I have been a huge fan of Bauer goalie pads for A LONG time and still remember the days of me falling in love with the innovation changes Bauer made on the 1S and specifically the 1X line of pads, the latter of which I used A LOT.

Thanks to Just Hockey (affiliate link) for lending me one of their Bauer Supreme Shadow set including these pads so I could test them and give them a review! Reviews and testing of the Bauer Shadow Vapor 90 glove and blocker are also available! Without Just Hockey’s (affiliate link) help these reviews and this content wouldn’t have happened. So make sure you check them our for your hockey equipment needs and let them know you came from Hockey Reviews!

Bauer increased the stiffness and straightened out their stock Supreme pad offering with the Mach line, and the excellent results in the puck machine test showed why this is beneficial. Bauer has decided to go in the other direction for the Shadow and has a pad that feels now softer than the Ultrasonics I had before. According to Bauer’s customizer, the Shadow falls in as a “Mid” stiffness for their pads, which is the same spot the Ultrasonic lived in the past, so expect something overall similar. When I compared my very used Ultrasonics and these relatively new Shadows, the Ultras felt slightly stiffer but it is most likely negligable.

Watch the full review of the Bauer Shadow goalie pads on YouTube here!

I think the move to a softer flex profile and a more curved shape is a step in the wrong direction for the Bauer Supreme line, which is supposed to be their “stiff” pad option. While all other companies are stiffening up their stock options, Bauer feels to be blending their two line too close to each other, and this pad is closer to the Vapor line than I think it should be.

While Bauer still is the King of Rebounds, I feel like their pads have stagnated and they are too focused on features that feel like gimmicks for advertising purposes compared to features that actually benefit the pad. Braces in the knee and calf wing can cause issues, and the stability benefits aren’t anything better than a more traditional pad design like True PX3 or PX4. Their sliding ability also feels like it has gone downhill since the plastic like material on the knee blocks of the 1S and 1X lines. I have a hard time recommending these pads when I feel like Bauer is getting worse in a areas (strapping customization for example), but if you want the best rebounding pad on the market with a pretty solid overall core these are hard to beat. Might want to add some PPF to the knee block though to make them compete with Warrior and Vaughn in regards to sliding.

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