Hockey:Ice Hockey Equipments

By: Jason Petrina




For newcomers into the great sport of ice hockey, they will need to buy a series of equipment to reduce the risk of severe injuries. The first important equipment that you will need for ice hockey will be skates. The whole sport is played on skates, because it is impossible to attain the same speed on anything else other then skates since the playing surface is ice. Before forking over the money, you should try on the skates to make sure it fits perfectly and comfortably. It is important to keep in mind that skates are not exactly the same size as the shoes. Also purchase the socks that you plan on wearing during hockey games so it will insure that the skates are perfect with the socks as well.

Helmets have become a must in the NHL as well, as more severe injuries are caused to the head. And more leagues are now not letting anyone who wants to play hockey to go on to the ice without a helmet. As helmets are ultimately your last defense for you head if you were to fall or get checked into the boards. The chance of concussions will significantly be reduced but wearing one of these during hockey. Also faceguards for younger players are required and most teenage players are also required to wear a helmet with a visor at least to help protect the eyes from the puck or a stick. Just like everything else in hockey, make sure the helmet fit perfectly and gives you as much comfort as it does in protection.

Hockey is a very physical game, and with the sport requiring a hockey stick before anyone can play it can be very dangerous to a lot of parts of the body. One area of the body that will possibly be hit the most by a stick will be the hands. A simple tap by a stick can easily break a bone in the hand. No matter what part of the body, breaking a bone will always be excruciating. The broken bone will put your hand out of services for a good couple of weeks. So to protect you from this happening would be to purchase a pair of hockey gloves. These gloves provide enough padding that in most circumstance it will protect you from a broken bone. But in some events like taking a snap shot to the hand, it may leave your hands from either being swollen or broken bones depending on the skill level of hockey play.

Hockey pants are made to help protect three parts of the body. First would be the lower spine area. The pants will provide a bit of cushioning when you fall during a hockey game since the surface is undeniably hard. The second part would be the hip area, as the hockey pants are going to be the only protection that area will receive. The third spot would be the thighs. Hockey pants are just basically there to help protect those three areas by simply having padding there. Equipment used to protect the legs is shin pads. This will help protect the knee if the player were to fall over and land on his or her knees. Also the shins will be protect incase the player gets in the way of a shot, because a frozen puck will hurt a lot in a hockey game.

For upper body protection shoulder pads are used. The shoulder pads should be a perfect fit for you at the moment of purchase as a shoulder pad being too big or too small will be render useless in a hockey game as it will not protect you from injuries. Hockey being the physical sport that it is will have a lot of bumps and crashes along the way. With a good set of shoulder pads, players will be protected in the collar bone, chest, ribs, back and upper arm areas. And to protect the rest of your arm, the equipment to use would be elbow pads. The elbow pads’ cups should fit perfectly on the elbow of the player. This will not only protect the elbow of the player but also the forearm.

A must have equipment to participate in hockey is the stick. There is not much protection value on the stick but it is equipment that all hockey players must have in order to even play the sport. The stick should not be higher than your nose when you are on skates, so it will be the perfect length for you to use in a hockey game. Hockey has got to be one of the most expensive sports for anyone to get into. The game of hockey is very fast and physical hence all these equipments that one must need before even thinking about hitting the ice for a good 60 minutes game.


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