The Slanch Report

Trevor Leahy, a high school senior at the Pingree School in Massachusetts found himself thinking about hockey while he was in class, and soon the thoughts overtook him. Using the skills he learned in a graphic design class, he developed a special design for his goalie pads as the season approached.

Instead of wearing dark blue pads on his legs, thus giving the shooters a contrast to the net to avoid aiming at, Leahy opted for a more sensible approach; he designed his pads to look like the net.

“When the shooter comes down and only has a split second to shoot the puck, they’re looking for net,” said Leahy, “If you put the net on the pad, they’ll shoot at the pad instead of the goal.”

Amazingly, no one has thought to do this yet. When Leahy ordered the customized pads from a pad maker in Ontario, Canada the owner, Darren Stomp was surprised. “It might be the most clever idea,” Stomp said. “I don’t think there’s any question it will work, although to what degree depends on the shooter and the situation.”

As of yet, it’s working pretty darn well, with 2 shutouts. Pingree players say that in practice it has also been difficult to score on Leahy, “When you’re in close and you don’t have a lot of time to think, it does catch your eye, and you do shoot toward it sometimes,” said teammate Matt MacDonald.

Then again, in a recent game against another prep school, the opposing players said the design had no effect, although they did lose 4-3 in overtime.

Leahy, who has applied for a design patent has also used the pads to help himself off the ice too. Writing about the process of development and design as part of his essay for entrance to college, (comparing his idea with Darwinian evolution and animal camouflage) helped get him in, early admission, to the University of New Hampshire.

While Leahy likely won’t make the NHL, he’s hoping that perhaps his pads might, “It would definitely be cool to get it out there and get other guys in the future wearing it,” he said.

All in all, pretty cool, especially from a 17-18 year old kid. However, I will say, Pingree was one of our rivals in high school and I totally dominated them once in tennis. Because you know, I’m a REAL athlete, unlike this bullshit “hockey” sport…

[Boston Globe]