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The Safest Ice Hockey Goalie Mask

admin — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 03:29:43 +0000

The ice hockey goalie mask has come a very long way in recent years. When you really stop to think about it, it is shocking that only twenty to thirty years ago, goaltenders in hockey did not have near the protection for their faces and heads that they do today. What is even more shocking than that is the fact that goalies used to not even wear masks at all. Luckily for goaltenders and the game of hockey the ice hockey goalie mask has emerged as one of the most well thought out and engineered pieces of hockey goalie equipment. If hockey goalie masks were not what they are today, it would probably be pretty difficult to find anybody to stand in the net and take slap shots all practice or all game long.

Today the ice hockey goalie masks that are being manufactured by companies like Warwick, Itech, etc. are made using composite materials in order to allow each mask to withstand the force of even the hardest slap shots taken by the best professional hockey players. Some hockey goalie masks actually use kevlar which is what bullet proof vests are made out of. If you ever wonder why goalies in the National Hockey League do not flinch when they take slap shots from the likes of the Boston Bruins captain, Zdeno Chara, the reason why they don’t duck is because they know that they are well protected by their hockey goalie helmets and masks.

Now we know that the outer shell of the hockey goalie mask is made up of composite materials, however, you might be wondering what is the cage of the goalie mask made of? Well if you want to make sure that your cage can stand up to the hardest slap shots out there, you probably want to consider purchasing a cage made of titanium. This material is by far the strongest and most difficult to bend out of all of the other materials that hockey goalie cages are made out of. It should however be noted that unless you are playing at a very high level of hockey where players have incredibly hard shots, the titanium goalie cage might not be necessary, but it doesn’t hurt to be on the safe side.

If you or your child is a hockey goaltender, it is important that you make sure that you purchase an ice hockey goalie mask that is of a high quality. You never want to sacrifice safety just to get a good deal. There are too many head injuries being had each year, and a quality goalie mask will help make sure that you are safe while you play even the most elite hockey players with very hard shots.

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Ice Hockey Goalie Masks

admin — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 18:27:56 +0000

It might seem crazy now, but up until about 50 years ago the ice hockey goalie mask was not yet used regularly or even accepted for that matter. Even though in the 1920’s Clint Benedict used a goalie mask for one game, the next time a professional goalie attempted to wear a mask again was during the 1959-60 season when Montreal Canadiens goalie Jacques Plante made a goalie mask that he used in practice, but had not yet worn in a game until he broke his nose during a game. When he went to the locker room for repairs to his damaged nose he decided that he would not go back out and play the rest of the game unless he was allowed to wear the mask. The Canadiens head coach, Toe Blake was a hard nosed “old time hockey” coach that did not support his goalie wearing a mask up until this point really had no choice and reluctantly allowed Plante to wear one of the first goalie masks. This day is unofficially known as a ground-breaking day for goaltenders and got the ball rolling with the long over-due convention that hockey goalies should in fact wear goalie masks to protect their face and head.

I am shocked that it took so long for hockey goalies to embrace wearing masks, but hockey was so different back then that I suppose I can see why it hadn’t happened sooner. Hockey has evolved so much over the last 50 years, if you consider the fact that the sport was still relatively new and technology and training had not yet been close to as developed as it is today. This meant that hockey players could not shoot the puck as hard or as high because they simply did not know how. Curved hockey sticks were not yet introduced and in the early 1900’s I’m assuming most of the shots were placed right along the ice. But, it still does not make that much sense that the goaltender mask was not introduced earlier simply because shots could get deflected up into the face of the goalie, or sticks could come up and hit them in the face.

Hockey has a tradition of players who take pride in being tough and able to get injured and bounce back right away. Hockey back in the day was a much tougher version of the sport than it is today and the number of incidents where players would get injured was much higher than today. This pride in being tough is really the only reason that I can see that hockey goalies would hesitate to wear goalie masks up until that historic day when Jacques Plante took a stand and said that he would not continue playing in the game unless he were allowed to wear his homemade face mask. It was a day that has gone down in the history books as forever changing the position of goaltender and the game of hockey.

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Best Goalie Mask For Your Money

admin — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 03:30:27 +0000

Believe it or not, I actually know a thing or two about the position of hockey goalie too. I know that the majority of my posts have been about hockey player equipment, and while I have played forward in beer leagues for about the last ten years or so, most of my youth hockey career was played as a goalie. I actually started playing goalie when I was about 8 years old and played all the way until I was 20, but I never really enjoyed it as much as playing forward. Nevertheless, I did absolutely love the goalie equipment, and I can still appreciate how goalies can customize so much of their goalie equipment. Obviously my favorite piece of equipment for the goalie is the hockey goalie mask.

When I was playing goalie regularly I used Warwick goalie masks. I have to say that they are by far my favorite style because they have a distinct shape that I appreciate much more than the more exposed and thus probably more popular Itech goalie mask. I think the only reason why Warwick masks are not more popular is because they are a small company that specialize in only goalie helmets. They might be a small company but they still get some big time goalies using their masks. Ryan Miller of the Buffalo Sabres is probably the most popular goalie who uses Warwick masks right now, but Eddie Belfour was also a Warwick mask wearer.

The lines on the Warwick are beautiful and I actually would have to compare the feeling I get when I look at a Warwick as being similar to looking at a beautiful automobile, especially if the helmet has a professionally done paint job. If you are not a professional goalie, you might actually have trouble affording a Warwick with a sweet paint job, but if you are fortunate enough to be able to done one of these high quality masks made of composite material and kevlar (the same stuff used in bullet proof vests), you should definitely consider yourself lucky and you will be envied by the opposing goalie staring at you from the other end of the ice.

If you want to purchase a Warwick goalie mask, you actually have several “stock” styles to choose from based on professional goalies styles. However, if you have some extra money, I believe you can actually go to Warwick (somewhere in Michigan) and have a custom built mask based around a mold of your face. This way you can make sure that you get the best fitting mask for your particular head shape, because as we all know everybody has a different shaped head and if you are going to spend extra money on anything, it might as well be the piece of goalie equipment that actually protects your brain and your face, two important pieces of the human body. Invest in a quality ice hockey goalie mask for safety first and style second.

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