Goalies: Ball Hockey

[Jets]

I'm an ice hockey goalie my whole life, but I'm signed up to play on a ball hockey team this spring. It starts tomorrow night and we play one or two games a week. It's full ice hockey equipment for goalies and we play on the polished concrete under the ice. I've been researching about pads and what to do with them, but I'm a bit indecisive.

I'm thinking of buying pad covers for my pads to A) not wreck them (although it shouldnt be tooo bad on the surface) and B) be able to move/slide a little bit better.
This guy http://mitchellhockey.com has some nice custom pad covers and can put slide plates on them too. I have no experience at all as far as pad covers/slide plates go, so if anyone has any advice it would be much appreciated.

Also a secondary question is toe strings/straps. I tried wearing my pads in the gym for a little floor hockey practice last week and I just taped the strings/straps up so they wouldnt drag. But I couldn't keep the pads too straight and they kept twisting on me. I've read about people making a groove in the bottom of their shoe to run their foot anchor strap under and use with their shoes. Good idea?

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[PlamsUnlimited]

I did that. I use pad covers too because they grind away the material otherwise. But yeah ... I would take my leather straps/buckles and just tape them to the inside.

 

[Hounsy]

Found the smooth concrete was not much of an issue for wear myself. I bought myself some Nike Shox that had a gap between the ball and heel that I could thread the foot strap through and it worked like a charm. Enjoy the curves!

 

[Fixed to Ruin]

Also a secondary question is toe strings/straps. I tried wearing my pads in the gym for a little floor hockey practice last week and I just taped the strings/straps up so they wouldnt drag. But I couldn't keep the pads too straight and they kept twisting on me. I've read about people making a groove in the bottom of their shoe to run their foot anchor strap under and use with their shoes. Good idea?

I use my toe ties on my sneakers.

It's complicated to explain. Probably would be easier if i took pictures. I'll try to explain it anyways.

1) I passed the toe tie laces through bottom loops of my sneaker.
2) I then crossed the laces under the sneaker.
3) I wrapped the laces through the loop on the heel of the sneaker.
4) Crossed the laces again and tied them to the front of the sneaker.

Then i just keep my sneaker attached to the pad and all you have to do is put your foot in your sneaker and tie everything up and your done.

If you want pictures, i can take some if my explanation is too confusing.

A quick tip. Go buy the cheapest sneakers you can find. I bought a pair of 20$ wal-mart sneakers. Because they are so cheap, the rubber sole wore out fairly quickly thus giving me a nice smooth surface on the bottom of my foot to slide on the concrete floor.

 

[Analyzer*]

Are these people beastly with shots ?

Normal ball hockey pads should suffice. You can get a pair (a decent pair) for about the same price as covers.

 

[Brodeur]

Found the smooth concrete was not much of an issue for wear myself. I bought myself some Nike Shox that had a gap between the ball and heel that I could thread the foot strap through and it worked like a charm. Enjoy the curves!

Amused to see that I'm not the only person who uses the Nike Shox for this. Seems like Nike has been phasing out Shox recently, so I might have to buy another pair eventually. Mizuno also makes a similar shoe, but it runs for $100+.

Also a secondary question is toe strings/straps. I tried wearing my pads in the gym for a little floor hockey practice last week and I just taped the strings/straps up so they wouldnt drag. But I couldn't keep the pads too straight and they kept twisting on me. I've read about people making a groove in the bottom of their shoe to run their foot anchor strap under and use with their shoes. Good idea?

I ended up taking the toe ties off completely for ball hockey. But I can imagine it's a hassle if you want to reattach them for ice. And another downside is that you can leave your toes exposed for abuse. A couple weeks ago, my buddy blasted a slapshot in warmups which curved around my pad and my foot took 100% of the impact. Needed a couple minutes to walk that stinger off.

 

[Fixed to Ruin]

Are these people beastly with shots ?

Normal ball hockey pads should suffice. You can get a pair (a decent pair) for about the same price as covers.

Usually if you play in a league your facing some fairly hard shots.

If the league is part of the CBHA you're using a pro ball thats harder than a regular street hockey ball.

Like this one:

 

[Jets]

Usually if you play in a league your facing some fairly hard shots.

If the league is part of the CBHA you're using a pro ball thats harder than a regular street hockey ball.

Like this one:

Yep thats the ball. Games tonight in 3.5 hrs. Im gonna head down to sportchek to look for a pair of shox. Thanks guys! Also, I think I got what you mean about the toe strings.

 

[Jets]

Well those shox worked awesome! Those are like a must for any goalie that wants to play ballhockey with any sort of ability to move and not have your pads go everywhere. HFBoards to the rescue again. And while the surface wasn't too bad I'm still gonna get some pad covers with slide plates for next game.