Postgame Equipment Handling

[interpathway 9]

Hey MSHers.

This is a bit of a research poll for a personal project, so I am looking (ideally) for a large volume of responses.

What happens to your sweaty gear when you go home?, and I am asking for specifics.

Please feel free to respond, and I'm also looking for specific responses from anyone that may meet one or more of the following [and the follow-up question I'd like to have answered]:

-I have a dedicated room for my gear [Where, how, ventilation?]

-I do not air out my equipment [stench related?]

-I do not bring my equipment into my home [Why?]

-I allow my equipment to dry outside [Any specific instances of problems with this? ex. Freezing]

As I said, no response will not be happily received, the more information the better.

Thanks guys.

::edit::

I am also very interested to hear from parents, especially if they have a gripe about the smell's effect on their homes.

::edit::

Asking those of you that air your equipment out inside your house/apartment/etc...

Do you find that the smell;

-is the cause of family/company complaints?

-ever completely disappears?, or does it linger?

Would there be any desire (would the juice be worth the squeeze?) to alter your postgame equipment to alleviate these problems?

Therein lies the motivation for the project, love the responses, keep 'em coming.

[sickwilly 37]

I usually come home from the rink after my wife and kids are asleep. I take my gear out and spread it out around our pellet stove to dry. I put it back in the bag before the kids get up.

After early skates when the kids are up, I still take my skates out. On those days, the rest of the gear hangs out in the bag (stench) until everyone has gone to bed, then I dry it out.

[Jarick 5]

I immediately air my gear out when I get home. I have a $20 wire shelving rack that the gear gets set on, then I spray it down with Febreze Sport and a rubbing alcohol and water mix. It gets aired out in the living room, and smells isn't an issue, although it's starting to get a bit worse and I'll likely have it cleaned at an esporta place soon.

[flyers10 57]

I hang shoulders, shins, gloves, skates(remove footbeds) on one of those hockey trees when I get home. Everything else I spread on the floor next to the tree. Hang my socks, compression shirt, etc on a drying rack.

[wrangler 157]

Rack, and floor for items with a side that doesn't get wet, like shinguards, elbow pads.

[twister18 1]

Made a double wide "locker" for my gear and my son's gear to hang on/dry out after games or practice...I am totally anal about drying out my gear, can't stand wearing smelly equipment.....

[number21 3]

The is a small storage closet in the basement of my rental flat. I put a small plastic shelf from home depot, a 3'x4' peg board and a rod to hang jersey, shirt and shoulders from. All the gear goes in there with a box fan on it over night.

It works better in the fall/winter when it is dry than in the spring/summer when it's humid. During the warmer months I run a small 2 liter dehumidifier to keep the closet mostly dry. I had some mold spots start to show up last summer before I got the dehumidifier, not cool.

Occasionally I hit is with some anti-bacterial febreeze, but I hate the smell of it. It's not the best solution. All and all it works better the the shockdocter bag because I don't have to reset the blower after 3 hours.

[tareatingrat 4]

I have a table set up in my basement and various hooks/nails to hang my gear on.

Everything that can be washed easily goes in the washer with detergent and oxyclean after every game.

Gear gets hung up to air out, or I put a fan on it.

Every month or so, I'll do a couple loads and wash my gear (except for gloves, helmet and skates) with detergent and oxyclean.

[Chadd 916]

Aww crap, that reminds me, my gear has been sitting in my bag since my game two weeks ago. I forgot to hang it up to air out.

[bdh13 1]

I'm not real meticulous or habitual about my airing out my gear. If I'm lazy, I leave it in the trunk. If I'm feeling more responsible I will bring it inside. At least once or twice a week I'll spread it out in my apartment on the matting for my exercise equipment. Most likely this approach is because a) I have a small place and I'd rather it not smell like hockey gear and b) it's too cold to put anything outside.

[tryandstopme 35]

Everything other than pants and skates go on a sports rack after a quick spritz of Funk Free. The pants get aired out propped up "open" on a weight bench, and the skates get a DryGuy footwear dryer dropped into them, which then gets switched into the gloves at some point if I've got back to back games. This is in a tiny office/weight room in my house that fortunately has a ceiling fan.

[Powerfibers 8]

I have a pvc "scarecrow" that I hang everything on. Cost me about $15 to make. Skates and gloves go on a boot dryer. Undergarments go straight to wash. Jerseys and socks go on pvc rack.

[Travimo 0]

I spread mine out around my room to dry. Under Armour (actually a loose Nike DriFit shirt), leggings, and socks get washed each time.

[dayroc 0]

take everything out and hang it up on some sports rack i got at C.tire for $20.

Live in a condo and its' a good room saving method. Plus the area i dry my gear is under the heat vents.

I do everything correct except take my footbeds out. Got Custom grafs and it's to much of a pain to pull out and even more of a pain to put back in.

[NextBobbyOrr 0]

Alright, so I'm constantly taking care of my gear after games. Dry skate blades, remove footbeds. Depending on how far the drive back home is, I might take my gloves with me, rather than in the bag, I'm anal about my palms and liner. When I get home, all gear goes straight out. Remove whatever liners in shins or attachments on my pads. All my stuff has specific places. Protective in mini-man cave, sticks/gloves in my room. Skates get unlaced and hung upside down, same with shins and stuff. I take my gloves and sticks up with me, so I've got 3 pairs of gloves and 5 sticks in my room at most times. I've got a strict storage going with my gear. My family knows where to find it, same with my close friends. And in the summers, I'm on the ice just as much but I'll take advantage of the sun and spread my gear out on the deck, except for gloves and helmet.

[scoops 1]

I usually get home pretty late and I have a dedicated room for my gear so I'll throw my gear in the room, open my bag up, and turn on the ceiling fan. When I wake up the next morning I put everything on my drying scarecrow thing-a-ma-jig and spray down with febreeze.

[srv2miker 0]

I have a workshop downstairs so that makes life a bit easier:

Pants and shoulder pads hang on hooks on the wall

Everything else lies on shelves I installed.

Bag slides under my workbench

Drifit shirt & socks go right in the wash

Jersey hangs on a hook

Even with all of these measures, my wife still complains about the smell

[LoneStar77 25]

I've got a closet in my office where I hang my gear up to dry (I leave the door open) - brackets on the closet wall hold my skates upside down (soakers & footbeds are left out to dry separately), my shins & elbows are on dress hangers held up with the metal clips (guess its technically a skirt hanger, click for picture), shoulders are on a regular hanger, pants & gloves are out on a chair right next to the closet with the bag open & on the floor. I always air my gear out once I get home, I just wish it wasn't 100 miles round trip to the rink so I could get it out of my bag faster...

I also try to get my stuff ozone cleaned about once a year (thinking about bumping this up to twice a year).

[s_franchise 5]

Heres what i do with all my stuff:

-Air dry everything on a equipment rack with a fan on it for a few hours. I put my gloves on a seperate table with a fan on them aswell.

-The only things i regularly clean are my bag, jerseys, undergarments.

-I try and pull the foot beds out of my skates from time to time just to REALLY dry out, and also switch laces frequently.

- and as far as stench my stuff isnt TOO bad everything i have is fairly new, but i put fabric softners in the in the bottom of my bag, and use febreeze more in the area of the stuff and not on the equipment.

[GoBucky 0]

I store my gear in a spare bedroom. I make sure to take the blade guards off of my skates so that they dont get any rust from water that is on the guards and I hang my gear up so that it can air out.

I always make sure to take my gear out of my gear bag as soon as I get home so that I dont get any rust on my skate blades and so that my gear doesnt stink.

[RussianDangler15 0]

I air my stuff on four platic shelve type things I got at home depot and the skates get hung upside down with the foot beds taken out.

[xrickyb86x 1]

I just moved to a smaller apartment. I used to have this super legit closet in my old one that I added a shelf into and set it up like a locker. It was awesome. Now... I got nothing like that. I've been hanging my shoulders and pants on a doorknob for a closet that holds the water heater and the rest of the gear gets sprawled out next to my computer. I am looking for a better solution. I'm thinking of a wire rack.

[kklinder 0]

In the garage, everything is transferred to a Shock Doctor bag and run three times - in as close as possible succession - before I play again. All clothing (socks, long pants, long sleeve shirt) gets washed after each skate. I'm thinking about buying an ozone generator and ceiling-mounted rack for the garage.

[ibeck 38]

Everything Gets hung on a hockey try minus gloes and helmet which are placed on a table next to the tree. Skate insoles are taken out and laundry thrown in the machine right away. I gave up on an antibacterial spray.

[ponder 0]

I just have one of those cheap, foldable clothes drying rack, the ones made of metal wire covered in a white coating, hang my gear up on that inside. When you dry it right away nothing really smells at all, except the gloves.