Protective Fitting Guide
By Kyle Stevenson, Pure Hockey of Danvers
Protective equipment can be very difficult to properly fit. There is generally a high amount of personal preference and in most cases, it requires having other pieces of equipment on to get a true idea of how the new piece fits For example, the best way to fit a shin pad is to do so while the player is wearing their skates or that it is best to have shin pads on while trying out new pants. For this reason, it is best to think about these pieces of equipment in conjunction with what else you own.
The best advice we can give is that although you obviously can’t wear your jock to the store, when trying on protective equipment, try to wear clothing that is as similar to your normal under gear apparel as you can. If you wear a pair of jeans to try on hockey pants, you won’t get a true idea of how they will fit you. You want to try the equipment on as close to normal skating conditions as you possibly can.
Hockey Elbow Pads
There are two main types of elbow pads you will find on the market today, the older style, simpler soft shell pads and the more popular hard shell pads that tend to be a lot more protective. The soft shell pads are more comfortable and tend to be popular among young players and adult league players who seem to value comfort over protection. Hard shell pads offer much more protection and performance for higher level players who demand the most protection while still having a mobile pad.
Fitting elbow pads is very similar to fitting shin pads. You want to be sure that your elbow is sitting down in the deepest part of the pad and that the straps all make it across without being too loose or too tight and stretched out; you don’t want to inhibit the movement of your arm. As with all equipment, again comfort is key, make sure the pad is something you are comfortable and feel you can wear. Elbow pads more than most other protective equipment, are tough to break in. When wearing any new elbow pads, your arms will feel more tired than normal for the first couple skates, the unbroken in pads will make it harder to bend your arms and put more stress on your muscles until you become accustomed to them and break them in.
The other thing to look for in an elbow pad is arm coverage. When wearing your shoulder pads, make sure the elbow pads cover up to the bottom of your shoulder pad, but don’t go so high that one interferes with the other. On the lower half, while wearing your gloves, you want to be sure that between your glove and elbow pad your wrist is protected, but you want enough of a gap that you have a free range of motion for your wrist. You do not want your glove to hit the elbow pad too much, as that could inhibit your ability to stickhandle.
Protective Fitting Guide
By Kyle Stevenson, Pure Hockey Danvers
Protective equipment can be very difficult to properly fit. There is generally a high amount of personal preference and in most cases, it requires having other pieces of equipment on to get a true idea of how the new piece fits For example, the best way to fit a shin pad is to do so while the player is wearing their skates or that it is best to have shin pads on while trying out new pants. For this reason, it is best to think about these pieces of equipment in conjunction with what else you own.
The best advice we can give is that although you obviously can’t wear your jock to the store, when trying on protective equipment, try to wear clothing that is as similar to your normal under gear apparel as you can. If you wear a pair of jeans to try on hockey pants, you won’t get a true idea of how they will fit you. You want to try the equipment on as close to normal skating conditions as you possibly can.
Shin Pads
Speaking from experience, Shin pads are one of the most difficult pieces of equipment to replace. Players tend to become very attached to the way their pair fits, when shopping for a new pair of shin pads, there is really only two main fitting criteria, aside from comfort. The best way of making sure they fit is to wear your skates when trying them on.
The first thing to be sure of is that your knee cap is sitting right inside the donut on the inside of the pad. You want it to be comfortable and snug (holding onto your knee cap). While doing this you want to check that the outer knee dome pad (the small hard flap on the outermost side of the shin pad) is covering the dome of your knee. The next thing to check is, with your skate on, do the shin pad and the skate interfere with one another? A shin pad that is too long will hit your skate and move around on each stride, leaving you not properly protected. A shin pad that is too short will leave a gap between your skate and the bottom of the pad that a puck or stick can hit you in the shin - and trust us, that's not fun.
So ideally, you want your knee cap in the donut on the shin pad, the dome of your knee properly covered, and a very small gap between the top of your skate and the bottom of your shin pad, just enough to allow for movement on your stride, but not so much as to leave you unprotected. The last and obvious part is to make sure the pad is comfortable on you and there are no pinches or pains anywhere on the pad.
Protective Fitting Guide
By Kyle Stevenson, Pure Hockey of Danvers
Protective equipment can be very difficult to properly fit. There is generally a high amount of personal preference and in most cases, it requires having other pieces of equipment on to get a true idea of how the new piece fits For example, the best way to fit a shin pad is to do so while the player is wearing their skates or that it is best to have shin pads on while trying out new pants. For this reason, it is best to think about these pieces of equipment in conjunction with what else you own.
The best advice we can give is that although you obviously can’t wear your jock to the store, when trying on protective equipment, try to wear clothing that is as similar to your normal under gear apparel as you can. If you wear a pair of jeans to try on hockey pants, you won’t get a true idea of how they will fit you. You want to try the equipment on as close to normal skating conditions as you possibly can.
Pants
When trying on new pants, for the sake of getting the most accurate idea of how they will feel on the ice, and if they are the proper size, a good idea is to wear your shin pads. This will give you the best idea if the combination of both pads will be comfortable and make sure one will not interfere with the other, since the two pads will be in near constant contact. When fitting pants, a common problem is that players tend to not pull the pants to the proper height. Hockey Pants should sit up on top of the hips, so that the waist belt is about level with the top of your hip bones. You want the kidney pads (the top part of the pants above waist belt) to actually protect your kidneys!
The next thing to look at for size it how far down the leg the pants hang. Ideally, you want the pants to hang about a quarter of the way down the knee cap of your shin pad. This overlap provides for protection while you are in stride and your knee is bent. When skating, the pant will move up and you don’t want to leave your knee unprotected, considering most of your time on the ice is spent skating. For a younger, growing player, this overlap area can be adjusted to somewhere between a third and a half way down the knee cap to allow room to grow.
The last part of making sure pants fit properly is the simplest, once you have made sure they are sitting at the proper height, and are the correct length, MOVE AROUND!!! The best way to make sure they are comfortable is to test them out, run, jump whatever you need to do to ensure you will have the proper range of motion when skating. You are going to be doing a lot of skating in your new pants and you want to be sure they won’t inhibit your stride.
Another option for pants that many players choose is to go with a girdle. All the same standards from above apply, like being sure they are pulled up to the proper height, and making sure that they are comfortable. The main difference comes with the length, with a girdle, there is little to no clearance from the pad to your leg, so obviously it would be tough to overlap your shin pad, instead you want the bottom of the girdle to come down just to the top of your shin pad.
Protective Fitting Guide
By Kyle Stevenson, Pure Hockey of Danvers
Protective equipment can be very difficult to properly fit. There is generally a high amount of personal preference and in most cases, it requires having other pieces of equipment on to get a true idea of how the new piece fits For example, the best way to fit a shin pad is to do so while the player is wearing their skates or that it is best to have shin pads on while trying out new pants. For this reason, it is best to think about these pieces of equipment in conjunction with what else you own.
The best advice we can give is that although you obviously can’t wear your jock to the store, when trying on protective equipment, try to wear clothing that is as similar to your normal under gear apparel as you can. If you wear a pair of jeans to try on hockey pants, you won’t get a true idea of how they will fit you. You want to try the equipment on as close to normal skating conditions as you possibly can.
Shoulder Pads
When fitting Shoulder pads, one of the biggest things demanded from today’s players is mobility. Although players want to have the most mobility possible and the greatest range of motion, most do not want to sacrifice protection in today’s hard hitting game. So while it is important to make sure you are adequately protected, shoulder pads more so than other protective equipment should be thoroughly tested for mobility. When you have a new pair of shoulder pads on, make sure to move around a lot and make sure that you do not feel any major restrictions in movement.
When checking for the right fit, you want to make sure of a few simple things around the pad. First, you want to make sure that they strap up the correct way, you shouldn’t need to stretch the straps out and they shouldn’t be too loose. The next thing to check is to make sure that your collarbone is covered and protected. Next you’ll want to make sure that your shoulders are sitting securely under the middle of the shoulder cap. The last thing to check is the pad coverage, you want to make sure that the bicep guards come right down to, but do not interfere with the top of your elbow pad, and to make sure the bottom of the pads get right to the top of your pants, but again do not overlap them.
Once you have checked all these points on the should pads, again just move around, make a shooting motion, anything that will help you to simulate game type movements and get a true feel for the pads.
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