Hockey Equipment Help: Sticks,Helmets,Skates and More

Ok, I've written my first hub about Hockey skate bearings and the mistakes that many players make when cleaning them or overall general maitenance. I've decided to add to that article to this hub, delete the old one and make one big hockey equipment information page that I will periodically update. There are a whole bunch of hockey equipment companies to cover, such as Bauer, Mission, CCM, Easton and Reebok Hockey. So I hope you enjoy the information. It's important to know that there is never just one type of hockey stick. Depending on your position height and weight, you will need to make decisions on which type will work best for you.

One piece sticks. Ok, these sticks have become quite popular in the past few years. These are not the wooden one piece sticks of old. They are made of special light weight material and can run upwards of 90 dollars. The good thing about these sticks is that they are sturdy and stiff and light. The bad thing is that if it breaks, you have to go out and buy a new one in order to play hockey.

Hockey shafts and replacement blades are what I usually go for. You can get aluminum shafts or carbon fiber ones. Both are good and can be lightweight, but the lighter they are, the more expensive they'll be. The great things about these sticks are the fact that you can replace the blade. Companies like Koho and Easton put out some good replacement blades. If you wish to take the blade out of the shaft, you can use either a heat gun or hold it over the burner of a stove. It's important not to heat it up for too long or you can damage the shaft. After it's hot, you should be able to pull the blade out, because the glue will be melted. You just heat your new hockey blade's glue the same way and slide it back into the hockey shaft.

It's important to note that you should allow the stick to bond overnight. If you replace a blade, and then go right out and play hockey, it may end up getting loose and sliding out of the shaft. The one down side to hockey shafts are that they can be broken or split(carbon fiber). The aluminum shafts can also be dented or bent.

Lastly, you finally have your one piece wooden sticks. These are heavier than the ones mentioned above. These sticks can also break. They cost about as much as a replacement blade and are good to use as a backup hockey stick. I always bring 2 wooden hockey sticks incase my blade breaks on my other ones. Unless you like the feel of this type of stick I would almost always recommend going with the one of the hockey sticks mentioned above.

Ok, I was a very much into inline hockey back in the day. So much so, that even a few days before a game, I would spend time getting my hockey equipment ready. Over the years, I've learned that alot of the things that I used to do were wrong. One of the biggest mistakes involved my skate bearings.

Skate bearings are very important to alot of hockey players, especially ones that are fast. If you require optimal speed, you want to make sure you have the best bearings and that they are in the best shape. To anyone that plays hockey, but does not know what I am talking about, I'll explain.

In the center of your skate wheels, is a circular piece of metal with a hole in the center. This is the bearing. When you change your skate wheels, you pop this thing out and place it in the center of your new wheels. This bearing also determines how fast you can go and how smooth the rotation on your wheels are.

Keep in mind, there are other factors involved determining the players speed and movement. One of the other one's being the condition of the wheels themselves, but we are going to focus on the bearings for now.

In order to maintain the bearings and keep them in good condition, you will need bearing lube to place on the ball bearings themselves. To do this you need to unlock the bearings' thin metalic circular wire that is on the inner rim. I dont know the proper way to do this, I just always used like a needle or nail to slide under and pry it out. Using ball bearing lube is the right way to go.

One big mistake that I used and many players that I knew used was WD-40 spray. From what I read, WD-40 will actually dry up the lubricant in the bearings. This in turn will cause more friction. More friction equals less speed and more wear on the bearings themselves. So stay away from the WD-40 spray.

If you play out doors, take off your wheels and you will see strands of lint and what looks like hair wrapped around the bearing/wheel. Remove these often. Playing outdoors will add more dirt and debris and mean a shorter life span for your bearings. I would also avoid walking on grass or mud. This seems like a no brainer, but there are a lot of outdoor roller hockey rinks that are located in the center of parks/playgrounds.

Lastly, if your bearings make noise, either its time to clean them or get new ones. Personally I would always just get new ones, as it usually takes a lot to make good bearings noisey.

Well, that is it for skate bearing mistakes, if I find out new information I'll add more to this hub and update it.

Being an inline hockey player, I've gone through my fair share of hockey equipment. One of the most important pieces of a hockey players arsenal is their skates. You need to have the best hockey skates you can possibly have if you want to play well. Is it always good to have an athlete endorsed pair of skates? In a short answer no. My first pair were just that and they literally fell apart while playing a game in an outdoor hockey league. Now granted, outdoor hockey puts more wear and tear on your skates, but they should have lasted way longer then they did and they should not have fallen apart the way they did. So, stay away from an athlete's brand. Unless it's a name brand like Bauer, CCM, or Reebok Hockey. Hockey Equipment can all look similar, so always check for the logos.

When buying inline hockey skates, you'll want to check out what kind of bearings they come with. I would say anything with abec 5 or better has the best quality. You can also lookf or Swiss bearings as well. In my honest opinion, these type of bearings ensure the smoothest skate and can increase your speed and performance significantly.

I've always said my worst pair of skates were ones endorsed by a great hockey star. They were. My best pair were a pair of Bauer hockey skates. They just seemed to fit really well. They were very snug and comfortable on my foot. They were definitely the most comfortable skate I've ever worn. I would actually recommend Bauer to anyone looking for a pair of hockey skates that will make them feel more in control while playing.

CCM also has good skates. My first pair of CCM skates, I still have. They lasted a long time. Too long. They were never as comfortable as my Bauer skates, but they are durable as hell. I always needed to wear double socks with them though. The way they fit my foot felt wierd. When I first got them I had trouble skating. This was their Tacks brand. I don't think they carry them anymore, so they may have a better skate out now. I would have to rank CCM 2nd for hockey skates.

So, I think Bauer is the best. CCM is 2nd. I've heard great things about Reebok skates too. I guess they would have to be since the NHL chose them as the official equipment provider. If you want to know which skate to choose, I recommend going to a sports store and trying them on.

Now if you take in another equation, you can add Reebok to the mix. The thing is, they now own CCM, But Reebok hockey skates are different than CCM's skates, because they incorporate the pump feature that is used in some of their line of shoes. The cool thing about their pump feature is that it is used in order to customize your heal fitting. This can be very good for those hockey players that like their skates stiff and tight.

Choosing the best hockey helmet is very important.  Especially if you are playing roller hockey.  The reason?  You need to be able to see what you are doing.  Most helmets come with cages in today's market.  The reason is that most hockey leagues require some type of face protection, at least for those that are in 18 and under leagues.  The cage is important.  If it doesn't fit right, your chin can rub up against the chin guard and that isn't good if you fall down.  You can damage your face if it isn't fitted properly.  The other thing that is important is the inside of the helmet.

When I was younger, I had a helmet that was just plain awful.  It sucked big time.  I mean huge.  I won't disclose the brand, but it was cheap.  The plastic protection was about as thin as you could get.  This helmet would not fit for anything and I had all kinds of trouble while playing.  Thankfully, I wised up and bought a much better helmet after this.  It was a Bauer helmet.  It fit much tighter and the plastic was tougher.  The problem was that it hurt my ears.  I had to squeeze my head into it.  If I had gone with a size larger, it would've been too wobbly.  I guess my head size is unique.  The cage was great on this helmet, until I out grew it.

My best helmet was from Mission.  It was large on the outside, but on the inside, this thing was snug as a bug.  It felt like a motorcycle helmet or a race car driver helmet.  In fact, I think it was made of the same material.  This thing was great for speed, because it was all one piece.  That means the faster I went the less resistance I encountered while skating.  It was also pretty light weight.  I'm telling you, it was a good hockey helmet.  I should mention that Mission was bought out by Bauer, so I can only hope they merged the way they make helmets.  That would be great if they made like a super helmet that combined the 2 features.  I am sure they've thought about it. 

So, helmets are very important.  If you can, I would chose a one piece helmet over one that has parts glued and screwed together.  Also, don't forget that you can get visors instead of cages.  In fact, you can get a combination visor with a cage mouth piece.  There are all sorts of helmets out there.  The best thing to do is just look up your options on the internet and if you can, go to the store to try them on.  This is my advice on choosing the best hockey helmet.

Well, the best hockey pants are something that I was searching for a long time.  I started out with a cheap $30 pair of pants.  They didn't fit me at all.  They were too big and too hot.  I think they also made me skate slower.  You always need to make sure you get the right size hockey pants.  I wouldn't settle for hockey pants that are too big.  It becomes a pain the butt to have to tape up the ankles so they won't get caught in your skate wheels.

After I decided I had about enough of those horrible pants, I upgraded.  I went and got a name brand pair of roller hockey pants.  All you roller hockey and inline hockey players out there know what brand this is.  It was Black Biscuit.  I think these at one point were the most popular hockey pants in the sport.  Again, the problem I had was that they were too big.  I still had to tape up the ankles and this was when I decided I will never do this again.  I moved much quicker in this pair of pants while skating than the other up to this point.

When I ditched my Black Biscuit pants, I decided to go with another name brand.  Mission.  Now, Mission hockey has since been bought out by Bauer, so they may have even improved further.  I liked my Mission hockey pants because they fit the best of all and were tough.  They withstood some scrapes and provided some protection as well.  I will say that overall I probably wasn't as fast as I was with my other pants, but these were good.  I still have them to this day.  You tend hold on to your old roller hockey equipment when you are a hockey player.

Ok, your hockey skates are nothing without their wheels right?  How can you move if you don't have them.  So, while the bearings are important for your skates, the hockey wheels are also of great importance.  Why should you focus on wheels in a sport such as inline hockey?  There's a very good reason for this.

It all has to do with the types of hockey you might be playing.  When a player decides to join a roller or inline hockey league, he has to choose his hockey gear carefully.  Wheels can be a huge factor in performance, because the surface they skate on can be very different from league to league. 

Some leagues are outdoor.  The rinks these hockey players will skate on will most likely be made of concrete or a tough clay surface.  In this case you should probably buy some hard wheels.  Harder wheels won't tear as much, but they also won't grip the surface as well as softer wheels.

Softer wheels are for mostly indoor leagues.  Wheels have different levels of softness you can buy.  The Softer the wheels, the more they stick to the surface and grip it.  You will have more control with these wheels, but the downside is that you will also lose speed.  So, to reiterate.  The softer the wheel, the slower you go.  The harder the wheel, the faster you go.  Sometimes hockey players like to combine wheels to get an even balance of control and speed.  It is all up to the player to determine how they want to utilize their hockey equipment.

The Best advice I can give you on your old hockey equipment is to just look at what still works.  Do you like your old hockey gear?  Is it still good enough for you to play competitively in?  I've had equipment for ten years that still works well to this day.  You have to be careful though, because equipment companies are making new leaps in technology every year and you may soon find yourself competing with equipment that is worlds better than your old ones.  Today's equipment in sports can help improve the player drastically.  Also, you can even trade in your old hockey gear at some stores for store credit towards purchasing new gear.  It's not a bad idea especially if your stuff is in good shape. 

Remember, Hockey is a fast sport that relies on technology.  Don't forget to update your hockey equipment every few years so that you won't be at a disadvantage when you play.