Hockey is a fantastic sport but in order to play it safely and enjoy the experience you must have good but not necessarily new, or expensive, protective hockey equipment.

 

All the necessary pieces must fit properly to protect your body yet still allows for a full range of motion to perform the required physical skills of hockey.

New or Used Equipment - buy either, as long as it provides good protection to prevent injuries.

Used equipment can be just as protective as new equipment and is much, much cheaper.

Protective Equipment young players will require in order to play hockey safely:

Shin pads - protect your shins and knee caps and extend downward to the top of your skates.

They come in different lengths so make sure they are not too long, or too short, but just right.

Hockey Pants - protect your thighs, kidneys, tailbone and hip area. They should be 4 to 6 inches

larger than your waist size to provide extra room for bending and feeling unrestricted while skating.

Shoulder pads - are designed to protect your shoulders, collar bone, rib cage, upper back, biceps, triceps and chest, yet provide a full range of motion for shooting.

They are secured in place by Velcro straps and come in different sizes, shapes and weights.

There are different designed models for forwards and defensemen’s protection.

Elbow pads - protect your elbows and forearm and the area between the shoulder pads and the top cuff of your hockey gloves.

They also come in different sizes so make sure they fit and have some flexibility and a 180 degree range of motion for passing, receiving and shooting.

Hockey gloves - protect your hands, fingers and wrists. They come in different cuff lengths and widths and the palms and fingers should be thin and flexible to grip your stick.

Try them on before buying to make sure both gloves feel just right.

Jock or Jill strap and cup – worn to protect your groin area and come in different waist sizes.

Garter belt – worn around your waist to hold up your hockey socks.

Neck guard/Throat protector – worn around your neck to prevent cuts from possible skate blades, sticks and flying pucks.

All these pieces of protective equipment that can be purchased second hand from some Sports Shops like “Play it Again Sports” or at your annual Youth Hockey Equipment sale at the start of the season.

This helps to keep the high costs of playing hockey down.

Hockey Helmet with Visor or Cage - I do recommend purchasing a new helmet and a full plastic visor or full wire cage because a used helmet could be damaged with very fine cracks that you cannot see and it is not worth taking a chance of getting an injury to your head or face.

It must fit properly not moving around.

However having said that, all equipment purchased must fit properly so it doesn’t move or shift if your child happens to fall.

Proper fitting equipment will cushion the fall providing there is no space between the specific pieces of equipment and it is strapped in place correctly.

Cracked pieces of equipment can be made safe by using duct tape to hold the crack in place.

If purchasing new equipment the Sports stores salesperson should be able to help you get the correct size.

Underwear - light cotton, or the new breathable material, long john type, top and bottom underwear should be worn under your equipment. Keep it clean and odour free.

After the Game - take your equipment out of your hockey bag and let it air out to dry.

 

Skates should not be placed around direct heat as they could crack the plastic blade holders.

 

Just let them air dry also.

Hockey Bag - a hockey bag must be large enough to carry all of your equipment. It should have 2 or 3 large outside pockets to carry your skates and for dry and your wet underwear after the game.

Keep an extra pair of skate laces, proper length in your bag for emergency and a small towel to dry your skate blades, rivets and blade holders after the game or practice to prevent them from rusting or cracking.

The newer hockey bags come with 2 wheels and a handle, like a suitcase for easier handling.

The old ones with handles are fine also.

Have a great hockey season.

John Shorey

Author- “Hockey Made Easy”

jshorey@hockeymadeeasy.com