Why Trey Augustine has to find a glove to match his pads

It's July 3, let's look at a fun nerdy topic.

This admittedly a nerdy topic.

It’s also July 3, and what better time to write about nerdy things that interest me.

And that’s why it was notable, to me, that Detroit Red Wings goalie prospect Trey Augustine is using True glove and blocker at development camp.

Here is a photo, courtesy of Red Wings social media:

Augustine has typically used a Vaughn catching glove and blocker, like he is in this photo from this past season at Michigan State.

I spoke with Augustine about his equipment during the season, particular the Vaughn glove. He really liked the break of the Vaughn glove, and at the time hadn’t found a similar fit or comfort from True, which I know has pushed to sponsor the goalie.

And while it’s common to see mismatched equipment in a local beer league game, mismatched gear in the NHL simply doesn’t happen. To my knowledge, Jake Allen was the last NHL goalie to use a mixed up set, using a Brian’s glove and True pads before switching completely to Brian’s last season.

For Augustine, to get the full financial benefit of a gear sponsorship, he’ll have to match his pads and gloves before reaching the NHL. He was smart when I asked him about it on Wednesday, saying he didn’t want to comment on whether the Vaughn glove was still his go-to choice.

To give you an idea how all of this works, equipment companies try to catch on with top goalie prospects early and turn them into an ambassador for the brand. Goalie equipment is the largest advertisement on the ice equipment wise, and Bauer, for example, hit gold when they converted Andrei Vasilevskiy as a Bauer ambassador early in his career.

Bauer has since focused on trying to sign first-round pick goalies going into their draft years, this is why you’ve seen Jake Oettinger, Sebastian Cossa, and Yaroslav Askarov in Bauer pads since they were teenagers.

For Oettinger, for example, part of Bauer’s pitch was to help the goalie become part of the brand legacy in goal that was formed by Henrik Lundvqvist. Oettinger is a huge Lundqvist fan, and one of his prized possessions is a signed Lundqvist stick from Bauer.

Augustine wasn’t a first-round pick, but with his performance in recent years and gear manufacturers targeting him as a potential future No. 1 goalie for the Red Wings, gear companies are effectively hoping to land him before he turns pro.

So True is making its push, hoping that Augustine’s experience testing the glove at development camp will convince him to switch to a True glove and blocker set at Michigan State in the fall.

Augustine’s favorite goalie is Sergei Bobrovsky, who also happens to be a True client. In fact, Bobrovsky is one of the most dedicated goalie clients to Lefebvre family, which makes all True pads. When CCM and the Lefevre (the company name dropped the B) split ways, Bobrosvky was one of the first goalies to call the family directly and wear unbranded pads before Lefevre was purchased by True.

In their history, Lefevre has made pads for Heaton, Koho, Reebok, CCM, and now True.

When Bobrovsky won the Stanley Cup this season it was the second straight year a starting goalie wearing True-branded pads hoisted the Stanley Cup.

Using original data from this post by Uni-Watch, and then looking up 2018 to 2024 myself, here is the Stanley Cup brand standings for starting goalies in the final dating back to 1990.

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On a programing note, I’m headed off the grid for a the holiday weekend with the family. Doing some camping with the kids and checking out sand dunes. Thanks for reading, and we’ll have more next week here at Shap Shots.