Equipment

"What equipment should I have and how should it fit?" Is a question on the minds of many parents each season. "What do they need?" and "Does this fit right?" questions quickly follow. Young players are constantly growing and their equipment needs to be inspected, adjusted and sometimes replaced at the begining of each season. This page has information and tips on each area of equipment to help answer any questions that you may have. If your question isn't answered here, ask your coach or e-mail us.

HELMET

The helmet should fit snugly around the head. Get a philips screw driver and look for screws on the back at the base of the helmet. There is another pair of screws around the temple area. Loosen the screws and expand the two piece helmet apart. Put it on the players head and contract the pieces back into place. Once the fit is nice and snug, tighten up the screws. Adjust the face cage it needed.

If a player gets a headache about twenty minutes into practice or a game, blood circulation on the sides is being reduced. The helmet is too tight on the sides. Grab the cage and the back of the helmet to push the front/back towards each other. This will cause the sides to bow out. The plastic is pretty bendable and durable.

Do I need face cage or shield? Yes!!! MRYHA, USA hockey, and NCAA (College players) all mandate wearing a helmet with HECC Certified full face protection at all times on the ice and on the bench. So until you make it to the NHL, you will have to wear one.

Quotes from both USA Hockey and NCAA Rules Sections.

SKATES

Article on Custom Sharpening

Skates should have a snug fit and a little of pocket of air around the toes. If the toes touch the front of the skate, cold will be transmitted directly into them causing the toes to get colder than the rest of the foot quickly. The ankle should fit tightly in the base of the skate. The sides of the foot should be snug enough that the foot will not slide from side to side. If the foot slides, the player will have more trouble with balance and stability while transfering weight between the inside to the outside edges.

Keep in mind that the right FIT is more important than a cool brand or that you might have paid a lot. A cheap or used skate that fits well is always better than an expensive skate that is too loose or too tight. Look into swapping, trading, and buying used.

When trading or buying used, press and feel for any cracks in the support plastic in the heal and toes of the boot. Look for a nice ankle/tendon pocket in the heel that will mold well. Check that the blades are not slightly bent by looking down them the long way.

Lace your skates up how you want. Some players prefer to lace them all the way to the top and then tape over them so that they get minimal ankle bend. Some players stop short a couple eyelets from the top so that they can get more ankle bend. I like to go tight in the toes, looser just over the arch, and tight around the ankle. It is all a matter of personal preference, so experiment a little.

Skates need to be sharpened every so often. Stainless Steel blades will hold an edge longer than just steel blades. Every 4-6 skates for an adult, and a longer period of time for a youth player. Skating outdoors will dull your edges very quickly because of sand/grit from the air/wind that collects on the ice surface.

STICKS

Sticks are the one piece of equipment that all players customize. Players re-shape or shave the stick blades. Taping the blade and butt end of the stick is different for every player. Stick length is also variable. This paper answers questions on proper stick length and shows you how to cut and tape a stick.

GLOVES

When the gloves are on, the fingers should be able to extend without touching the ends of the glove. They should feel comfortable when holding a stick. Some have a long wrist guard area and some have a short wrist guard area. The trade off is increased wrist rotation movement over versus increased slashing protection. Gloves have moved from leather materials towards synthetics fabrics and plastics. With the new materials there is now little or no break-in time to get use to new gloves.

SHIN PADS

The knee should fit snugly into the center of the knee cover at the top of the pad. The pad should extend from there all the way down to a little above the ankle. You want some overlap between the top of the skate tounge and the bottom of the shin pad so that you're protected from pucks and slashes. If there is too much overlap, the shin pad may interfere with ankle bend. The lighter the shin pad, the faster you can move your legs and skate. The more the pad covers, the better protected you are. So there's a tradeoff to be made sometimes. Defensmen may choose a shin pad that wraps more around the leg because they spend most of their time blocking shots.

SHOULDER PADS

A good set of shoulder pads will have a spine protection strip in the back of the chest/back plate. There should be collar bone guard pads up around the neck area. The shoulder cups should be adjustable so that you shorten/lengthen them out depending on how wide your shoulders are. Most come with fastener straps that are easy to put on. They're measured in shirt sizes so it should be easy to pickout the right one.

ELBOW PADS

Elbow pads fit around the elbow and some have an additional pad that comes across the forearm. The elbow pad covers most of the area between your shoulder pads and your gloves. There will be gaps.

PANTS

Come in sizes like S, M, L, XL that then list a waist size range on the tag. Look for something that fits your waist size. All come with padding on the front legs, spine, kidney area. Some come with additional padding on the back of the legs and some other features.

SUPPORTER

All players need to wear a some type of cup or pelvis protection. You can purchase a supporter that will hold it in place. It's best to wear a pair of shorts or something over the supporter for warmth.

NECK GUARD

Gotta have one!!! They fasten around the neck and reduce the injuries resulting from sticks and pucks that can come up high unexpectedly.

HOCKEY BAG

The coolest inovation in hockey bags is the addition of wheels!!! If it's got wheels, it's easier to drag around because most of the weight is supported by the ground. If the player can drag his own bag around, it frees up the parents arms for holding other important things like that 5AM in the morning wake me up Java.

THERMAL UNDERWEAR / TURTLENECK SHIRTS

During the coldest months of the winter, the air in the rink may be at 10-20 degrees. It's important to keep your muscles, tendons, ligiments warm and loose in the cold air. Being tight or cold can increase the chance of muscle pulls and tears or other damage occuring during practice or games. Thermal Underwear or a Turtleneck shirt can add that extra layer of warmth that you need to keep everything warm and avoid injurys.