This is a pure butterfly goalie’s dream. Flat pad faces mean better rebound control. No knee rolls means strong five-hole coverage from the butterfly. They also look really sharp.
Still, my previous experiences with the flat face pad have been . . . well, disappointing. The Blockade fell well short of my expectation. I fully expected they would be the next pad that I would buy. When I tried them out, I found them fully ineffective and poorly designed.
There were two major issues that I had with CCM’s version of the flat face pad. First the pads had a plain stupid leg cradle. Don’t get me wrong, a knee cradle is imperative for butterfly style goal tending. However, CCM decided to lift the goalie’s calf as well. This created mobility issues from the butterfly and even worse made the goalie’s save stance much narrower. The other issue was that there wasn’t enough curve to close the five-hole in the Blockade. (The five-hole is the area on the ice between the goalies legs). The combination of calf lifts and poor pre-curve on the pads transformed them from a brick wall to a funnel.
The Cerberus Difference
What is really surprising to me about Sher-wood’s new pads is how much better they are than the other flat faced pads on the market. Sher-wood is a venerable hockey company that has been around for years. While their gear in the past has been good, it hasn’t exactly been revolutionary. Certainly they didn’t invent the flat faced leg pad, but they just might make the best model out there right now.
Sher-wood apparently learned a thing or two from their competition’s failings. The Cerberus sports nicely pre-curved legs that will close up the five-hole nicely. Further the ridiculous calf lifts are not present in their pads. These two adjustments alone make the Cerberus a much better pad than the Blockade. But Sher-wood went still further in the quest for goalie pad perfection.
The Cerberus has improved goalie mobility from the butterfly position by loosening the fit around the skates. To their credit CCM (Maska) did a similar thing in the design of the new RBK leg pads. Rather than a deep channel for the skates that traps goalies skates, Sher-wood has wide, very shallow foot channels that allow the goalie to still get a skate on the ice while down in the save position. Mobility from the butterfly is what separates the minor league goalies from the pro level players. You cannot succeed if once you are down you are also out.
Thus this is a huge improvement over most flat faced pads which built upon the model created by CCM’s Blockade. Rather than creating a disadvantage by raising the goalies feet as high as possible from the ice, Sher-wood did what should have seemed obvious all along. They made it easier for a goalie to put steel to frozen H20 and move.
Protection
The Cerberus is wafer thin and looks like it might be able to deflect the sting of a tennis ball (assuming the ball isn’t too cold). However looks can be deceiving. The protection that the Cerberus 10 pads offer is more than enough for any shooters that I’ve ever faced.
These are true pro level pads which will stop anything short of a speeding bullet. The thin design of the pad takes nothing away from the protection ability. On the contrary the calf protection in the five-hole on these pads is outstanding. Full wrap back of the calf protection will keep even snoozing goalies from getting too many stingers.
The thigh guard on these is an improved second-generation design as well. Rather than a simple stiff piece that pucks sneak under once in a while, the Cerberus sports a two-piece thigh protector. This wraps around the thigh with Velcro and folds over to protect the inner thigh. I’ve had more than one puck hit me in the inner thigh. It hurts. (Check my bio page and scroll down to the bottom for a picture of the resulting bruise I got from one).
Materials and Construction
The fine folks at Sher-wood didn’t skimp on these pads at all. The leg channel is lined with premium Clarino, my favorite hockey material. It is tough, comfortable and wicks perspiration well. While RBK and Bauer have gone away from Clarino in the leg channels of the Premier Pro and Vapor 2 leg pads, Sher-wood didn’t skimp.
The face of the pad has a very nice graphic that appears well thought out rather than the dull, toss a couple random lines look that most of the new pads have. They come in three off the shelf color combinations of White, Black and Silver, White, Red and Black and White, Blue and Silver. Custom colors are possible as well. The third color comes in three splashes of roboweave material on each leg.
The use of a small amount of roboweave gives the Cerberus a classier look than many of the new pads that use huge amounts of the flashy metallic looking material. The remainder of the pad is cast in Jenpro which is a proven, durable material for goalie pads. There is no weakness in the face of these pads for materials.
The straps are leather on these which is my only complaint. While leather remains the most popular choice for goalie leg pad straps, it is simply an inferior material. Nylon straps are lighter and more durable. They also make dressing easier as they click right on.
In all the Cerberus 10 pads are very light. These are on par with the other flat faced pads on the market. Once again light weight translates to quicker motions on the ice. Quicker motions mean more saves. More saves means happy team and happy goalie. This of course means better beer after the game. Sher-wood pads make for better beer!
Parting Thoughts
To recap the improvements quickly, Sher-wood increased butterfly coverage by leaving quality knee lifts in the Cerberus 10 pads. They allow the goalie to close the 5-hole more completely with the excellent pre-curve on these. Mobility is improved from a conventional pad by way of extra wide foot channels which put the goalie’s feet closer to the ice rather than further from it.
Protection in these pads is exceptional. Frontal impacts will not leave any bruises. Thigh and calf protection is well above average.
The materials are all excellent with the noted exception of the leather leg straps. I would expect these pads to last many years even goalies playing three or four games a week.
Sher-wood’s Cerberus 10 line is probably the best complete line of goalie gear on the market today. Both gloves and the leg pads are outstanding. I haven’t been this impressed by goalie gear since I started playing hockey.
I highly recommend the Sher-wood Cerberus line to anyone who is playing butterfly style or pro fly goalie. Stand up goalies won’t reap the benefits of these leg pads, but might still enjoy the light, high-speed protection of the gloves.
The Cerberus 10 leg pads aren’t cheap running in the ballpark of $1500 a pair, but leg pads aren’t cheap anyway. Even at what might seem like an outlandish price to anyone who just started shopping the Cerberus is cheaper than Bauer’s Vapor 2 and far superior to boot. If the price tag doesn’t make you wince too much, springing for a pair of these no matter what level of hockey you are playing would be a good idea.
Some of my other reviews that you might find helpful:
Fitting Goalie Gear
Bauer Vapor 2 Leg Pads
RBK Premier Pro Leg Pads
Louisville XLite GLL Goal Pads
Sher-wood Cerberus 10 Pro Blocker
Sher-wood Cerberus 10 Pelican Trapper
Battram Custom Goalie Equipment
© 2005 Scott Noble – All rights reserved. Unauthorized use prohibited.
Thanks to openroad for adding this item so I could review it.
Recommended:
Yes
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puckmugger
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