Protective Hockey Gear

If you go to a hockey game today, you will see every type of protective gear imaginable. There are masks for the goalie, knee and leg pads, helmets, elbow and shoulder pads and more protective measures, not so visible. This has not always been the case. Players did not start to take measures to protect their bodies against a flying puck or sharp stick until the 1880s.

Admittedly, players were already wearing gloves but for warmth. The first protective device players adopted into the sport was shin pads. In the 1880s, hockey players began to protect their shins by wrapping around them strips of leather with lengths of cane. The goalies first began wearing their pads in 1893. These were cricket pads. They did not become popular among goaltenders until George “Whitney” Merritt wore them during a Stanley Cup game. Kneepads were next. Players developed them from leather squares or canvas reinforced with felt.

By 1900, players had begun to add padding to gloves. Another addition was shoulder pads. Fred “Cyclone” Taylor invented then after visiting Renfrew, Ontario in 1910. The protection consisted of felt sewn under a shirt. Goalies, however, did not have their issues addressed until 1915. At this time, extra glove padding made the job a little easier. There was, however, no “catching” glove.

The 1900s saw other changes. In 1910, players first wore elbow pads. At first, players wore the pads outside the uniform. A simple elastic bandage held a pad in place. Both placement and material were to remain constant until after WWII.

Between 1920 and 1925, hockey protective equipment increased in number and types. The knee and shin pads became a single unit. It also improved in form. Traditionally, Emil “Pop” Kenesky is the innovator. After watching a hockey league game, this harness maker from Hamilton, Ontario, modified the pads. For the next 50 years, NHL goalies sported his design. The only problem - it soaked up water. In the 1920s, Goalies also started wearing “blockers”. Like the one-piece pad, blockers arose out of someone watching a blacksmith/harness maker at work. The blocker featured a firm sheet of harness leather.

By the 1940s, too many elbows to the face, producing injuries, resulted in a change in regulations. Players were to wear elbow pads under the sweater. The post war period also introduced the Goalie “catching” glove. Emile Francis, a goalie with the Chicago Blackhawks, sewed a first baseman’s mitt to his goalie glove. He established a trend and set into motion further modifications. The result was a specialized catching glove.

After WWII, new technology produced options. Plastic and fiberglass replaced leather and felt. The “blocker” by the late 1960s was made of hard sheet lexan – a form of plexiglass. Cushioned by styrene, this material was placed within the outer form of leather. The new material improved padding on the knees and shins, replacing leather with plastic and velcro.

As the 20th century hit the half way mark, hockey was still lacking two important pieces of protective equipment – the mask and the helmet. The very first person to wear a mask was a woman. An unnamed goalie for the Montreal Westerns donned a baseball catcher’s mask, in January 1916, to protect herself against the deadly shots of the Victorias’ Albertine Laspensé. Elizabeth Graham was second. She wore a fencing mask during her 1927 season with the Queen University women’s hockey team based at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. The first male to wear one was Clint Benedict in January 7, 1930. He wore it for only two games after suffering an injury. Benedict abandoned it because it was impractical. It was not until Jacques Plante donned the mask in November 1959 that the idea became more acceptable. By 1973, masks were common.

As for helmets – players considered them casual gear. A player wore a helmet after a concussion. This all changed on January 13, 1968. Bill Masterson, two weeks after his second concussion, was stuck in the head during a game. He died 30 hours later. A number of players began to wear helmets, but there were no standards or regulations.

In the 1970s, helmets became mandatory for all college and junior ranked players. At the end of the decade, the NHL required all new contract players to wear helmets. A 1992 waiver allowed players to opt out, but fewer players choose this option. It was not, however, until 1997, that helmets were standardized. The NHL now requires safety-certified helmets. This is now the norm. In fact, hockey safety equipment, once scorned by players as soft or interfering with play, is now mandatory and recognized as necessary if a player is to play the game safely.