Is goalie equipment too big? maybe, but not by much. When you look at these guys in their butterfly, there isn't much of a gap between their knees, so you can't really take much off the height of the pads. As someone mentioned earlier in this thread, pants are not meant to take the constant abuse pads are, so goalies don't want to give up height on the pads.
Glove and blocker are WAY smaller than they were in the 90's. Blockers can't really lose much in size, but we can probably lose some in the cheater area of the catcher. The surface area of the glove itself isn't that much different than a fielders glove in baseball.
The Chest&Arms can probably lose some on the top/outside of the shoulder floaters, but again not much. Elbow floaters protect an extremely vulnerable area and shouldn't be touched in size - maybe shape, but not size.
Pucks hurt a lot more than they used to. It doesn't matter what level you are playing at. I play Tier 2&3 women's hockey, and I feel the puck way more than I did 10 years ago - sticks are making that much of a difference.
I play with pads that are smaller than most, because I feel pads any bigger inhibit my play. Same with glove/blocker, I play with Intermediate (teenage) sized gear because I feel the sacrifice in size is worth the gain in mobility. I moved from a Intermediate chest/arms to a senior small because the protection it offers is that much better.
Pro goalies these days are just that much better at their jobs. They employ coaches over the summer to work with them. The teams have full time goalie coaches on staff. Players are bigger, stronger and athletic in ways they never have been before. They - just like their sport has evolved in an incredible way!
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