What Do Hockey Players Wear?

Hockey players wear a lot of stuff.

Out of the big 4 sports in North America, hockey has by far the most equipment. So, if you’ve ever wondered, “What do hockey players wear?”, here’s your answer.

Here’s the list of equipment that hockey players wear, in the order that the typical player would wear them:

1. Cup
2. Shin Pads
3. Hockey Socks
4. Hockey Pants
5. Skates
6. Shoulder Pads
7. Elbow Pads
8. Jersey
9. Helmet
10. Gloves

Additionally, there are smaller pieces of equipment and accessories that some hockey players may choose to wear. These include:

• Mouth Guard
• Hockey Sock Tape
• Under Armour Shirt
• Athletic Socks (for feet)
• Neck Guard

To other sports, this may seem like a lot of equipment. But each piece of equipment is vital in protecting the player against big hits, flying pucks, and other various kinds of impacts.

What Pads Do Hockey Players Wear?

Cup

The first piece of equipment a hockey player would wear is a cup.

A cup protects a player’s groin region, mostly against pucks. Mostly every hockey player wears a cup, but some choose to take the risk and not wear one.

Not wearing a cup provides more mobility, but comes with the obvious risk of injury.

I knew two players growing up who never wore cups.

One day, during a game, one of them took a wrist shot to the “groin region” and had to go to the hospital.

After a lengthy recovery, luckily, he ended up being fine.

But since that fateful day…

…he has continued to not wear a cup.

Shin Pads

Shin pads are the next piece of equipment that most hockey players would wear.

Shin pads are designed to protect a player’s shins against direct impacts from pucks, as well as opposing players’ sticks.

Historically, the majority of padding has been on the front of the shin pad. But in the past years, manufacturers have been adding padding to the sides and back in an effort to protect the entire lower leg of a player.

There has also been a trend in the last couple of decades for players to wear their shin pads over the tongue of their skate – almost all hockey players wear their shin pads like this now.

One time at a hockey tournament, one of my teammates went down in a three-person collision at center ice.

He skated back to the bench and said his calf felt weird.

So he took his skate off, flipped it over, and when did, a waterfall of blood flowed out of it, like an open floodgate.

It turned out that the back of his calf had somehow been cut in the collision.

Luckily, there was a doctor on site who stitched him up and he was fine.

Hockey Socks

Hockey socks are the next piece of equipment that a player would put on while getting dressed.

Hockey socks are sleeve-shaped pieces of cloth that players wear over their shin pads. Hockey socks don’t really offer much protection or utility. They are mostly just for aesthetics.

Hockey Pants – Why Do Hockey Players Wear Short?

For most players, hockey pants would usually go on after their socks. However, some players choose to put their skates on before their pants.

Putting skates on before pants gives the player more mobility when tying their skates or taping their socks.

Hockey pants protect a player’s thighs against impacts from pucks and other players. Most of the padding is located on the front and sides of the pants, so taking a puck to the inner thigh usually hurts a lot.

Hockey Skates

Hockey skates are likely the most important piece of equipment that a hockey player has.

Forgetting a pair of skates to a game, basically means you’re not going to be playing.

All other pieces of equipment are somewhat replaceable, but skates can cost as much as $1,000 and take time to break in.

Skates are obviously used for skating but are also designed to provide some protection. However, the protection is mostly on the sides, front, and back of the skate, so taking a puck to the top, or “tongue”, of the skate usually hurts pretty bad.

One time at tryouts, there was a kid who forgot his skates at home – he lived an hour away.

He rented some figure skates from the skate shop, and with shaky legs, stepped onto the ice. With all eyes on him, he took a couple of janky strides before realizing it was not going to work.

He didn’t make the team.

Moral of the story: don’t forget your skates.

Shoulder Pads

Shoulder pads are the first piece of upper-body equipment that most players put on.

Shoulder pads are designed to provide the player with protection when body-checking.

However, since the main purpose of shoulder pads is to protect against hits, many players will forgo them in non-hitting leagues (adult hockey, pick-up hockey, etc.)

Elbow Pads

Elbow pads are the next piece of equipment.

Elbow pads mostly protect a player from a falling impact, as well as impact with the boards. They are also used to protect against hacks and slashes from other players’ sticks.

It’s hard to believe how essential elbow pads are until you try to play without them. Nearly every fall on the ice, or every corner battle in a game, will involve impacts to the elbows.

Jersey

Jerseys are one of the last things that hockey players put on while getting dressed.

They are like hockey socks in that they serve no real functional utility in most leagues. They are mostly for aesthetics.

In leagues where there is fighting, however, jerseys serve a functional purpose as it is what most players grab onto when fighting. For fighting leagues, such as the NHL, jerseys often come with a “fight strap.”

A fight strap is a strap that is attached to the lower back of a jersey. It’s used to tie into the back of a player’s hockey pants to prevent the jersey from being pulled overhead.

Helmet

Hockey players usually put on helmets right before going out onto the ice.

Unlike football helmets, hockey helmets are mostly designed to protect against projectile impacts from pucks, as well as direct impacts against the ice.

Gloves – Why do hockey players wear gloves?

Gloves are the last piece of equipment that hockey players put on before going onto the ice.

Gloves are mostly designed to protect a player’s hands against impacts from other players’ sticks.

Gloves are probably the second worst piece of equipment to forget for a game (after skates). This is because, although gloves aren’t extremely expensive, they do take a while to break in.

A brand-new pair of gloves usually feel stiff and bulky, negatively impacting your stick handling, shooting, passing, etc.

One time in a game, I went to go block a shot and the puck hit the shaft of my stick.

…or at least I thought the puck hit the shaft of my stick because when I got back to the bench, my left hand started to feel cold.

I thought that was weird, so I took off my glove, and when I did, I saw that the tip of my pinky had been mangled beyond recognition.

It took 16 stitches to piece it back together and it’s all good now.

Moral of the story: Gloves don’t always work.