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…
During the fourth quarter of yesterday’s dismantling of the Arizona Cardinals, Junior Seau received a very unexpected hit. A male fan, presumably inebriated, jumped out of the stands and tackled Seau, bringing him to the ground. This took Seau completely unawares. “It was definitely a shock,” he said. “It was probably one of my most memorable moments in my 19-year career. I thought [at first] it was one of my [teammates] that was enjoying the win. As I was laying on the ground I saw this guy in street clothes. Obviously, it was not one of the players or any of the employees of the Patriots. Therefore, security came over and took care of him. I wish him a Merry Christmas.”
Unfortunately for all those fem-A-Rod fans, these have been washed. Sigh. Fortunately, the bidding hasn’t gotten out of control yet, with a high bid as of this posting of only $177.
Not only did Farrell’s little general butt up against these briefs, but the thrifty shopper will notice right now that the high bid is a mere 10 dollars, give your favorite Red Sox fan a unique piece of history without breaking the bank. They’ll never know the difference! And again, there is no mention of these being washed (I guess the Sox are less concerned with hygiene) so there’s that too.
Dustin Pedroia, the reigning MVP, (that sounds AWESOME to say) has, according to Peter Gammons, signed a 6 year, $40.5 million contract extension. 
The Slanch Report 
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