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Eye Protection Underneath the Hockey Mask

Playing the position of goalie in any sport is a daunting job. If you play outdoors and during sunlight hours, the sun can often make the job of keeping eyes focused on projectiles much more difficult. Since hockey games are divided into three periods of play, chances are one of the goalies may play with the sun in his/her eyes for the majority of the game. Make sure the effects of direct sunlight or sun-glare are kept to a minimum.

The Sunglasses Option:

One option is to wear sunglasses under the mask. Polarized lenses with full UV filtering will provide the best protection for your eyes and cut down any glare from reflections on the playing surface, the boards, or other players’ helmets.

What style works best under the mask?

While wrap around style offers the best sun coverage, they aren’t easily accommodated by the fit of the mask. If the wrap projects too far from the temple then you run the risk of rubbing the frame against the inside of the cage or mask, resulting in the glasses moving as your head moves.

Classic style sunglasses offer less coverage but have the advantage of staying put as your head moves laterally with respect to the mask surrounding it.

Sweat can be a major nuisance while wearing sunglasses under the mask. Taking the mask on and off your head is hard enough without taking the extra care to avoid knocking the glasses out of place in the process. You will want to keep a towel handy in case the glasses require cleaning during a game stoppage or a face-off at the opposite end of the rink.

The Sport Contact Lens Option:

Another option that became available only recently is the tinted sport contact lens option.

Commercial optics technology has finally made available sport contact lenses that offer disposable optical wavelength filtering as effective as sunglasses with the ability to meet the needs of your eye prescription. These lenses offer a choice of wavelength spectrum filtration that allow optimization for various types of sports environments. Your color selection will be based on a number of factors, including the color of the playing surface/surroundings and the color of the puck or ball.

Let’s compare the advantages of the two options:

A package of 6 pairs of disposable sport contact lenses retails for around $78 (available in both prescription and non-prescription). A respectable pair of polarized sunglasses costs between $10 and $30 at your neighborhood discount retailer.

Other players might tell you that you look really cool wearing mirrored sunglasses that match your team colors under the mask. When wearing colored sport contact lenses under the mask, other players might think you look possessed (some might consider this an advantage).

Sunglasses can be removed easily when the clouds roll in or when you are playing at the end of the rink that has the sun to your back. Contact lenses are in place before you arrive at the rink and come out after you leave (don’t risk damage to you eyes by inserting and removing while you are gearing up or down at rink-side)

Sunglasses can smear with sweat and become displaced when you get bumped around. Contact lenses tend to remain securely in place and sweat acts as a natural lubricant.

Both options offer the goalie essential protection from UV harm and sun blindness that make the mission easier to carry out. Don’t let the sun play in the opposing team’s favor.

Please share your experiences with either of these options by leaving a comment on this article. Play hard!

Brian Thorward is a contributing writer for Bright Red Tech Hockey, an online portal for hockey equipment information/shopping. Brian spends endless hours scouring online hockey resources for useful information to pass on to fellow hockey players and parents.

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The 3 Keys To Defense - Part 1

How did Scott Stevens become one of the league’s great defensemen before he retired and why was he often called a “thinking man’s defenceman”? Stevens credits a lot of his development to one-time Devil’s assistant coach Larry Robinson. It seems that Robinson took Stevens aside at one point and gave him three keys to defence, which he followed throughout the rest of his hockey career. You might find yourself becoming curious about just how three simple techniques turn an average defenceman into one of the greats of all time. And if you are, then read on…

Key 1: Go Up The Middle Robinson told Stevens that when he’s moving up ice, go up the middle, not along the sideboards. Why?

Many young defencemen will have a tendency to stay along the board hoping to bounce-pass it off the boards and out if they’re about to get checked. They also figure if they’re travelling up the ice on, say, the right side, the defenceman playing the left point will cover the rest of the ice.

So, let’s say for example, you’re a defenceman carrying the puck up ice and you’re hanging out by the right boards. What happens if an opposing player comes in to check you? Well, you’ve got one of several choices:
1) Stick-handle around him.
2) Bank the puck off the boards to someone else or go around him and pick it up yourself.
3) Make a cross-ice pass to your defensive partner or advance the puck to a clear forward.

In scenario 1, if he’s a better forechecker than you are a stick-handler, you could get beat, then he’s in one-on-none on your goalie. So let’s chalk that up as a bad idea.

In scenario 2, as my mom used to say, people make better doors than windows. If you can’t see past the opposing players, how confident are you that a) one of your forwards, or b) you will get to the bank-pass before an opposition player? As long as your team has control of the puck, the opposition can’t score. I’m not saying never use a bank pass, just to use it effectively.

In scenario 3, the opposing forward has just pressured you into making a cross-ice pass, possibly without you being aware of the position of the rest of the players on the ice. If you send a cross-ice pass in your zone or in the near neutral zone and it gets picked off, it ends up as another potentially one-on-none situation with your goaltender. Let’s chalk this one up as a bad situation, too.

So, why would you want to carry the puck up the middle? There’s a few reasons, and my favorite is simply that you have more options. Again, let’s think about it logically. By going up the middle, the center or one of the wingers should drop back to cover your position, and the other defenceman should be trailing you. This leaves you four pass outlets instead of one or two (two forward, two back), all of which should be a considerably shorter distance than the options you had if you had gone up the boards. Also, if you go up the middle, your lateral movement isn’t limited by having the boards to one side of you. And when you have more (and safer) options, you should be able to react better in any given situation.

Pete Fry is the founder of Puckmasters Hockey Training Centers, the worlds first and largest hockey training center franchse.

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