Goalie hockey pants are worn to protect the thighs, kidneys, hips and lower back of a goaltender which helps you to protect the goaltender from pucks and sticks. When choosing hockey pants, there are two distinct styles to choose from pants and girdles. The choice is completely based on the personal preference. Pants are the more traditional styles with a bigger fit and more volume and the girdles will fit tighter to your body but the aspects of fitting both styles are mostly similar. Senior goalie pants are built with heavy duty nylon and polyester shells which contain hard, plastic inserts and dense foam padding that help protect the goaltender.
Features
- Foam Padding
Goalie hockey pants contain foam padding for protection purpose including the front and back of the pads, hip pads, spine, and groin area and kidney protectors. The foam padding density is varying from one model to next model. Different density foams are capable of handling different shot velocities as well as providing varying degrees of comfort. Elite hockey player requires an elite level protection while recreational players need a lower level of protection. However, the foam padding does not offer enough protection on its own so that hockey pants contain hard and plastic inserts.
- Plastic Inserts
The protective ability of a pair of goalie hockey pants is provided by the plastic inserts that are complemented by the foam padding to provide a comfortable fit and these inserts are placed in the thighs, hips, and spine and kidney areas. The plastic inserts come in various densities and shapes to provide varying degree of protection, comfort and mobility. An elite level goalie requires a greater degree of protection than recreational goalies.
- Suspender Button
Almost every pair of hockey pants come with suspender buttons which allow you to attach a pair of suspenders to your pants. If you are tall and skinny or you like to wear your pants large, a pair of suspenders will do the job that your waist best can’t hold up your pants. Some of the goalies wear their suspenders over their chest and arm protector to keep their shoulder pads down if they go down into the butterfly stance. Whether to wear your suspenders over or under your chest and arm is a matter of preference while deciding hockey pants.
- Waist Belt and Closure
Goalie pants come with a waist belt which can be tightened to secure the pants around your waist and the waist belt is also used by many goalies as an anchor for attaching their chest and arm protector to their pants. Many senior goalie pants come with a lace-up closure for the crotch area that provides another form of adjustability.
- Protector for Knee and Thighs
This protection is generally featured on high end goalie pants which are fastened to your legs with Velcro straps that wrap around your legs so that they don’t necessarily need to be attached to your leg pads or pants in order to fit securely on your legs.
Comments are closed.