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Originally Posted by PugnaciousIntern
It's a similar concept as why stick tape is white (cannot see the angle of the stick well prior to the shot) or black (cannot see the position of the puck on the stick well).
Who knows if there's any validity to it or not, but most of us here have played hockey and I don't think anybody thinks that colour camouflage in hockey is actually a critical component to the game, despite possible modest benefits. As pointed out, many famous and successful goalies certainly aren't convinced.
However, a photo of Roy's pads do actually use this camouflage, by making the five hole look bigger than it actually is. As a layperson, this looks to me almost more effective than all white pads.
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To be fair, that photo is so washed out and contrasted it doesn't give an accurate representation of how difficult it is to see.
Really though, the game is played on a surface that is 95% white. It's also played at such a speed that shooters don't possibly have time to line up their shots the way we're imagining. Shooters look for lanes. They know where the net is, they know what they can do, and they know they have less than a second before they're either attacked or the goalie is set. At that point, it's muscle memory. Not the eyes sending a message to the brain which evaluates, makes a decision based on pad color, sends a signal to the hands, and then shoots.