Hockey equipment is a large financial investment. Taking care of this investment is a very good idea, so you don’t have to spend more money and also so that the MRSA bacteria doesn’t grow in the equipment causing health problems.  Here are some great tips to keep hockey gear in top working order and extend the life of the equipment.

Proper care of the equipment helps make sure that it protects the player with maximum effectiveness from the time of purchase to the time the equipment is retired or outgrown. The most common complaint with hockey equipment is that it smells bad.  The more often it’s worn, the more it smells. Drying equipment properly is vitally important to keeping it working at maximum effectiveness.

• Open the bag
• Pull everything out
• Hang it up
• Spread the equipment out so that air can move through it

Washing equipment every few months is also a good idea.  Of course, not everything can be washed.  Gloves and skates can’t be put into the washing machine.

By placing SportzGemz inside the gloves and skates, they will also be dry, with no smell, for the next icetime.

It’s always good to have a small toolkit with you.  It’s always right before a game that a screw comes loose on a helmet or a skate lace breaks.  Here are a few basics to have with you:

• Extra Laces
• Helmet Screws
• Screwdriver
• Scissors
• Tape
• Towel
• Practice Puck

Before the season starts and then again at Christmas are great times to double check the equipment, making sure:

• The equipment still fits
• The screws on the helmet are still tight
• The helmet isn’t cracked
• There is no rust on rivets
• All clasps are working
• Velcro is still holding well
• All pads are intact and laced as needed

Some equipment, like helmets and hockey pants can be adjusted as the child grows. Other pieces must be replaced.

Skate Sharpening
Skates need to be sharp to work properly.  Skate blades cut into the ice, especially when making turns and the edges have to be sharp.   Skaters use their edges to accelerate, so the sharper the skates, the faster a player can move.  With a young child, sharpening the skates once a month is probably sufficient.  As a player grows, they will need their skates sharpening every 5 or 6 ice times.  Ice surfaces are all different.  Some are harder than others.  If the skater is playing on a hard ice surface, the skates will need to be sharpened more often.  Skates can also become nicked and sometimes will even lose an edge, meaning that the sharpening isn’t done properly.  If these happen, get the skates sharpened immediately.

As a rule of thumb for parents:

• Sharpen once a month if under 10 and not playing rep.
• If the child is constantly falling (after they know how to skate), it’s time to sharpen the skates.
• Prior to a tournament get the skates sharpened.
• If the skate looses an edge.
• If there is a nick in the blade.

Most kids can tell you they need their skates sharpened after they’ve played for a few year.

Skate Blade
There are different types of skate sharpening.  The amount of blade sharpness and hollow are often a matter of skater preference. Sharper blades have a deeper groove in the blade that helps with pushing off, stopping, changing direction, pivoting and turning. However, if a blade is too sharp, a player can have problems gliding and stopping as the overly sharp blade tries to grab the ice.

Key Points for Parents

• Hockey equipment needs to fit properly.
• Buying equipment big, in hopes of not having to replace it often, is dangerous for the player.
• Replace any problem equipment immediately.
• Make sure skates are always sharp.
• Use skate guards to protect the blade and guard against injuries;

Key Points for Players

• Always wipe down your skates after use and air out your hockey gear.
• Put your SportzGemz inside your gloves and skates after playing so they dry out.

I was honored to meet with Troy Landreville of the Langley Advance who interviewed me for the article below. This is one of the best descriptions of what our product does that I have read yet.

Thank you Troy!

The gag reflex some get from the noxious odour of bacteria-ridden sports equipment may be a thing of the past, if a local woman has anything to say.

A local entrepreneur believes she has a solution for moms and wives who feel the need to pull on Hazmat suits and gas masks every time they walk into their garages or basements.

Langley mom and entrepreneur Wendy Ratel has distributed SportzGemz to retail sporting goods stores across Canada, including Offside Pro Shops, located inside the Langley Sportsplex. Troy Landreville/Langley Advance

Wendy Ratel, a Langley mom of three, is the driving force behind SportzGemz.

SportzGemz sells beanbag-style pouches filled with the volcanic mineral zeolite. The pouches are placed inside sports equipment such as gloves and shinpads to eliminate bacteria and noxious odours.

After years of driving her son and two daughters to hockey, ringette, basketball, softball and golf practices through the years, Ratel felt enough is enough.

“There has to be a way to enjoy the sports, have the kids benefit and not have everything smell like sweat,” she said.

The smell was bad enough, but when Ratel’s daughter’s legs burned from bacteria in catching pads (softball), she said the problem became a “full-time focus.”

“I went looking for a solution that was natural, that would solve the problem,” Ratel said.

Sprays and powders weren’t the solution, Ratel noted.

Sprays encapsulate the smell and drop it into the fabric, they don’t eliminate it, Ratel said, adding that many sprays have toxins and chemicals in them as well.

“Add that to the smell of sweat and you have a nasty mix,” she said. “The kids complained about the powders. They didn’t like the residue left behind and when used in skates or cleats, the powder ended up between their toes and that didn’t feel very good.”

After months of research and trial and error, a natural mineral was found. According to Ratel, this mineral – zeolite – absorbed the smell and when placed near the equipment, the ionic charge of zeolite draws the odour to it and actually absorbs the smell inside itself.

Ratel said zeolite has two properties: first, it dries fast enough so the bacteria doesn’t get a chance to appear, and second, there is a minor silver content in the mineral itself, and silver is anti-microbial, “so the mineral inherently has microbial properties to it.”

“Even with three hockey bags in the garage, you could walk in without your eyes watering,” she said. “Better yet, the mineral is non-toxic, so the mineral could work on the equipment, but doesn’t leave behind a residue that coats the equipment and can potentially be absorbed into the skin.”

Zeolite also dries, Ratel noted, adding that hockey gloves and skates were dry in about five hours.

“When a kid is on the ice five or six times a week, equipment usually doesn’t dry out,” Ratel said. “Gloves can be wet to touch. The bacteria growing inside the gloves can causes rashes on the hands and the smell is horrific.”

Ratel said using drying methods such as hanging equipment on hockey trees is effective because it separates the items and gives them room to breathe, but it doesn’t solve the problem.

“Simply drying the material doesn’t deal with the bacteria build-up, nor does it deal with the smell,” she said. “If you use [SportzGemz products] in connection with the things you are already doing, like washing the equipment periodically or hanging it off [hockey] trees, then you actually walk into a garage and not get knocked over by the smell.”

National Hockey League linesman and Langley resident Brad Lazarowich travels with SportzGemz pouches wherever he officiates, according to Ratel.

Ratel’s and Lazorwich’s daughters had played softball together, hence the connection.

“He loves that his skates are dry and there isn’t a smell in the hotel room from his skates,” Ratel said. “He is responsible for his own equipment, so he keeps it with him all the time.”

Here’s a great idea to use in connection with your SportzGemz.

Hockey Sudz were created by some sports dads in Tsawwassen, BC. The families behind Hockey Sudz all play hockey and were being suffocated by the smell of the hockey equipment. They formed a company called Sports Solutions Hockey Soap, with its sole product Hockey Sudz, an antibacterial, biodegradable, hypo-allergenic and environmentally sound cleaner geared specifically to cleaning hockey equipment. Each container sells for $9.95 and is good for eight to 10 washes.

On November 18th, The Vancouver Sun published an article about Hockey Sudz.

Hockey equipment can be washed and washing machines that are front loaders are gentler on the equipment than the traditional tubs. Almost all the equipment can go into a washing machine. Remove the plastic parts, prior to putting the equipment into the washer and don’t put the wet equipment in the drier. The heat from the drier can burn and cause the equipment to become misshapen.

Most of us can’t wash equipment after each ice time and you can’t wash hockey gloves or skates. Between washings, use your SportzGemz to absorb the smell and to speed up up the drying time. By inserting the smaller pouches directly inside gloves and skates, your gloves and skates will be dry in about 4 hours.

Skate sharpening - a different cut to the blade

A new skate sharpening technique is quickly gaining acceptance in the hockey world. BlackStone Sports, the Ontario manufacturer of skate maintenance equipment that developed the flat-bottom V method. This new method allows for sharper turns and a freer glide when moving in a straight line.

“Having the angles instead of the arc was quite intriguing,” said Wilson, who is awaiting the results of a University of Ottawa kinesiology study on the effects of the flat-bottom V. Depending on the angle at which the fangs are cut, he said, “when a player stops, he doesn’t have that ‘chattering’ effect.”

An article in The New York Times gives all the details.

We’ll have to check it out. Give us your feedback and your thoughts on how this works for you.

My husband and I used to have great debates about the hockey equipment my son wore.  I used to opt for the more expensive, stressing that if it was more expensive, it was probably better.  Dave would go for fit and be much more practical.  One of the pieces of equipment we could agree on were hockey gloves or ringette gloves for our daughter.

Hockey gloves need to fit and fit well!  Here’s a list of what we look for.

Some hockey gloves my kids like

1. Decide how long you want to keep the hockey gloves.  If you are buying gloves for a child, you may be replacing them yearly as the child grows.  As the child gets older you may replace them every two years.  When our son started playing midget hockey, we bought very good quality gloves for him, knowing this would be the last pair we bought.
2. Think about the level of competition. Rep players need better quality equipment than house or recreational players.  Hits are harder, the competition is more intense and the kids play more often at rep levels.
3. Do some research.  There’s lots of info on the internet about different brands.
4. Decide how much you want to spend. The price of hockey gloves varies widely.  Sometimes you can get great deals on last year’s model – just ask!
5. We’ve always gone to a hockey store, rather than a chain store to purchase gloves and skates.  The staff is more knowledgeable and the selection is better.
6. Look for gloves that are comfortable and are not too wide on your hands.  Your fingers should fit inside the fingers of the gloves with only a small gap to spare.  Some gloves have individual pads on the fingers for each joint.  This makes the glove for flexible.
7. Another thing to look for is how high the padding comes up your wrists.  Your wrists take a beating and you want them protected.  Think of your hockey equipment as armour and you want as few gaps between pads as possible.
8. Pick up a stick and make sure you can handle it correctly.
9. Lastly, make sure the athlete is the one trying on the hockey gloves.  They have to wear them!

I remember the first time I took my son for hockey equipment.  It wasn’t the best experience.  Hopefully these tips will be helpful.

We are still having a great time chatting with all the athletes and their families.

Today we had fun posting pictures at Twitter/WendyRatel.  Follow the link to see some great shots.

Boys taller than Nicole, she was in heaven.

Nicole’s favorite of the day was having her photo taken with the basketball team from Cleveland, Ohio.  Nicole is 6′ tall, so to have these wonderfully tall guys hanging out was fantastic.

Nicole was able to share her own basketball story.  Basketball season is very short, but very intense.  Shoes remain in the locker with her books and clothes when she’s not practicing.  After a few practices, everything stunk.  She took a set of SportzGemz to school and put the smaller pouches in her shoes and left the larger one to work in her locker.  Overnight the smell was gone from her locker and the lockers of the two other basketball players who were close by.  Everyone was very happy.

We also has a chance to talk with Scott from Medicine Hat.  Scott’s hockey team had just been eliminated in overtime.  He said it was a great game and was not happy with the loss, although he was glad to be done and have some time to check out Vancouver.  Scott’s off the check out the West Coast Trail for the next week or so and enjoy the hospitality of Vancouver

Renee’s friend says he’ll be by tomorrow to pick up his SportzGemz.  He’s also trying to persuade Renee that she should talk to our neighbour across the way and get a spray on tatoo of moons and stars.

Had to have the photo of the guy in the bathrobe.

This was a photo we just had to have.  When you see a guy walking down a road in a bathrobe, there has to be a story.  This is the only time, so far, we have “paid” for a picture.  We had to trade a set of Footwear Fresh-N (our 2 piece set) for this photo.  Our friend told us that he wouldn’t smile and had to wear his sunglasses!  Even with all the rules, it was worth it!

As you can see, Nicole is having a great time.  How many other young girls can say they have had their photo taken with men from all over the world, and what better people than the police and firemen – we should be very safe!

More to come!

Day 2 at the 2009 World Police and Fire Games is behind us.  We have 8 more to go!  Soccer got going big time today, with 35 games played.  Hockey also started and both Burnaby 8 Rinks and the Bill Copeland Arena were very busy.  Rugby starts tomorrow!

We’ve had lots of fun chatting with folks from all over the world.  Kim Plumley, my beautiful assistant for today, and I agree that the firefighters from Trinidad and Tobago were our favorite for the day.  Carolyn had a young officer from Ireland tell her she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen last night, so that made her day!  Tomorrow we’ll be taking a camera and seeing how many photos we can get.

The SportzGemz are starting to get noticed.  It often takes a bit for people to “get” the concept. The heat is helping us!  We all expect to sweat buckets when we’re working hard on the field, the court or at the rink, but not so much when we’re walking down the street.   Hotels rooms, after the shoes are removed at night and with all that smelly sports equipment are not the nicest places to be.  People are looking for a solution and we have it for them.

We’re also having tons of fun playing Toss the Rocks!  Toss a Diva Diamondz in a square and you can win a pair of Diva Diamondz, a pair of Gentlemen Gems or a print by Bill Reid, courtesy of Metopolis at Metrotown, our neighbour.  People are stopping to play.  It’s fun.  We’ve also been handing out Freezies to the “hot” athletes and they seem to appreciate that.

More later.

In August last year, I was chatting with Brad Lazarowich, an NHL linesman with over 1500 games under his belt.  Our daughter’s go to school together and have played ball together and against each other over the years.

He asked me what I was up to.  I explained and offered him a set of SportzGemz to try.  Hotel rooms can really smell bad when you wear your skates as often as he does.

Although very skeptical, Brad tried the SportzGemz.  Much to his surprise, they work!

I ran into him again today, at another softball tournament.

Brad uses his SportzGemz and agreed to let me use his name, saying how well they work.

Thanks Brad!

This is a great article from hockeymoms.com.
Hockey gloves are necessary for even a simple game of road hockey. On the ice, they are critical pieces of playing equipment. Hockeymoms.com can help by making sure their gloves fit them properly. Remember to protect all equipment by labeling with your phone number and name! Well maintained hockey gloves have resale or trade value.

Most gloves are made of nylon and leather, with increased strength and durability, dryness and comfort. Gloves are padded in the fingers with foam and plastic inserts.

How to fit hockey gloves - Choose gloves that are comfortable and cover all parts of the hand and wrist. They can fit slightly big as long as they don’t slip off the player’s hand during play. 

Players should try them before buying and give them a good shake while holding their arms down at their sides. If the gloves stay on after the first shake and they are comfortable, then they are a good fit.  While your player still has the gloves on just double check by pinching the end of the finger, there should be no more than 1 cm or 1/2 inch of space in the end of the glove.