Equipment Info
North Park Hockey Equipment Requirements and Skate Info (including Sizing, Fitting and Sharpening)
Required Equipment
Our uniform package for 10U, 12U and 14U includes team jerseys, gloves, pants and hockey socks. Our package for 8U and 6U is dialed back, with more simple practice jerseys, and excludes pants and gloves. All jerseys have name and number.
Players are expected to provide all other equipment as follows:
- Hockey skates (our coaches recommend Bauer)
- White helmet, with a black cage (one well-known study recommended CCM FitLite: VT Helmet Study)
- Hockey pants - black (if you ordered team shell instead of team pants or if you are 8U and younger)
- Hockey gloves - black (if you did not order team gloves, ie 8U and younger)
- Mouthguard - recommend the Sisu thin moldable mouthguards, especially if with braces
- Athletic protector (boys) - recommend all-in-one Shock Jock or similar shorts with velcro on the front and back to attach socks
- Hockey stick - note Raven sticks are specifically designed with youth flex
- Shoulder pads
- Elbow pads
- Neck protector
- Shin pads
- Pelvis protector (girls)
Equipment and Skate Purchasing, Sizing, Fitting and Sharpening
Online specialty retailers and traditional brick and mortar store are easily accessible in New York City to provide you with all the equipment you need to get on the ice.
You can first shop online to compare prices for youth hockey skates with store prices to get an idea of what to pay and to understand equipment sizing. These sites all have equipment sizing information for each of the major equipment vendors:
http://www.hockeymonkey.com/
http://www.purehockey.com/
http://www.hockeygiant.com/
http://www.discounthockey.com/
Hockey Monkey and Pure Hockey have big box retail locations in Woodbridge and Fairfield, NJ, respectively. These places are full service temples to the sport! There are several New York City specialty retailers that can set you up as well, which are listed below:
Below are stores where you can buy hockey equipment in the NYC area and get your skates sharpened.
Westside Skate & Stick (has moved locations from Flatiron to City Ice Pavilion in Long Island City)
Phone: 212-228-8400Fax: 212-675-2147
http://www.westsideskate.com
Paragon Sports
867 Broadway at 18th Street
New York, NY 10003
212-255-8889
1-800-961-3030
http://www.paragonsports.com/
Store Hours:
10a.m. to 8p.m.
Sunday 11:00a.m. to 7:00p.m.
Key skate brand: Bauer
Paragon is pricey but usually has a sale on high quality youth skates at the beginning of the season in September. Skates purchased at Paragon may come with life-time free skate sharpening. Please ask sales personnel. However, sharpening as a craft is not paramount here. The sharpening done is enough to get an two edges to go on the ice. You will end up getting them sharpened somewhere else.
New York, NY 10011
Trel: 212-824-4096
Fax 212-336-6197
Store Hours:
Monday - Friday: 11:00am - 10:00am
Saturday - Sunday: 9:00am - 7:00pm
Full service pro shop. They also provide skate sharpening.
Hockey skates are probably the most important and most expensive equipment purchase and there are nuances that you need to be aware of before you buy.
There are several shops in the New York City area at which you can buy skates. A common question is which brand to purchase. CCM and Bauer are the two most popular skate brands along with Graf and Easton. There are several informative and detailed videos on YouTube that you can view for tips on the brands, skate sizing and fitting (which is quirky by brand - more on this later). Below are links to several instructional videos that can help you:
Skate selection - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M063vCB6LVU&NR=1 - 8:55
Skate sizing - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHQPYB2V3UY - 6:03
Skate fitting - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mr3hEuvDlLQ - 4:55
Hockey is not a situation where you buy skates that are larger than the child's foot, so the child can grow into them. DON'T!!! To size the skate properly, determine the length and width of the foot. For skate brands such as Bauer, CCM, Reebok, and and other skates are usually sized one size to a size and a half lower than shoe sizes (Shoe Size 3 = Skate Size 2 or 1.5). Easton is a half size down. Mission and Torpso skates sizes are the same as shoe sizes. Generally online retailers will have sizing comparison charts on their websites. Actually sitting down and fitting the skates will determine what is best, especially if you are a first or second time skate purchaser.
When the skates are tried on, have the child use socks that will be used all the time so that the fit will always be the same. Buying several pairs of the same sock is advised.
To fit the skates, have the skater place the feet in untied skates, and push foot forward so that the toes touch the front of the skate. This is best done by kicking the toe of the boot on the ground. There should be no more than a one forefinger width space between the heel and the back of the boot. This method helps to overcome size discrepancies found when using shoe or skate measuring devices or guessing at shoe or foot size.
The feet in the skates should feel comfortable. While in the store, have the skater walk around in tied up skates to make sure there are no pressure points being pressed on the sides, front and top of toes, ankles and heel.
A number of skates now have the option of custom fitting through the use of proprietary convection ovens, commonly known as baking. If you buy skates online, you will have to find alternative locations to bake the skates. Brick and mortar shops are not always very accomodating when you bring in skates that have been purchased at another location and will charge you up to $50 to bake them. It is possible to do this at home if you have a convection oven, but it is not advised for newcomers to the sport to do so.
It is important to buy skates where they will sharpen them before you leave the store. All new hockey skates have flat blades and cannot be used until a hollow with edges is made by grinding. If you buy at store that does not sharpen, you will have to trek to a store location that does so.
Here are links to an informative article and a video on skate sharpening.
http://www.skateny.com/sharpening/ http://www.maximumedge.ca/discovery_sharpening.html- 8:09