Get the Gear

For any league/stick and puck you’ll want a full set of the following:

Required Gear

  • Shin Guards
  • Hockey Socks
    • The socks that go over your shin guards
  • Hockey Pants
  • Skates
  • Skate Socks
    • Different from “hockey socks”. These go on your feet before you put on your skates.
  • Helmet
    • Helmets are certified up to a certain year–check for stickers.
  • Helmet Cage/Bubble/Visor
    • Technically optional but highly recommended. Some helmets come with cages pre-attached. The choice between bubble and cage is purely personal preference.
  • Shoulder Pads
  • Elbow Pads
  • Hockey Gloves
  • Jersey
    • We’d recommend getting a “dark” and “light” jersey.
  • Stick
  • Stick tape
    • Technically optional because not everyone uses stick tape, but lots of players do. Most leagues do not have a tape color requirement. Pick your favorite color and have fun!
  • Bag
    • Doesn’t necessarily need to be a “hockey bag” but needs to be able to hold all of your gear

Equipment Checklist

Optional Gear

  • Base Layers
    • These are usually long or short sleeve (sometimes cut-resistant) clothes that go under all of your gear. Specialized base layers are optional–you can use whatever athletic wear you’re comfortable in.
  • Neck Guard (highly recommended)
    • Some base layers come with this built in, or you can purchase a standalone one
  • Jill/Jock Shorts
    • Why: lots of hockey socks come with velcro straps and these come with velcro to attach those to so your socks can stay up. Some may come with a removable cup to protect your lower body
  • Garter/Suspenders
    • Other optional way of keeping your socks up (Helpful particularly if you like “pro stock” socks that don’t come with velcro straps)
  • “Clear Tape”
    • This is the tape that goes around your socks. Some find the velcro/garter does the job well enough, some prefer the extra security of the tape. Pure personal preference here.
  • Mouth Guard
  • “Top Hand Grips”
    • Ex. Buttendz, SickMitz. Essentially this is just an alternative to having to tape the top of your stick for grip. These can help preserve your glove lifetime since they are little bit gentler on the leather.
  • Headband or buff (thin to fit under helmet)
    • For keeping your bangs out of your face while you’re playing.

Order of putting gear on is by and large personal preference. Some people start with skates, some people start with shin guards. It’s up to you! Try your gear on and figure out what works for you!

Video: How to put on Hockey Gear

Sometimes sizing can vary depending on the brand. Not every piece of gear (even if it’s the same size between brands) will fit exactly the same. We all have different body types so just try to find what makes you comfortable 🙂 . It can sometimes be helpful to go in person to a store to understand your correct size and fit for your preference/budget. Otherwise, here are a few links on sizing different kinds of gear:

Hockey Gear Fitting Guide – Pure Hockey

Shin Guards – Just a note here that sometimes the fit can depend on your skate and whether you prefer your skate tongue over or under your shin guards. This is personal preference.

Hockey Sock Size Guide

Hockey Pants

Skates

Shoulder Pads

Elbow Pads

Hockey Gloves

Hockey Helmet – Note: Probably your most important piece of gear. This is one that we would suggest going in person to try on somewhere. Everyone has a different head shape so even if you measure your head size, different brands may have a different shape of helmet that may or may not be comfortable. The ideal here is it should be tight enough to not move around when you move your head. Protect your brain!

Hockey Stick

There are lots of aspects of the stick that you can go down different rabbit holes on. For your first, we would recommend simply finding a stick that fits within your budget.

Stick Finder – Optional tool if you want some starter suggestions for sticks

  1. Size – As a general guideline, the stick should reach your chin with skates on (or your nose barefoot). You may come to find out as you play more that you prefer a shorter or longer stick. Play around with it and find out your preference!
  2. Curve – The “shape” of the blade. For your first stick you shouldn’t worry much about it, but if you’re so inclined there are different types of blades depending on what you’re looking for out of your shot or stickhandling.
  3. Flex – Essentially, how much force it takes to “flex” the stick, which will allow your shot to get more power. Much like size, this is something that you’ll need to play around with. Your general rule of thumb is 1/2 your body weight, but some people may prefer higher or lower. Beyond this, you may get into different “types” of flexes (ex. hybrid, low kick, mid kick, etc.) which basically determine where on the stick you’re best able to flex your stick.
  4. “Tape Job” – How you prefer to tape your stick. This is pure personal preference. There are many guides online, or you can ask one of your teammates. Some people tape the entire blade, some people tape only the toe, some people don’t use tape at all! Play around with your stick and see what you prefer!
  5. Handedness – There are multiple schools of thought on this, and is taught differently depending on where you are. Some places teach that the dominant hand goes on top, some places teach that stick handedness is supposed to match your dominant hand. At the end of the day, it’s personal preference. There are right handed people who shoot both left and right in our league, and vice versa; no one size fits all philosophy. The key bit to know here is that the stick’s “handedness” matches wherever the blade curves out to. Ex. Left handed curves out left, right curves out right.