Sher-wood Cerberus Pelican Trapper – You could almost fit a Pelican in there!
Written: May 31 '05 (Updated Dec 13 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Huge pocket, very light, nice off-shelf break in.
Cons: Questions about the durability of a two-piece palm
The Bottom Line: There is nothing better that I've seen lately. This is at the top of my list
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| puckmugger's Full Review: Sher-wood Cerberus 10 Pro Pelican Trapper |
Sher-wood Cerberus Pelican Trapper
Spoiler
I usually like to make people read the entire review to get a feel for whether I like a product or not. It makes me feel better to know that they don’t just read the introduction. However, I’m so excited about this product that I’m going to give away the answer in the first paragraph. I think the Cerberus Pelican is the best new catch glove on the market.
The Look
This is a very unique glove in appearance. The Cerberus Pelican is so named as the result of its unique appearance. No, it doesn’t resemble Cerberus the three-headed dog from Greek Mythology. I was actually referring to the Pelican portion of the name.
The wrist pad on the Pelican extends into the catch pocket of the glove. The wrist pad extends to the thumb giving full coverage in the area between wrist and thumb. Essentially this is a low profile glove similar to CCM’s Blockade design which came out about two years ago. The break on the glove is 60 degrees which gives it a moderately upright look.
Double T-Web
The double T-web in the Pelican is in a word HUGE! You could catch watermelons with the pocket in this thing . . . well, small ones anyway. In all honesty a honeydew melon would likely fit comfortable in the pocket. But back to the double T for a moment. Where most catch gloves have a single leather strip in the middle of the pocket, the Pelican has a pair of strips, hence the double T.
The first benefit of a double T is that it gives the glove an obvious break point. Gloves with a single T will often break on one side or the other of the T, despite the predetermined break at the center of the T. Oftentimes the pocket will form a little funny as the result of the actual break point going awry of the planned one. I’ve had a couple of gloves with pockets that twisted due to the single T-trap breaking in wrong.
A double T-web virtually eliminates the possibility of a pocket twisting. This is a huge deal in a pocket this big any distortion of the web will result in pucks becoming hopelessly entangled. While it is good to have pucks stay in the glove when you want them to stay, it is often equally important to be able to put them back into play predictably. The Pelican allows for both.
Another benefit of the double T-web is simply durability. Even in a good glove that breaks in properly, the T will wear out and begin to sag. This again will cause problems and can eventually create the same type of puck eating glove. With twice as much material, the stiffness in the pocket is much greater and will last much longer.
As a side note, referees can call a delay of game penalty on a goalie for freezing a puck when they could have clearly returned it to play. I had one impatient referee yell at me once for not putting the puck in play when there were three people from the other team within a foot of the crease and only one from my team nearby. He shook his head as he took the puck telling me, “Give me a break here! You’ve gotta play that or I’m calling a penalty next time!” I guess I’m alright at handling the puck, but he had to be kidding!
The shape of the pocket on the Pelican is probably what I like the best. Even us old goalies who have reflexes that are getting slower will have no problem closing a glove with a pocket this size before the puck falls out. As much as I like the fact that the pocket is substantial, there is little doubt that I can put the puck back into play cleanly with this product as well. Further, the depth gives a comfortable feel on the stick. Ripping passes to the far blue line will be no problem (assuming you can normally pass that well).
The remainder of the glove
The face of the glove is a combination of JennPro synthetic leather, roboweave and Clarino. The rubberized leather patch near the center of the pocket in the catching face is the only thing that I don’t like about this glove. I’m not sure what benefit glove designers think that this patch will offer. Perhaps they feel the leather will wear better than JennPro. I’d say in that they are correct. However, the issue that I have is the thread that connects the JennPro to the leather is absolutely going to wear out more quickly than either JennPro or leather will.
If rubberized leather is a better product (which it is) the entire catch face needs to be covered with it. Any place there is a seam is going to be a weak spot. In the palm of a catch glove it is going to result in a very expensive repair as well.
I found the same issue to be the case in the Nash palm of the RBK Pro trapper. However, Sher-wood is a little less guilty of this as their two-piece palm is better designed. The palm is not only double stitched, it has a heavy hand stitched section that will outlast the lighter thread of the RBK. Further, the design of the Pelican puts the majority of the seams a little further from harm’s way.
While I claim that I don’t know why the glove designers are doing this . . . well I lied. The rubberized leather in the palm not only is more durable, it grabs hold of renegade pucks a little better. If one does try to escape the pocket, the tack surface will keep it from the other team a little more surely than slick JennPro would.
The back of the glove consists of Roboweave on the fingers. Ballistic nylon covers the back of the hand and thumb area. The cuff of the glove is covered in ballistic nylon as well. All of these materials are excellent for durability in goalie catch gloves. I have no doubt that the materials will hold up. My only question is with the stitches in the palm.
Comfort
If I didn’t think that this one was comfortable I wouldn’t have spoiled the review in the first line. I suppose I might have if I was a premature evaluator. Nonetheless, I liked the feel of the break. It was very natural on my hand as opposed to some gloves with breaks closer to 90 degrees which made me feel like I had a withered hand when I tried to close them. It seems like much beyond the 60 degrees of the Pelican my thumb has to do all the work to close the glove. With the Pelican it is my entire hand closing it.
That in mind, the off the shelf break in of these is superb. I tried on half a dozen gloves the day that I evaluated one of these and the Pelican was far better than any glove that I picked up that day.
Another area that it had the others beat was weight. I didn’t weigh all of the gloves (or any of them for that matter). But that isn’t important. Sometimes a glove will feel heavier than it is because of where the weight is primarily located in the design. Balance is almost as important in a goalie glove as it is in a stick. If the Pelican wasn’t the lightest glove it certainly was the best balanced. Thus it felt like it was the lightest glove.
The lining was very comfortable. I would rate the internal comfort of the glove as on par with the best gloves that I tried on that day. Still there wasn’t anything exceptional about the feel of the interior. The fit was comfortably snug with the strap adjusted. There was no feeling that the glove was loose or might come off in a game.
Protection
The Pelican offers pro level protection at a price strong enough for an amateur. Estimated pricing for the Pelican is about $275. I say about $275 because for some reason Sher-wood’s goalie gear is a little hard to find. The only price my research got me was a rather uncertain one.
The large pocket is one aspect of increased protection. If the puck hits the pocket rather than the palm, it is very pain free. The pocket being a big target is a part of the protection.
However, pucks will always hit areas of a glove other than the pocket (unless you are superhuman goalie man . . . even then you might want to mess up once in a while so the public doesn’t catch on to your secret identity). The single piece design of the wrist a palm makes the Pelican a little safer as there isn’t a pesky seam for pucks to sneak into.
The shape of the glove is also excellent for diverting the impact of the puck away from the hand. Much like modern goalie helmets, the Pelican is shaped in such a manner that most hits will be glancing blows rather than dead on. The only exception to this is the wrist pad. I suppose they could have made a rounded wrist pad, but then more pucks would get in the net. Besides, it rarely hurts to take one in the wrist.
Like most gloves the palm is reinforced to spread the force of a puck out across a large area rather than allow an isolated impact. In the palm of the glove itself there is a gel-like soft foam material that reduces the impact from pucks further.
Any glove will give up the occasional stinger. My bet is that with the Cerberus Pelican they are far less common and much have far less stinginess . . . hmm, I was trying to make up a new word there, but realized that stinginess is the state of being a tightwad . . . so lets just say the singers are less painful with the Pelican.
Sizing
The Pelican comes in Senior size (that means adult, not old guy), Intermediate and women’s sizes. Interestingly this is one of the only goalie items made in a separate women’s size. Generally women are stuck with men’s sizes which are too big and intermediates which are too tight. If you are a small man, the women’s size would work well also. (I won’t tell anyone you are wearing women’s gloves – I promise).
Also you should note that the Cerberus comes two models - the regular and Pelican Model. The regular model is a pretty good glove, but wasn’t nearly as exciting to me as the Pelican model.
Parting Thoughts
If I were in the market for a new set of gear, the Pelican would be the glove that I would buy right now. Overall, I was more impressed by this glove than any piece of equipment that I saw in the new gear.
The only thing that I didn’t like about this glove was the two-piece palm. Still I think the overall excellence of the rest of the design far outweighs this one flaw. I highly recommend the Cerberus Pelican for goalies everywhere.
A few of my other reviews that you might find helpful:
Fitting Goalie Gear
Sher-wood Cerberus 10 Pro Blocker
Sherwood Cerberus 10 Pro Goal Pads
Bauer Vapor 2 Catch Glove
CCM Blockade 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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