How effective are hockey goalie pads (designed by Leahy) as compared to ordinary pads? Supposedly they createan optical illusion which makes it more difficult to distinguish the goalie from the net and therefore causing a player to shoot at you rather than around you.

Really?

I thought they just stuck as much padding as possible into them to absorb the force of the puck when it makes contact with the goalie, and so that the shear size of the goalie with all his/her pads on practically fills the net so that he/she doesn't have to move as far to deflect...

I say that while trying not to read like a total jerk. Inflection is in the eye of the reader on the blaggerwebs!