Hockey Equipment for real players? What does that mean? This statement brings up a ton of questions for sports athletes. What is a real hockey player? More importantly, how do you know if certain types of hockey equipment is for a real hockey player or a novice? If you have played roller hockey for more than a few years, then most likely, you know what is up. You will see your standard gear companies that are in the NHL. You know who I am talking about. CCM, Easton, Mission, Bauer, and Reebok. These are the big companies and they provide your NHL stars with most of the stuff they need to score goals and fly on the ice. I will go through most types of protective hockey gear and what the cost is and how you can tell which are good to have and what do not matter to most real hockey players.
Hockey Skates
Yeah, every player needs skates. It is how the sport is played and because the sport is fast you are going to need fast skates. You don’t want a pair of rattlers. What is a rattler in roller hockey? Well its basically a skate with crappy bearings. Most modern skates come with abec bearings. As a hockey player I find Abec 5 bearings and up provide the best skating experience. So How much do good skates cost? My estimation would be anywhere between $250 and $350. I’m currently on the look for some skates right now. I’m probably going to have to settle with the Bauer Vapor XXVR lites, because I can’t find The Vapor RX 25 in my size.
Hockey Sticks
One piece sticks are all the rage. Why? I have no clue. They are very expensive. I find a good two piece stick will get the job done. Sticks without blades are called hockey shafts. You can buy a really good hockey shaft and just get a blade for like 25 bucks. When it wears down or breaks, just get a new blade and put it on the shaft. No need to spend a hundred bucks on a stupid hockey stick. I will say that the new ones will probably be extremely light, so if you want to shell out the money get one of them and add it to your hockey equipment collection.
Hockey Pants
Ok, in ice hockey you have these padded types of pants. They almost look like goalie pants. In roller hockey, you have these sporty looking pants. They almost look like something a motocross rider would wear. Most inline hockey pants have cool graphics and logos on them. Some people complain that roller hockey players are too colorful. I kind like that, it makes the players wearing the hockey gear not look boring.
Hockey Pucks and Roller Hockey Balls
The Hockey puck. You need it and can’t play hockey without it. In roller hockey you can use either a roller puck or a ball. I always went with a franklin ball or a mylec one. Franklin has different color balls for uses in all types of weather. Theres a cold weather hockey ball, warm weather and cool if I’m not mistaken. You should have a problem finding these at your local modell’s or Play It Again Sports store.
Hockey Gloves.
Gloves are important, but they go way down my list for gear I must buy first. Don’t get me wrong, gloves are needed in hockey. Do you have to have the best most expensive gloves? I find that mid priced gloves should hold up fine and usually offer no less better protection than high priced ones. Lower priced hockey gloves may end up falling apart. I had to stitch up my own CCM gloves after it was ripped after a few months back when I was a kid. So yeah, don’t go too crazy on gloves with the spending.
Hockey Shin Guards
Hockey shin pads, I’m mentioning these last. i don’t know why. These are good to have. I own a pair of mission shin guards. They get the job done. Enough said. Most are made of plastic nowadays. I guess the type of plastic will vary from company to company. Even though I am writing about this last, your shin guards/pads are a very important part of your hockey equipment.
