Protective Hockey Gear



If you see a hockey game today, you see all kinds of protection possible. There are masks for the goalkeeper, knee and leg platelets, helmets, elbow and shoulder pieces in addition to the measures for the protection, if not visible. That was not always the case. The players have begun to take measures to prevent their bodies against a slice of theft or strong floor until the year 1880.

Certainly, the players were already covered, but for the heat. The first device for the Protection players in the sport was shins. In the 1880s, hockey players began to protect their shins by wrapping around them strips of leather with lengths of cane. The goalkeepers began her plates in 1893. These surfaces were cricket. You are not become popular in the goalkeepers until George "Whitney" Merritt, while a game of the Stanley Cup. Protects knee were next. The players, which square with leather or canvas, feel strengthened.
In 1900 began the players added to the padded gloves. Another was added shoulder pieces. Fred "Cyclone" Taylor has invented and then after the visit of Renfrew, Ontario, 1910. The protection of felt sewn in a booklet. Goalkeeper, but not their questions until 1915. At this point padding glove also makes the work a little easier. He did not "capture" glove.
The year 1900, further amendments. In the year 1910, was the first player-protects elbow. In a first step the players the runners outside the uniform. Simple elastic introduced a set in place. The two investments and hardware were to remain constant until after the Second World War.

Between 1920 and 1925, hockey protective equipment increased the number and species. The knees and shins is a unit. He has also in its form. Traditionally, Emil "Pop" Kenesky is the pioneer. After he is a hockey league, manufacturers of horse dishes, Hamilton, Ontario, changed the platelets. For the next 50 years, the NHL goalies its design. The only problem - it hardened the water. In the years 1920, including goalkeeper, "blocker". Since the space keyboard, blocker, born of a person looks, a blacksmith / harness manufacturer at work. The Star-blockers in a company harness leather.

For the years 1940, to the elbow in the face, produced by injuries, gave rise to a change in the regulations. The players have to bear protects-elbow under the sweater. After the war was also the goalkeeper capture glove. Emile Francis, a goalkeeper with the Chicago Blackhawk’s, sewed the first goal of the glove in his glove goalie. It has a tendency to wiggle and other changes. The result was a special capture glove.

After the Second World War, new options technology produces. Plastics and fiberglass replaced, leather and felt. The "sign" at the end of 1960 it was difficult Lexan record - a kind of plexiglass. Cushioned of styrene, the material was inserted into the outer form of leather. The new material improved padding on the knees and shins, in place of leather and plastic with Velcro.

As in the 20th Century has hit the halfway mark, hockey is still not two important parts of the equipment to protect - the mask and helmet. The first person to wear a mask was a woman. A title without goalkeeper of the Montreal Westerns threaded a baseball catcher's mask, in January 1916, to guard against the plans of the Victorian murderer 'Albertine Laspensé. Elizabeth Graham has the second place. They wore a mask, fencing during its 1927 season with the Queen's University hockey team of women based on the Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. The first man bear Clint Benedict was in January 7, 1930. It was only two games after a loss is incurred. Benedict abandoned because it is virtually impossible. It was not until Jacques Plante threaded the mask in November 1959 just the idea has become acceptable. In 1973, the masks are standard practice.

With regard to the helmets - considered the player devices. A player wears a helmet after a commotion. All this has changed since the 13th January, 1968. The Bill Masterson, two weeks after his second commotion was stuck in the head during a game. He died 30 hours later. A number of players have begun to wear a helmet, but there were no standards or regulations.
In the years 1970, helmets became compulsory for all universities and the young players. At the end of the decade, the NHL called on all parties to new contract with a helmet. In 1992, a waiver allows players to withdraw, but less than players choose this option. It was welcome but not until 1997 that the helmets were standardized. The NHL now calls for the safety of helmets certified. It is now the norm. In fact, hockey equipment safety once trampled underfoot, the players of how soft or to disrupt the game, is now mandatory and as necessary, if a player the game.