How to Make Sure You Have All Your Equipment

 As I stated once before, hockey has the most equipment compared to any sport in the world by a wide margin. It can get very confusing to keep track of all your equipment. Every hockey player knows the feeling of getting to the ice rink and realizing they forgot an important piece of their gear back home. This leads to that dreaded conversation you have to have with your parents or whoever brought you to the rink saying, " I forgot my left skate, we have to go back and get it". This leaves them frustrated beyond belief. This happens way more than you would think. Depending on how far you are, you can miss a part of the practice or game which is bad, because ice time is valuable. Imagine your team is playing in a tournament out of state and you realize something is missing as you are gearing up to play. You either have to spend a good amount of money on replacement gear or just waste time going home to retrieve said items. In that situation you can be letting your teammates down by not being able to play for the time spent acquiring gear. I have been through this multiple times and so has my brother. It is not a good feeling, instead it is a very dreadful one. Funny enough, my dad created a solution for this because he became so fed up with having to go back for our gear many times. One of the main reasons why players forget gear is because they take their gear out of their hockey bag to wash used clothes and to air the sweat out of the gear, which is completely necessary. Some people elect to have their gear washed too, which is okay if your washing machine can handle the impact. To start this process, what my father did was print out a list of our gear for both my brother and I to have handy. He included everything from the neck guard to the spare shirt, so we do not have to go home in sweaty clothes. The list is a great tool because as I stated before, there is a lot of gear in hockey. Once the list is acquired, bring your back containing your gear to a space that is somewhat open to ensure nothing gets lost in the process. Now you are ready to start building your hockey gear player. You can start from the top or the bottom it does not really matter, as long as you finish at one of those destinations. Suppose we started at the top, that would mean we lay our helmet down and start from there. The helmet is one you cannot forget because they will not let you on the ice at all without one! Following the helmet comes the neck guard. Majority of players hate wearing this piece of equipment. I mean, I understand why. It is very annoying and in the way, and it can create irritation. But it is very important because it protects something that is vital and does not have any protection. Also, you will get a penalty if caught playing without one due to the new ruling. After the neck guard should be the shoulder pads. Shoulder pads go a long way with protecting your shoulders, back, check, part of your stomach, and a portion of your ribs. You will regret leaving those behind. Next in line comes the elbow pads. Have you ever fell directly on your elbows on a hard surface. Well, if you haven't, it is quite painful. Make sure you have these because hitting your funny bone is not funny! Also, elbow pads help protect the forearms which is vulnerable to stick slashes and shot blocks. I can tell you first hand it is very painful to receive a slash on the forearms. After that comes the gloves. Again, you will never see a hockey player playing without these, so just make sure you do not forget them. Moving down the list, next come the hockey pants. These are crucial because they protect the hips and the quads. If you forget these, you will just look extremely goofy on the ice. The pants are a must. Along with the pants come the sliding shorts, these help keep your hockey socks up and prevents them from falling to your ankles. These aren't a must, but they're very clutch to have. As we approach the end, next on the list comes the shin guard. Oh, will you be sorry if you forget these. Hockey is a very physical sport with sticks and pucks hitting you almost every shift. Taking a shot to an unprotected knee or shin can result in a serious injury. Even taking a slash there can leave some serious bruising or swelling. Making sure you have these is very important I cannot stress that enough. Now we have arrived at the end of our list. The most important thing by far is the players skates. The skates is the most expensive gear on this list. You cannot play hockey without them because how are you going to get on the ice! Forgetting these is bad because you cannot just go to the pro-shop and buy a new pair. It is a time consuming process and a very expensive one. Make sure you have both of them too. Congratulations, you have built your hockey gear player with all the gear in order! Having this check list can be very clutch in times if you are unsure if you forgot something and want to double check. Now that you have your gear it is time to make sure you have everything else. We should make sure we have both jerseys, both team sock, and an extra shirt to change into after if you are sweaty after your skate. The final thing we need to make sure we have is our mouth guard. Once you make sure you have everything, you can load your bag with your gear. Now you are ready to take the ice with all your gear!

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