Ice hockey goaltending equipment
Encyclopedia
In ice hockey
, the goaltender
wears specialized goaltending equipment to protect him or her from the impact of the puck
and assist him or her in making saves
.
Most modern goaltending equipment is made from the same basic materials: hydrophobic synthetic leather and nylon
on the outside; dense closed-cell foam
s and plastics inside. Pads were formerly often made out of leather and stuffed with animal hair.
The National Hockey League
specifies maximum dimensions of goaltending equipment to prevent goalies from having an unfair advantage. Many other professional and non-professional leagues adhere to equipment size regulations based on International Ice Hockey Federation
rules.
or catch glove is the glove worn on the free hand. It is similar to a baseball mitt, but it has additional padding to protect the lower forearm, wrist, palm, fingers and thumb, and it has a deeper pocket. In fact, the first goalie catcher, worn by former Wadena Wolverines and the North Stars goalie Reid Miller in 1948, was a baseball first baseman's mitt. Common variations among catchers include the pocket angle. If the glove is too bulky, it will not allow for good stickhandling. catchers tend to be one of the most cared for pieces of equipment for the goaltender. In order to prevent what is called a "pancake pocket", goalies will often deepen the pocket by strapping objects inside the glove when not in use. Their fit is extremely important as well as the goalie's sense of the pocket and angles of the trapper. This will make transitioning to new pads difficult in some cases besides the usual need to break in the pads. Some people suggest that the size of the trapper should be reduced from its present dimensions, which cannot be justified by the legitimate need to maximize protection.
. This pad has progressively become more and more protective in recent years. In the early days of goaltending, it was a much smaller and less protective piece of equipment, consisting mostly of thick felt. In effect, they were a little better than what baseball catchers wear today. Now with the advent of high density foams and higher quality materials such as high density plastics, chest protectors can be made today that protect the body from injury.
, though it generally uses the same internal plastic cup. The jock has padding over the internal plastic cup and additional padding from the top of the cup to the waist. Many modern jocks use two cups, one in front of the other, in order to provide more protection.
Instead of a Jock, female goalies wear a pelvic protector
called a jill.
to protect their legs and knees. Leg pads have evolved significantly over the years. The earliest leg pads strongly resembled the cricket
pads from which they were adopted. They were constructed of leather and stuffed with deer hair. In the 1930s, leg pads became more specialized, becoming wider and thicker. An extra roll of material, called a "skip-over roll", was added to the outside edge of each pad face, extending from the lowest point of the pad covering the foot (called the boot break) to just below the knee rolls in the 1940s. In the 1950s, the skip-over roll was extended to the very top of the leg pad. In the 1980s, additional padding was added to protect the inside areas of the legs and knees. Toe foils, a plastic shield that was affixed to the bottom outside edge of the goalie pad, began to be used but were later not allowed by equipment regulations. Leg pad design and construction remained static until the 1990s when synthetic leathers and high density foams began to be used in pad construction. Advantages of synthetic materials were light weight, lower cost, quick break-in period and leg pads that could be manufactured in the colors of the goaltender's team. Some leg pad manufacturers replaced the leather toe strap with a toe bridge to affix the front of the leg pad to the front of the goalie skate. Starting around 2000, the "Box" style leg pads became popular as goaltending playing technique evolved to a blocking style versus the reacting style of the past. In the "Box" style pad, the edge between the pad face and the pad inside edge is square, keeping the pad face more perpendicular with the ice surface and maximizing the blocking area when the goaltender is in the "butterfly" position. Currently, ice hockey regulations require that leg pads can be no wider than 11 inches (25–30 cm) and can be no longer than 38 inches (the limit in the NHL, as of 2009). The NHL has also brought in rules stating that each goaltender will be measured for height, and then the height of allowable pads will be calculated in proportion to the height of the goaltender.
was pioneered by professional goaltender Jacques Plante
. Early masks were constructed from fiberglass
and were molded to the shape of the wearer's face. Later, the "bird-cage" models used by Russian goalies, most significantly, Vladislav Tretiak
, became popular in North America when a series of severe and career ending injuries struck down many NHL goalies using molded masks and prompted the Canadian Standards Association to outlaw molded masks in 1978. Assuredly, it was also Vladislav Tretiak's brilliant play during Canada-USSR Summit Series of 1972, that North American players first began to notice the superiority of the helmet/cage-type mask as opposed to the form-fitting fiberglass model, especially in terms of increased vision. Another significant advance in mask design came during the 1974-75 season, when goaltending great Tony Esposito, who had experienced puck and stick injuries to his eyes, fitted a steel cage over the eyeholes of his molded mask and crafted a fiberglass extension to protect the top of his head, thereby setting the groundwork for the next step in mask evolution, the modern goalie mask, commonly referred to as the "hybrid" mask.
Today, most goalies utilize hybrid masks made of fiberglass, kevlar
, carbon fiber, and other composite material
s. Modern masks have a large cutout in the eye and nose area covered by a steel
or titanium
cage.
Many goalies are able to be identified by the custom artwork airbrush
ed on their masks. Some maintain the same theme throughout their career, changing the colors to match their team's colors. Examples include Curtis Joseph
's Cujo
, Ed Belfour
's eagle, Félix Potvin
's abstract cat design, or Patrick Lalime
's Marvin the Martian
. Some goalies have more generic team-specific artwork, while others vary the artwork over the course of their careers.
An alternative to the mask, is the earlier mentioned "bird-cage" helmet and cage combo, which consists of a wire facemask attached to a standard hockey helmet. This became popular during the 1970s since a cage provides better sightlines than a molded fiberglass mask. Its popularity peaked during the 1980s, yet started to decline during the 1990s, as hockey equipment manufacturers discontinued the production of helmets and cages favored by goaltenders. By the turn of the 21st century, only a few professional goalies still wore a helmet/cage combo. Included in this small group are Chris Osgood
of the Detroit Red Wings
and Rick DiPietro
http://ingoalmag.com/news/islanders-dipietro-dons-osgoods-old-mask-to-protect-shattered-face/ of the New York Islanders
in the NHL
, Martin Prusek
of Dinamo Riga in the KHL
, and Marco Bührer
of SC Bern
in the Swiss National League A. Dominik Hasek
also wore the helmet/cage combo for the duration of his career.
There were various helmet/cage combinations used by professionals. One was the Cooper SK600 helmet with the Cooper HM30 cage (worn by Ken Wregget
and Billy Smith
). Another was the Cooper SK2000 helmet with either the Cooper HM30 cage (currently used by Osgood and Cloutier) or the Cooper HM50 cage (previously used by Hasek). And, another was the Jofa 280 Helmet with the 260.51 cage, which was last worn by Arturs Irbe
. Don Beaupre
wore a Cooper SK600 with a Jofa 260.51 cage. After Nike
acquired Cooper and consolidated it as Nike Bauer
, the SK2000 and HM50 were discontinued, while the HM30 was marketed as a field hockey mask (and subsequently discontinued in 2004). Jofa eventually phased out the 280 helmet and its respective cage, but now offer the RBK 3K helmet and 287 cage for the European market since consolidating with Reebok
.
There are currently two models of goaltender masks which are both available to the North American market and based on the helmet/cage combination. The first model is the Hasek Pro Style 357, manufactured by the Warwick Mask Company, which follows the traditional helmet/cage style of masks. Current users of these helmets include Prusek and Bührer, while Hasek used this model from the 2001-02 season up to his retirement. The second is the Mage, manufactured by Sportmask. The difference between the Mage and other helmet/cage combinations is that the Mage's cage attaches to a helmet with a back plate as opposed to a helmet that's enclosed. Mage users include Boston Bruins
goaltender Tim Thomas
and Genève-Servette HC
goaltender Tobias Stephan
.
s differ from regular hockey skates. The blade is longer, wider, and flatter to provide the goalie with more stability. It is made out of carbon steel rather than stainless steel
. The blade holder, which is molded to the cowling, is shorter vertically so that the goaltender is lower to the ice. The boot does not have a tendon guard, which is the piece of a regular hockey skate that extends up the back of the ankle to protect the Achilles' tendon. Finally, the boot is inside a rigid cowling to protect the foot from direct impact.
goaltenders use has a blade that is approximately 3½ inches (8.9 cm) wide. The lower 25 to 28 inches (63.5–71 cm) of the shaft is widened to provide more blocking surface. This area is called the paddle. Although traditional goalie sticks were usually made completely of wood, most modern sticks are reinforced with graphite and fiberglass and the paddle and blade are injected with foam to make them lighter. Recently, manufacturers have begun to produce sticks made completely from composite material
s, which are more durable.
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
, the goaltender
Goaltender
In ice hockey, the goaltender is the player who defends his team's goal net by stopping shots of the puck from entering his team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring...
wears specialized goaltending equipment to protect him or her from the impact of the puck
Hockey puck
A puck is a disk used in various games serving the same functions as a ball does in ball games. The best-known use of pucks is in ice hockey, a major international sport.- Etymology :The origin of the word "puck" is obscure...
and assist him or her in making saves
Save (ice hockey)
In several sports with goalkeepers or goaltenders protecting nets, or goals, a save is credited to a goaltender that stops the playing object from entering the goal. These sports include football, ice hockey, and lacrosse, among others....
.
Most modern goaltending equipment is made from the same basic materials: hydrophobic synthetic leather and nylon
Nylon
Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers known generically as polyamides, first produced on February 28, 1935, by Wallace Carothers at DuPont's research facility at the DuPont Experimental Station...
on the outside; dense closed-cell foam
Foam
-Definition:A foam is a substance that is formed by trapping gas in a liquid or solid in a divided form, i.e. by forming gas regions inside liquid regions, leading to different kinds of dispersed media...
s and plastics inside. Pads were formerly often made out of leather and stuffed with animal hair.
The National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
specifies maximum dimensions of goaltending equipment to prevent goalies from having an unfair advantage. Many other professional and non-professional leagues adhere to equipment size regulations based on International Ice Hockey Federation
International Ice Hockey Federation
The International Ice Hockey Federation is the worldwide governing body for ice hockey and in-line hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 70 members...
rules.
Blocker
The blocker is worn on the hand that holds the stick. A right-handed goaltender will wear the blocker on his right hand and a left-handed goaltender will wear the blocker on his left hand. It consists of a glove with a rectangular board attached to the backhand side. The board is usually curved up at one end. This flare is designed to help control the deflection and will create a tougher angle on a shot if a goalie uses the shaft-down technique. It can also be called a "waffle", in reference to older models, which were covered with real leather, but had holes cut in the leather to save weight. This gave the blocker a waffle-like appearance. The placement of the palm on the back of the blocker varies though it has been traditionally placed in the middle. Newer models tend to place the palm further to the inside of the glove and cover more of the net. In almost all cases, the goalie wears only one blocker, however, near the end of his career, retired goalie Reid Miller played with two after nerve damage rendered him incapable of closing his glove hand.Glove
The trapperTrapper (ice hockey)
A trapper, or catch glove, is a piece of equipment that is worn by ice hockey goaltenders on their non-dominant hand.-Evolution:Often referred to simply as the "glove", it was originally shaped in the same fashion as a baseball first-baseman's mitt, but evolved into a highly specific piece of...
or catch glove is the glove worn on the free hand. It is similar to a baseball mitt, but it has additional padding to protect the lower forearm, wrist, palm, fingers and thumb, and it has a deeper pocket. In fact, the first goalie catcher, worn by former Wadena Wolverines and the North Stars goalie Reid Miller in 1948, was a baseball first baseman's mitt. Common variations among catchers include the pocket angle. If the glove is too bulky, it will not allow for good stickhandling. catchers tend to be one of the most cared for pieces of equipment for the goaltender. In order to prevent what is called a "pancake pocket", goalies will often deepen the pocket by strapping objects inside the glove when not in use. Their fit is extremely important as well as the goalie's sense of the pocket and angles of the trapper. This will make transitioning to new pads difficult in some cases besides the usual need to break in the pads. Some people suggest that the size of the trapper should be reduced from its present dimensions, which cannot be justified by the legitimate need to maximize protection.
Chest and arm protector
The chest and arm protector or arm and body pad is designed to protect the chest, shoulders, arms, and collarbone area from the impact of pucks. It is worn under the hockey jerseyHockey jersey
A hockey jersey, traditionally called a sweater , is a piece of clothing worn by hockey players to cover the upper part of their bodies. "Sweater" is the correct reference in Canada, despite the material...
. This pad has progressively become more and more protective in recent years. In the early days of goaltending, it was a much smaller and less protective piece of equipment, consisting mostly of thick felt. In effect, they were a little better than what baseball catchers wear today. Now with the advent of high density foams and higher quality materials such as high density plastics, chest protectors can be made today that protect the body from injury.
Jock
A goalie jock, which protects the pelvic area, is more protective than a common jockstrapJockstrap
A jockstrap is an undergarment designed for supporting the male genitalia during sports or other vigorous physical activity...
, though it generally uses the same internal plastic cup. The jock has padding over the internal plastic cup and additional padding from the top of the cup to the waist. Many modern jocks use two cups, one in front of the other, in order to provide more protection.
Instead of a Jock, female goalies wear a pelvic protector
Pelvic protector
The pelvic protector is the female equivalent to the male jockstrap. It is designed to protect the female genitals It is also occasionally nicknamed a jill or jillstrap. Women wear the garment during contact sports or activities. The garment "cups" around the genitals and is usually reinforced...
called a jill.
Leg pads
Goaltenders wear special leg padsPads
Pads are protective equipment used by batters in the sports of cricket and baseball, and by goaltenders in hockey, bandy and lacrosse. They serve to protect the legs from impact by a hard ball or puck at high speed which could otherwise cause injuries to the lower leg.In cricket, pads fall into...
to protect their legs and knees. Leg pads have evolved significantly over the years. The earliest leg pads strongly resembled the cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
pads from which they were adopted. They were constructed of leather and stuffed with deer hair. In the 1930s, leg pads became more specialized, becoming wider and thicker. An extra roll of material, called a "skip-over roll", was added to the outside edge of each pad face, extending from the lowest point of the pad covering the foot (called the boot break) to just below the knee rolls in the 1940s. In the 1950s, the skip-over roll was extended to the very top of the leg pad. In the 1980s, additional padding was added to protect the inside areas of the legs and knees. Toe foils, a plastic shield that was affixed to the bottom outside edge of the goalie pad, began to be used but were later not allowed by equipment regulations. Leg pad design and construction remained static until the 1990s when synthetic leathers and high density foams began to be used in pad construction. Advantages of synthetic materials were light weight, lower cost, quick break-in period and leg pads that could be manufactured in the colors of the goaltender's team. Some leg pad manufacturers replaced the leather toe strap with a toe bridge to affix the front of the leg pad to the front of the goalie skate. Starting around 2000, the "Box" style leg pads became popular as goaltending playing technique evolved to a blocking style versus the reacting style of the past. In the "Box" style pad, the edge between the pad face and the pad inside edge is square, keeping the pad face more perpendicular with the ice surface and maximizing the blocking area when the goaltender is in the "butterfly" position. Currently, ice hockey regulations require that leg pads can be no wider than 11 inches (25–30 cm) and can be no longer than 38 inches (the limit in the NHL, as of 2009). The NHL has also brought in rules stating that each goaltender will be measured for height, and then the height of allowable pads will be calculated in proportion to the height of the goaltender.
Mask
The first modern goalie maskGoalie mask
A goaltender mask, commonly referred to as a goalie mask or a hockey mask, is a mask worn by ice hockey, inline hockey, and field hockey goaltenders to protect the head from injury. Jacques Plante was the first goaltender to create and use a practical mask in 1959. Plante's mask was a piece of...
was pioneered by professional goaltender Jacques Plante
Jacques Plante
Joseph Jacques Omer Plante was a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender. During a career lasting from 1947–1975, he was considered to be one of the most important innovators in hockey...
. Early masks were constructed from fiberglass
Glass-reinforced plastic
Fiberglass , is a fiber reinforced polymer made of a plastic matrix reinforced by fine fibers of glass. It is also known as GFK ....
and were molded to the shape of the wearer's face. Later, the "bird-cage" models used by Russian goalies, most significantly, Vladislav Tretiak
Vladislav Tretiak
Vladislav Aleksandrovich Tretiak, MSM is a former goaltender for the Soviet Union's national ice hockey team. Considered to be one of the greatest goaltenders in the history of the sport, he was voted one of six players to the International Ice Hockey Federation's Centennial All-Star Team in a...
, became popular in North America when a series of severe and career ending injuries struck down many NHL goalies using molded masks and prompted the Canadian Standards Association to outlaw molded masks in 1978. Assuredly, it was also Vladislav Tretiak's brilliant play during Canada-USSR Summit Series of 1972, that North American players first began to notice the superiority of the helmet/cage-type mask as opposed to the form-fitting fiberglass model, especially in terms of increased vision. Another significant advance in mask design came during the 1974-75 season, when goaltending great Tony Esposito, who had experienced puck and stick injuries to his eyes, fitted a steel cage over the eyeholes of his molded mask and crafted a fiberglass extension to protect the top of his head, thereby setting the groundwork for the next step in mask evolution, the modern goalie mask, commonly referred to as the "hybrid" mask.
Today, most goalies utilize hybrid masks made of fiberglass, kevlar
Kevlar
Kevlar is the registered trademark for a para-aramid synthetic fiber, related to other aramids such as Nomex and Technora. Developed at DuPont in 1965, this high strength material was first commercially used in the early 1970s as a replacement for steel in racing tires...
, carbon fiber, and other composite material
Composite material
Composite materials, often shortened to composites or called composition materials, are engineered or naturally occurring materials made from two or more constituent materials with significantly different physical or chemical properties which remain separate and distinct at the macroscopic or...
s. Modern masks have a large cutout in the eye and nose area covered by a steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
or titanium
Titanium
Titanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. It has a low density and is a strong, lustrous, corrosion-resistant transition metal with a silver color....
cage.
Many goalies are able to be identified by the custom artwork airbrush
Airbrush
An airbrush is a small, air-operated tool that sprays various media including ink and dye, but most often paint by a process of nebulization. Spray guns developed from the airbrush and are still considered a type of airbrush.-History:...
ed on their masks. Some maintain the same theme throughout their career, changing the colors to match their team's colors. Examples include Curtis Joseph
Curtis Joseph
Curtis Shayne Joseph is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender. He last played for the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League....
's Cujo
Cujo
Cujo is a psychological horror novel by Stephen King. The novel won the British Fantasy Award in 1982, and was made into a film in 1983....
, Ed Belfour
Ed Belfour
Edward John Belfour is a former Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender.Belfour was born in Carman, Manitoba and grew up playing hockey. He played junior hockey for the Winkler Flyers before going to the University of North Dakota where he helped the school win the NCAA championship in the...
's eagle, Félix Potvin
Felix Potvin
Félix "The Cat" Potvin is a former National Hockey League goaltender.-QMJHL career:From 1988 through to 1991 Potvin played with the Chicoutimi Saguenéens, a Quebec Major Junior Hockey League team...
's abstract cat design, or Patrick Lalime
Patrick Lalime
Patrick Lalime is a Canadian professional ice hockey broadcaster and former player. Lalime played twelve seasons in the National Hockey League with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Ottawa Senators, St. Louis Blues, Chicago Blackhawks and Buffalo Sabres...
's Marvin the Martian
Marvin the Martian
Marvin the Martian is a fictional character appearing in the Looney Tunes cartoons. Marvin's likeness appears in miniature on the Spirit rover on Mars.-Conception and creation:...
. Some goalies have more generic team-specific artwork, while others vary the artwork over the course of their careers.
An alternative to the mask, is the earlier mentioned "bird-cage" helmet and cage combo, which consists of a wire facemask attached to a standard hockey helmet. This became popular during the 1970s since a cage provides better sightlines than a molded fiberglass mask. Its popularity peaked during the 1980s, yet started to decline during the 1990s, as hockey equipment manufacturers discontinued the production of helmets and cages favored by goaltenders. By the turn of the 21st century, only a few professional goalies still wore a helmet/cage combo. Included in this small group are Chris Osgood
Chris Osgood
Christopher John Osgood is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender. He's currently ranked tenth in wins in NHL regular season history with 401 career wins. He spent the first part of his 17-year NHL career with the Detroit Red Wings, then the New York Islanders and the St. Louis...
of the Detroit Red Wings
Detroit Red Wings
The Detroit Red Wings are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League , and are one of the Original Six teams of the NHL, along with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, New York...
and Rick DiPietro
Rick DiPietro
Rick DiPietro, Jr. is an American professional ice hockey goaltender currently playing for the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League . He was the first overall selection by the Islanders in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft....
http://ingoalmag.com/news/islanders-dipietro-dons-osgoods-old-mask-to-protect-shattered-face/ of the New York Islanders
New York Islanders
The New York Islanders are a professional ice hockey team based in Uniondale, New York. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
in the NHL
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
, Martin Prusek
Martin Prusek
Martin Prusek is a Czech a former professional ice hockey goaltender and currently ice-hockey goaltender coach. Prusek has played in the National Hockey League for the Ottawa Senators and Columbus Blue Jackets...
of Dinamo Riga in the KHL
Kontinental Hockey League
The Kontinental Hockey League is an international professional ice hockey league in Eurasia founded in 2008. As of 2009, it is ranked as the strongest hockey league in Europe....
, and Marco Bührer
Marco Bührer
Marco Bührer is a Swiss ice hockey goaltender. He has been playing for SC Bern of National League A since the 2001–2002 season. Bührer was awarded the Jacques Plante Trophy as the league's best goalkeeper of the 2003–2004 season. Bührer is also often known for his ability to steal games, even...
of SC Bern
SC Bern
Schlittschuh Club Bern is an ice hockey team based in Bern, Switzerland. The club was the most attended team in Europe for the 2010-11 season, averaging 15,856 spectators....
in the Swiss National League A. Dominik Hasek
Dominik Hašek
Dominik Hašek is a Czech ice hockey goaltender who is currently with HC Spartak Moscow of the KHL.In his 16-season National Hockey League career, he played for the Chicago Blackhawks, Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings, and the Ottawa Senators. During his years in Buffalo, he became one of the...
also wore the helmet/cage combo for the duration of his career.
There were various helmet/cage combinations used by professionals. One was the Cooper SK600 helmet with the Cooper HM30 cage (worn by Ken Wregget
Ken Wregget
Kenneth Wregget is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender. He won the Stanley Cup in 1992 with the Pittsburgh Penguins.-Playing career:...
and Billy Smith
Billy Smith (ice hockey)
William John Smith, better known as Billy Smith, is a retired professional ice hockey goaltender and is best known for winning four Stanley Cups with the New York Islanders and being the first goalie to be credited with a goal....
). Another was the Cooper SK2000 helmet with either the Cooper HM30 cage (currently used by Osgood and Cloutier) or the Cooper HM50 cage (previously used by Hasek). And, another was the Jofa 280 Helmet with the 260.51 cage, which was last worn by Arturs Irbe
Arturs Irbe
Artūrs Irbe is a former Soviet and Latvian professional ice hockey goaltender. He has played in the National Hockey League for the San Jose Sharks, Dallas Stars, Vancouver Canucks, Carolina Hurricanes and Columbus Blue Jackets. He served as the goaltending coach for the Washington Capitals...
. Don Beaupre
Don Beaupre
Donald William Beaupre is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender. Beaupre in his 17 seasons in the NHL played for four teams: the Minnesota North Stars, Washington Capitals, Ottawa Senators, and the Toronto Maple Leafs.-Playing career:Beaupre emerged as a goaltender in the OHA for...
wore a Cooper SK600 with a Jofa 260.51 cage. After Nike
Nike, Inc.
Nike, Inc. is a major publicly traded sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States. The company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, which is part of the Portland metropolitan area...
acquired Cooper and consolidated it as Nike Bauer
Nike Bauer
Bauer Performance Sports Ltd. is one of the leading manufacturers of ice hockey equipment, fitness and recreational skates, and apparel. Bauer produces helmets, gloves, sticks, skates, shin guards, pants, shoulder pads, elbow pads, as well as goalie equipment...
, the SK2000 and HM50 were discontinued, while the HM30 was marketed as a field hockey mask (and subsequently discontinued in 2004). Jofa eventually phased out the 280 helmet and its respective cage, but now offer the RBK 3K helmet and 287 cage for the European market since consolidating with Reebok
Reebok
Reebok International Limited, a subsidiary of the German sportswear company Adidas since 2005, is a producer of Athletic shoes, apparel, and accessories. The name comes from the Afrikaans spelling of rhebok, a type of African antelope or gazelle...
.
There are currently two models of goaltender masks which are both available to the North American market and based on the helmet/cage combination. The first model is the Hasek Pro Style 357, manufactured by the Warwick Mask Company, which follows the traditional helmet/cage style of masks. Current users of these helmets include Prusek and Bührer, while Hasek used this model from the 2001-02 season up to his retirement. The second is the Mage, manufactured by Sportmask. The difference between the Mage and other helmet/cage combinations is that the Mage's cage attaches to a helmet with a back plate as opposed to a helmet that's enclosed. Mage users include Boston Bruins
Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The team has been in existence since 1924, and is the league's third-oldest team and its oldest in the...
goaltender Tim Thomas
Tim Thomas (ice hockey)
Timothy James Thomas, Jr. is an American professional ice hockey goaltender with the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League . Raised in Davison, MI, Thomas played college hockey for the University of Vermont for four years, from 1993–1997, during which he was drafted 217th overall by the...
and Genève-Servette HC
Genève-Servette HC
Genève-Servette HC, is a professional ice hockey team based in Geneva, Switzerland and compete in National League A.-History:* 1905 : Foundation of Servette FC's ice hockey section....
goaltender Tobias Stephan
Tobias Stephan
Tobias Stephan is a Swiss professional ice hockey goaltender currently playing for Genève-Servette of the Swiss National League A...
.
Pants
Goalies' pants are similar in appearance to the pants that forwards and defensemen wear. Goaltender pants are heavily padded all down the front and sides, with a tailbone protector incorporated into the rear of the pant.Skates
Goal skateIce skate
Ice skates are boots with blades attached to the bottom, used to propel the bearer across a sheet of ice. They are worn as footwear in many sports, including ice hockey, bandy and figure skating. The first ice skates were made from leg bones of horse, ox or deer, and were attached to feet with...
s differ from regular hockey skates. The blade is longer, wider, and flatter to provide the goalie with more stability. It is made out of carbon steel rather than stainless steel
Stainless steel
In metallurgy, stainless steel, also known as inox steel or inox from French "inoxydable", is defined as a steel alloy with a minimum of 10.5 or 11% chromium content by mass....
. The blade holder, which is molded to the cowling, is shorter vertically so that the goaltender is lower to the ice. The boot does not have a tendon guard, which is the piece of a regular hockey skate that extends up the back of the ankle to protect the Achilles' tendon. Finally, the boot is inside a rigid cowling to protect the foot from direct impact.
Stick
The special hockey stickIce hockey stick
An ice hockey stick is a piece of equipment used in ice hockey to shoot, pass, and carry the puck. Ice hockey sticks are approximately 150–200 cm long, composed of a long, slender shaft with a flat extension at one end called the blade. The blade is the part of the stick used to contact the...
goaltenders use has a blade that is approximately 3½ inches (8.9 cm) wide. The lower 25 to 28 inches (63.5–71 cm) of the shaft is widened to provide more blocking surface. This area is called the paddle. Although traditional goalie sticks were usually made completely of wood, most modern sticks are reinforced with graphite and fiberglass and the paddle and blade are injected with foam to make them lighter. Recently, manufacturers have begun to produce sticks made completely from composite material
Composite material
Composite materials, often shortened to composites or called composition materials, are engineered or naturally occurring materials made from two or more constituent materials with significantly different physical or chemical properties which remain separate and distinct at the macroscopic or...
s, which are more durable.