Warrior goalie takes an interesting approach when it comes to marketing their gear and the Warrior G4 Pro line will be no different.

Warrior is one of the only “Big” goalie brands that does not pay the NHL’s costly licensing fee to market (have NHLers wear their gear) at the games highest level.

The Ritual gear lines from Warrior are known to be some of the lightest and most unique (actual gear design wise) goalie pads on the market. Always changing and always innovating, Warrior will be releasing their latest line of gear soon.

Can the public buy the Warrior G4 line yet? 

Yes. The Warrior G4 line has been available for purchase for some time now. A Warrior G4 Pro pair of pads runs around $1500, and the Warrior G4 Seniors cost $750. We recommend purchasing your gear through goalie gear through Pure Goalie, it’s where we buy all of our gear, whether it’s for demo purposes or actually in season use.

Are you a goalie or a goalie parent? enroll in one of our goalie specific training programs (online) for unreleased drill videos, workouts, and massive discounts in the Goalie Coaches store.

Warrior Ritual G4 Pro Goalie Gear Review

On of the biggest changes in the Ritual G4 line of gear is the inner sliding surface of the pads. According to Goalie Gear Nerd on Instagram (see post below), they’re calling this “AIRslide”.

GGN was able to get our hands on images of the @warriorgoalie catalog showing lots of the details on the upcoming G4 line. We don’t want to steal Warrior’s thunder, but WOW are there some really cool features! We now know the unique sliding surface will be called AIRslide which focuses not only on fast but also consistent sliding regardless of ice conditions. The catalog also details their new 360° Active Drop which helps lessen 5-hole exposure by shifting the leg channel toward the ice even when the strapping is worn snug. Lastly we see the rationale behind the unique outer roll design which is engineered to assist with RVH. It’s clear that Warrior has put a lot of work into the G4 line and we’re very interested to learn more. Search for more of our Warrior coverage by using #GGNWarrior and look for details on the gloves this weekend. And a big thank you to @mathiaslarsson_ for the images.

A post shared by Goalie Gear Nerd (@goaliegearnerd) on Jan 19, 2018 at 12:07pm PST

Warrior Ritual G4 Customizer

As of April 4th, 2018 the Warrior Ritual G4 customizer is live. For most goalie gear aficionados, regardless of whether or not we use Warrior gear, we’ll spend most of the day designing our dream set of pads.

For the record, we’re goalie drill experts, not gear experts (so, do not hire us to design your gear!).

When you’re ready to order, we recommend Pure Goalie.

Where can I order custom Ritual G4 goalie pads?

We recommend purchasing custom goalie gear from Pure Goalie.

When will we know more about the Warrior Ritual G4 goalie gear line? 

With most brands, it’s a little harder to keep a secret when it comes to gear. This is because professionals are often spotted wearing it long before it’s actual release, like the Bauer 2S OD1N line.

For Warrior, with goalies at the NHL level not wearing the gear, we must be a little more patient with getting gear information.

Warrior Ritual G4 Review

Finally, somebody with the latest Warrior G4 gear on the ice!

A few notable lines from the video: “First impressions of the Warrior G4’s, holy cow do they slide! The airslide system on the inside of the pad make these things extremely quick when you’re on the ice.”

Here’s what we know about this gear

A post shared by Warrior Goalie (@warriorgoalie) on Mar 11, 2018 at 12:16pm PDT

• It’s really light – so light, in fact, that the goalie in this demo video mentions “It’s almost like I’m not wearing pads, it’s a little bit to get used to”
• The Air Slide system does what it’s supposed to – in recent years, with Brian’s OPTIK pads and the Bauer 2S line, the inner sliding surface has been one of the biggest features in innovation. Of course, this makes sense as pads can only get so light. The Air Slide system on the Warrior G4’s works wonders by creating less friction on the ice. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Bauer following suit on this in coming models.
• G4 Glove comes broken in – the goaltender in the video mentions that he just put the glove on and it feels like he’s been wearing it for six months. One interesting note, when custom ordering gear you can sometimes request “extra break in”. This may not always be the case with Warrior, but it’s well known that you can request it for no extra charge with Brian’s.
• Wrist Mobility in gloves is great – one of the biggest complaints about CCM / Reebok blockers in the older Premier lines was the wrist mobility. Warrior has done everything they can in recent years to create a more mobile wrist in both the glove and blockers on their gear.

Warrior’s Approach to Gear Design

One of the things I like about the above video is the discussion with a Warrior rep at the end. They cover a few key points in the approach Warrior has taken when designing gear. Warrior has taken a non traditional approach to desgining their gear, targeting their product towards younger markets first and not focusing on the NHL level. In fact, Warrior doesn’t even pay the NHL licensing fees for goalie gear, hence the reason we see no Warrior gear in the pros.

What other pads are like the Warrior G4? 

We wrote a complete article, Warrior G4 vs. Bauer 2S / 1X that details everything in depth. We’d say that the Warrior G4 pads are a cross between the two, and that the Bauer pads are most similar to the Warrior line. One thing Warrior does just a little differently than other pad brands is only offer one line of gear. That means, if you’re a hybrid goalie or a pure butterfly, the Warrior G4 line is designed to meet somewhere in the middle.

Purchase your Warrior gear at Pure Goalie.