Quote:
Originally Posted by bartone
any suggestions for goalie gear?
thanks
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Fitting or brand? There's a lot of great goalie gear available these days, especially if you order online (although I don't recommend that if you're sizing up for the first time), and for a pretty decent range of prices. If I had money to burn, I'd buy new equipment right now just for the hell of it, although I can't justify that as my old equipment is perfectly fine lol.
Skates
Buy goalie skates. Don't play goal on ice with player skates. Goalie skates are built quite differently from player skates. They are a bit broader, have an external cowl for added protection, have a lower boot cut for greater ankle movement, and have a lower and longer chassis and blade with a different profile than a player's blade. Try your shoe size or a size smaller and go from there; slide your foot forward all the way into the skate until your toes just graze the front, and see how much space you have between your heel and the skate... look for a finger's width.
Goal Pads
Style (fly, profly, etc --well I guess everybody's profly these days) and brand aside, fit these goal pads with your skates if possible. There are two main measurements: The size/length and the width. The width will usually be 11 or 12 inches (I think almost all adult pads are usually 12"), and the sizes for adults come in 32"+.
There are a bunch of different methods for fitting goal pads if you can't actually physically be there to strap them on. Some manufacturers/shops have size charts that correspond to the measurement between your ankle and the centre of your knee. Another method is to measure the distance from your toes to your ankle, then from your ankle to your knee along your shin, then from your knee to a third of the way up your thigh. Regardless, nothing beats trying them on!
The rule of thumb would be to ensure proper knee cap placement. The centre of your knee cap should fit into the centre of the knee cradle/roll on the inside of the pad. The easiest way to get initial alignment is to fit the pads while kneeling down into them, and then see how much they move down when you get up. If the knee fitment is good and the shin length is okay, then ensure that the toe of the pad doesn't stick out beyond the toe of your skate. Finally check to make sure the top of the pad doesn't hinder your leg movement. Remember that, due to the width of the pads, you'll be moving with your legs a fair bit apart, so if the pads stick up too far, you'll have trouble skating and butterflying. I've heard 4" as a limit to how far the pad should stick up above the knee, but it also depends on your tall you are and your proportions.
If you have no clue on how to strap on goalie pads, any good hockey shop will be able to help you, or you can search online, although it's quite simple. Lay the pad flat and exterior face down in front of you; the side roll on the face of the pad should be on the outside. Line up the toe guard of the pad with the toe of your skate blade and criss-cross the laces through your skate chassis and tie it up on top of your skate (if you have toe straps, just buckle on the strap through the first gap in your chassis). Lift the pad up onto your leg, do up any knee cradle straps, and start buckling on the rest of your straps. Leave your top two straps loose and rely on the straps around your knee to hold the pad in place. The straps on the bottom bend of your pads usually go through the skate chassis under your heel.
Pants
Like the skates, buy goalie pants if you're serious about playing goal. They look similar but are quite a bit different. The cut is lower on the top (especially in the front), so there is less waist protection but better hip padding. Good pants will also have good kidney protection around the sides and back. You'll notice that the thigh padding is thicker/harder and that the legs are a bit more flexible because there is thinner padding around the groin to accommodate the larger goalie jock/pelvic protector (although some goalie pants have segmented padding around the groin to provide both protection and mobility). Goalie pants also often have slits in on the rear of the pant legs for better movement.
Fit them with the pads if possible to see how much the pants and pads ride on each other. Too much interference will really get annoying and hinder your movement. Bend your knees and rotate your waist to see how much freedom you have. Fitting your chest protector with your pants can also be handy to see how much overlap you get around the hips. Bigger, wider pants/thighs will close up the hole between your legs, but it could also slow your skating down.
Chest Protector
Man, I'm getting tired writing this. ;P Okay, chest, shoulder and arm protector... the piece that makes you look big and buff. Like pants, these go S-M-L-XL-etc. and are usually based on a chest measurement. I think your average Joe under 6'0" will probably take a Medium, but if you're skinny, you're probably looking at a Small.
Big things here are arm length, chest fitment, and freedom of movement. Best way, of course, is to try it on... Make sure that, when you move your arms (try rotating your arms and going over your head), none of the padding digs into your neck or anywhere else. If the chest portion is billowing away from your body, you might need to go down a size. With the wrist/forearm cuffs tightened, move your arms around and make sure the arm guards don't slide around too much. Depending on how comfortable you are, slight overlap between the bottom of your chest protector and the top of your pants may or may not matter to you (some chest protectors have an extra flap that is intended to overlap your abdomen where your pants lace up, but a bit of overlap in any case is normal).
Catcher and Blocker
Don't be a hero and grab the biggest gloves you can find. Catchers and blockers should fit relatively loosely (like loose work gloves, I guess), but not so loose that they're dangling at the ends of your arms. If you tighten up all the straps and can fling the gloves off with ease, they're too big. The cuffs should overlap the padding on your arms a bit, probably one or two inches depending on your much the cuffs flare (this will determine how much mobility you have).
The catch here is that most gloves only come in Jr. or Sr. sizes... but different models and brands fit differently, so you'll have to try them on. Don't skimp on fitting the gloves: position your arms and body like you would while in your ready stance or while making a save and mimic the wrist and arm motions you make while playing to see how comfortable the gloves are. Better yet, grab a stick off the wall and see how it feels too.
Goalie Mask
Ahh everybody's favourite piece of equipment. Like headgear for almost any sport, sizing a goalie mask is done by measuring the circumference of your head, but each manufacturer usually has a different correlation chart, so either check online or ask your hockey shop to do the measurements. Otherwise, just try the masks on and see which on gets you the best fit. When adjusted, it should be snug with your chin in the chin guard and your forehead against the edge of the helmet (usually around eyebrow height, although I've seen guys play with the edge of the mask right around their eyes). If you shake your head and the mask rattles and bounces a lot, then it's too lose. Conversely, it shouldn't be so tight that it's uncomfortably squeezing your head.
If you plan to play in a league that has certain safety regulations, look for a CSA+HECC approved helmet, and avoid cat eye cages (unless you're certain your league allows them).
For added safety, you can attach a throat guard to your mask. These guards are usually curved pieces of clear plastic that dangle from cords tied to the mask. Depending on the length of the beak on your mask and how paranoid you are (or if you play with guys that load up from inside the hash marks all the time), you may find this a good safety investment.
Goalie Stick
Seems like the base price of goalie sticks keeps on rising, but admittedly they're of good quality and better materials these days, making them lighter and funner to play with. You'll be concerned mainly with the length of the paddle and blade, and the lie (ignoring brand and material). Wiki tells me that goalie sticks usually have a lie from 11-15 (compared to 5 = 135deg for a player stick), but honestly I've always just tried them out in the store to see what was comfortable. In your ready stance the blade should be positioned in front of your five-hole (obviously ;D) flat on the ice (give or take how much you like to angle your stick), and the paddle should be of the right length to suit your blocker hand position. (This is all assuming you have a good and proper stance, which is a key to getting the right stick.)
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Okay, that's all I can think of at the moment... There are other things, like a goalie jock (bigger and has pelvic protection compared to normal), neck guard (different cut in the front to allow for better neck rotation, provides overlap chest protection, depends a lot on the model/brand), and goalie cut jersey (flared arms, wider).
As for brands, I'll let better informed people comment as I haven't bought any major gear for a long time. The usual suspects are Itech, RBK, Vaughn, TPS, NikeBauer, etc., although I honestly don't know who makes what for whom any more.
HTH.