All this equipment necessary?

[JoelWarlord]

Shoulder pads are optional in beer leagues but everything else is pretty much mandatory. Inevitably you'll fall on your elbow or head, and take pucks to the shins/nether regions.

 

[shoeshine boy]

Thanks for the replies guys.

After reading about shot blocking bruises & injuries (i like shot blocking), I am now definitely going to don the full gear when playing a game where there's a goalie.

For shinny, I'll use shin pad.

I'd encourage you to wear the pants for shinny if for no other reason to protect against cuts. you never know when some guy near you might lose an edge, take you out with him and possibly cut you with his blades. if something like the femoral artery gets cut you'll be dead in seconds. safety first.

 

[IIHFjerseycollector]

are people really this lazy about carrying a bag of equipment? buy a hockey bag, put your stuff in it, and go play ICE hockey and stop complaining. you are going to get seriously hurt one day, if I was on the ice with you, id definetly love to get at those shins and elbows.

 

[Ozz]

Haha - I wouldn't particularly go after a guy w/o proper equipment, but I'd laugh when he got beaned and hurt because of it.

 

[keysersoze98]

No point in fracturing your elbow and putting yourself out of commisson for rec hockey.

After having bursitis in my elbow and hip, I wear elbow pads and a girdle even when I'm reffing squirts. When I coached, I even wore an elbow pad for a while because I didn't want to have to deal with that again.

 

[Jarick]

Yes it is.

For shinny outside, I'll wear elbow and knee pads, cheaper foam ones, just to take the impact off the hard joints. And of course my gloves. Had a friend who broke his elbow playing shinny in his late 20's. No fun.

Same thing at stick and puck or open skate, just don't want to risk losing 4-6 weeks of playing plus $2,000 in medical bills because I didn't put on my $10 pads.

Hockey, just wear full gear. Same if you're a newer player and learning to skate.

 

[MJAYK]

Like the other hockey playing dudes here i recommend wearing everything.

You will eventually grow fond to your equipment and learn to appreciate the moments when you get to suit up.

 

[Gigantor The Goalie]

I don't mean to be rude... but as a goalie I stopped reading after this.

I thought this was a thread to complain about goalie equipment. Geez was I ever wrong
If you would like to really complain about carrying gear, I'm getting tired of carrying my goalie equipment thats for sure.

 

[forbs02]

This whole thread is great

8 year old girls carry their own equipment bags. That said, shoulder pads are always optional in non-checking leagues, everything else should be worn. It is really annoying playing against someone who is too cool to wear shinpads because then I'm always worried about smoking them in the shins.

 

[tarheelhockey]

You can go without shoulder pads in non-checking rec hockey, but only if you're pretty sure nobody's going to be lifting the puck when they shoot.

Otherwise, yes, your pads are absolutely necessary. Not only do they keep you safe from the inevitable beating your body WILL take (just wait, it will happen) but they also enable you to play without fear of injuring yourself. That's pretty important when it comes time to block a shot, go hard into a corner or generally put yourself in a dangerous position. If you have to worry about shattered knees and elbows, you won't be able to do those things and your teammates will not appreciate it very much.

 

[AcidJazz]

Get a bag with wheels. Problem solved. I like to block shots, so I wear as much protection as I can.

For pond hockey, I only wear gloves. I just can't bring myself to wear a helmet there.

 

[LarryO]

Get a bag with wheels. Problem solved. I like to block shots, so I wear as much protection as I can.

For pond hockey, I only wear gloves. I just can't bring myself to wear a helmet there.

For pond hockey, I wear some street hockey shin pads and rollerblade elbow pads. The odds are that you will fall at least once on an elbow in your lifetime of playing pond hockey, whether it's caused by you or someone else.
And even though it's understood that nobody lifts the puck, there is one time when a guy iced the puck directly onto my shin. Everyone gasped and froze on the spot until I lifted my pant leg to show I was wearing shin pads. I was the only one wearing them and really happy I was.

 

[Jarick]

I might have to look into those.

I can't ever find knee pads that fit around my fat knees

 

[SJGoalie32]

I've played at a beginner's clinic games before and I found that I didn't fall at all and only took one weak wrist shot on the shin pad. Do you think it is necessary to wear full equipment for this situation?

Keep in mind that those are beginner's clinic games.

The more you play and the more competitively you play, the greater the risk of injury.

Also at a shinny hockey game, I wore nothing except for gloves and helmets and had no problem. Although my knees hurt a little bit from falling twice (I'm 28 btw).

Sure.....for shinny.

Presumably you're going to play hockey long enough that you end up playing against someone who has a decent enough slapshot.

And even if you don't, there's always a handful of lumberjacks in whatever league or pickup game you end up playing in who's going to slash and hack at your legs.

So when is it safe to play without shoulder pad & hockey pants? Those two pieces of equipment force me to use a large hockey bag as opposed to my normal gym bag.

I would never go without the hockey pants. Even forgetting about the thigh protection offered against slapshots and slashers.....they're worth it just for the hip and tailbone protection alone.

It's great that you only fell a handful of times in shinny. It's also meaningless. Have you ever actually watched a hockey game? You do realize there's a penalty for "Tripping" which gets regularly called, right? Ergo, if you're going to play hockey, it's not always going to be up to you or within your control when you fall down and how. You only need to land on your tailbone once after getting slew-footed (intentionally or unintentionally) to never want to experience that unprotected ever again.

As others have said, shoulder pads are optional in many leagues. That said, it only takes one errant slapshot, one redirected puck, one errant stick, one violent cross-check, one player falling and landing on top of you. It's not worth it, IMO. No, you won't get hurt in every game without one.....but it only takes one slapshot straight into your unprotected rib cage covering your heart or lungs.

I also found elbow pads to be pretty useless so far.

My cup has been pretty useless over the last year or so. Haven't taken even one wayward puck or stick in the groin recently.

But it only takes one. And uncomfortable as it can be at times, wearing the extra one pound of plastic and jock every game for an entire year is less uncomfortable than the one game where I rupture a testicle.

 

[RandV]

Yea, I was young and didnt really know better. The cup I had was super wide and drove me crazy to wear, thought all cups were that way for some reason. I was only 11 or 12 at the time.

I had the same experience at about the same age except in Tae Kwon Do. Got a cup because I was told you were supposed to have it, but the thing was pretty damned uncomfortable probably because it wasn't sized right and I didn't know better, so I never wore the thing.

Gotta say though when I started playing hockey the under armour compression shorts sure fit great.

 

[TrueBlue86]

of course it's necessary, what else would we talk about here :p

but seriously you have to develop a relationship with the equipment so you don't even notice it out there. i'm slowly getting there as a beginner.

i know carrying it sucks but i carry a huge bag as a backback on the bus every time i play so ppl with cars shouldn't complain too much. it's not that big a deal

 

[r3cc0s]

the answer is go light

if you're not skating full blast, there is rarely incidental contact, and deliberate contact... go light

I play a variety of levels... the most contact being a top level "non-contact" league, where the ref's let things go a bit, and sometimes goalies will pull your skates if you're making a move by them...

in this league, you kinda expect to be pinned to the boards and sometimes squeezed out, but unlike full contact you never expect to be leveled, which sometimes you do... when people feel like taking liberties

in that league I wear my vintage cooper shoulder pads, and a more heavy duty set of pants (tacklas)

Shinny... I play with a group, who are incredibly talented, and we do play a bit physical, but never over the line, and we all know each other

in that group, I wear no shoulder pads and a lightweight pair of Warrior Syko's... I'm on the ice much longer, like 4 subs, and we play sometimes onwards of 2 hours depending on how the rink rats are...

that being said, I wear a lightweight vintage HT2 helmet, but I will wear a visor (had too many close calls)
no mouth guard (really only protects from impacts, not teeth, so full contact is where its really needed)
if I wear shoulder pads, they're 1974 cooper vintages
I use softie elbow pads most the time (Bauer one15s)

but I will wear decent shin pads... take a clapper or get taken into the boards awkwardly and you'll understand why those anatomical pads with hex gel makes your life better
I use One95's for those

as for gloves... you can get away with just about anything... but at the top league there is a bit of hacking people can get away with, so I usually like decent weight gloves with a good clarino Palm, yet with PU inserts

 

[izzy3]

I don't know if it's necessary, but with all this gear put on I look like the Master Chief from Halo, so I take every opportunity.

And I friggen love my gear, so might even wear it when I'm sleeping.... well if it's dry... which is not tooo often...

 

[neksys]

Some guys skip the shoulder pads, which is just about the only thing I would skip out on in a scrimmage/low-level game situation.

Elbows are useless until you DO fall sideways or backwards. Guess which part always seems to his the ice first?

Hauling equipment is one of those things everyone sort of hates, but its just part of the game. After a late game or clinic I can't effing STAND carrying my bag into my house and carefully hanging everything to dry, but I do it because its just part of the process.

I did take one local hockey fundamentals class that recommended full equipment but required only a helmet and gloves - that's what I wore the first session. However, I took a puck off the thigh and that was enough - full equipment from then on. I skipped the shoulders.

 

[neksys]

I should add that as a beginner, if you aren't falling often, you aren't pushing yourself hard enough.

 

[lilphill23]

are people really this lazy about carrying a bag of equipment? buy a hockey bag, put your stuff in it, and go play ICE hockey and stop complaining. you are going to get seriously hurt one day, if I was on the ice with you, id definetly love to get at those shins and elbows.

Finally someone said it. I wouldn't necessarily go after someone but i am not about to play the game "safe"(i.e clearing pucks, mucking in the corners) because someone is not wearin the proper gear.

 

[TheeNorthStar]

OP must be trolling.

He first made threads saying that.. Why are the pucks so hard & heavy? Then asks Why isnt padding added to the boards? Coming off like hes made of glass...

Now he asks why do i have to wear all this protective equipment..? Now youre macho man?

Seriously?

 

[LarryO]

I should add that as a beginner, if you aren't falling often, you aren't pushing yourself hard enough.

I agree. And as a beginner falling means that you're learning your limits and training your muscle memory. That helps you achieve your full potential.

 

[LarryO]

OP must be trolling.

He first made threads saying that.. Why are the pucks so hard & heavy? Then asks Why isnt padding added to the boards? Coming off like hes made of glass...

Now he asks why do i have to wear all this protective equipment..? Now youre macho man?

Seriously?

Trolling or not, maybe the information in this thread will be useful to someone.

 

[AcidJazz]

I don't know if it's necessary, but with all this gear put on I look like the Master Chief from Halo, so I take every opportunity.

Please don't tell me you have a mirrored visor.