Postgame Equipment Handling

[Steamroller#4 3]

I use my kitchen to air out my gear, my cupboards have metal handles on them which i use to hang my elbow, shins and shorts on, shoulder harness goes over the top of the door and gloves go on the window ledge (window is locked slightly open for some air flow) footbeds come out of the skates and go beside the gloves and my skates just stay in the open bag. My sweat gear, socks, jersey that was used goes straight in the wash. Usually everything is dry overnight and goes back in my bag which is kept in the hall cupboard where the hot water tank is. Every few weeks the kit gets a blast of anti bacterial fbreeze when its hung to dry.

Been doing this pretty much since I started playing a year and a half ago and my kit doesn't smell, my fiance moans occasionally about the kit in the kitchen but we live in a one bedroom bungalow so space is a bit off an issue. We do have a small utility shed attached to the house which has a proper locking door on it which is in the process of being cleaned up/de bugged so i can use that for my kit if needs be.

[sammyg_16 2]

My parents kept complaining of the foul odour of my gear in the basement so now I hang my gear on hooks in the garage. I then put my undergarments and shin pad liners straight in the wash so my dad can deal with them and my sticks then go on the rack in the garage. this works well and I haven't had any problems with the stench.

[Law Goalie 147]

Being able to wash the uppers of two-piece pants (along with my goal jock) in a front-loader makes an enormous difference. I'll never go back to one-piece pants.

[Axxion89 32]

Question to those of you who leave equipment outside or have experience with it, I have a new apartment and plan on leaving my gear outside overnight to air out (2nd floor porch no chance of it getting stolen) is there a chance that bugs will find my gear to be like a hotel or is it not really an issue?

[BenderHockey 127]

It happens occasionally, but not enough to make it a serious issue. I leave mine right on the concrete in the backyard. The worst thing thats happened is a bird took a dookie on my C/A.

[slapshotz44 0]

I bought one of those cheap clothes drying racks at walmart for under $10. skates hang upside down, all of my gear fits on it. hang jerseys on hangers on the side, with the entire setup in front of a window. I run a fan in the window sucking air out, and a fan in front of the rack blowing towards the window. works very well!!

[Michzm 0]

Mud Room? Pebble Stove? Must be a culture divide here being an Australian.. Hell I haven't put my stuff out to dry, which isn't so bad seeing I've been using other peoples loaner gear until last week. Does leaving it in my car in the sun count as good drying practice?

[Canuck 0]

Mud Room? Pebble Stove? Must be a culture divide here being an Australian.. Hell I haven't put my stuff out to dry, which isn't so bad seeing I've been using other peoples loaner gear until last week. Does leaving it in my car in the sun count as good drying practice?

i would think the heat in the car would warp your skates at the minimum. Excessive heating to any product can't be a good thing. I try and avoid leaving my gear in the car. As soon as I get home it gets hung up to dry on a rack. Others might have different opinions or experience on the matter.

[interpathway 9]

No direct sunlight, nothing over 90 degrees, keep the humidity to a minimum for quick drying out. You can break any of these rules if time/space necessitates it, but those three will remain the golden standard for keeping equipment fresh and operating at peak performance.

[Pucks & Palm Trees 3]

Great recommendations. My only twist would be that periodic sunlight for the inside of pads (particularly shins & shoulders) can be a good disinfectant, although it will break the fabric down a bit more quickly. Once or twice a season I lay most of my stuff out for 1/2 a day or so in the direct sunlight.

That, plus a good blast of Lysol after every skate, and hanging everything out to dry in the garage, has kept my gear in remarkably non-gross condition for years.

[bwhinnen 1]

All of the protective gear (mine, my wife's and my son's) gets hung up on an indoor clothes horse underneath a fan to dry overnight. It is usually dry by morning, but I often let them sit out all day as well. Nothing goes back into the bags until it (and the bag) is fully dry and each bag has one of those deodoriser balls in it.

Skates get the foot beds taken out and are put under the fan as well to dry out, any excess is dried off with a chamois.

All under garments, socks, jerseys etc get washed the next day and then hung out to dry. Mouth guards are brushed with mouth wash and then dried before putting back in their cases.

[interpathway 9]

I agree P&PTs, but your shin guard liners can be pretty easy to remove and wash for disinfecting. The sun can be good to fight a bacteria growth, the only stench problem begins when stinky sweat is dried into the pads/liners in the hot sun.

Air it out dry first.

[KB9813 0]

most of the time my mom makes me hag it up but some time i just leave it in the bag and starts to smell BAD for my mom but for me i dont mined the smell of my gear or hockey it just reminds me of a game witch i LOVE TO PLAY i miss that smell because have not play for the summer and just want to smell it again

[tareatingrat 4]

Just bought a box fax from Canadian Tire. Put all of my stuff on a cheap shoe rack and put the fan on 3. Stuff is dry in 20 minutes.

Every month or so, spray it down with rubbing alcohol.

I've also put my stuff in a top-load washer before (save for skates, gloves, and helmet). Not ideal, but it got the job done.

[supa 3]

I have a hockey tree on balcony. Everything goes on it except the skates which stay inside, insoles removed. Towel, undershirt etc are washed each time.

If its raining out or its to cold then the tree goes in the bath tub for the night (GF loves this)

[ChrisMolnar 14]

I hang it on a rack in my basement and since there is a dehumidifier down there, its always dry whenever I need to repack it. As for smell lingering? I haven't noticed it and no one that were trying to sell our house to either. Works great.

[kajunkrawdad 0]

I have a spare bedroom where half is dedicated to temporary storage (for remodeling purposes) and the other half is for airing out sports equipment in between games.

I ALWAYS air out my equipment as soon as I get home from a skate. Gloves, helmet and elbow pads get placed on the top shelf of a wire shelving unit, shins and pants get laid out on the floor next to that. Jersey(s), socks, compression shirt all get hung up to dry on a clothes drying rack then get put into the laundry after they dry. Take the blade covers off of skates, unlace them to down below the ankles and open the tongue and prop skates to dry upside down. Shoulder pads usually stay laid out in the bag with the bag open. All of this usually remains out of the bad until my next skate.

I used to use an old boom mic stand as a drying tree, but stopped doing that because it was causing the mic stand to rust. Been thinking of building one out of PVC piping.

For the most part, only the gloves have a noticeable odor to them. Other equipment you can smell if you put your nose right up to them, but the gloves... nothing I do seems to do defeat that stank. The room itself usually doesn't have a smell, but on occasions if I leave the door closed for too long after multiple days of sporting events (the room also houses soccer, handball, and MMA equipment) it can develop a funk. But that door isn't closed very often or for very long at that and the smell dissipates pretty quickly.

[Scopes 4]

I have a separate room dedicated to hockey gear storage - we have an outdoor laundry room at our house, which acts as a gear locker for the 5 guys that live with me and play hockey. During the summer months gear is dried out on the back lawn in the sun, then packed back into bags and stored in the room. During the winter or in case of rain the gear is stored in the room.

I have not experienced any issues with drying my gear outside, but I only do it in fair weather.

The room has open ceiling rafters so we put some nails up to hang gear from and can easily air out 5 sets of gear in a 10x10 space, we usually have a fan running in the room as well as a small space heater to help with air movement and to increase drying time.

The smell is only bad when there are multiple sets of gear hanging up and drying. Once the gear has been dried, the smell disappears.

[wilch 1]

Rocket Sport Dryer.

After every game, I take out my insoles, gloves, shoulder pads and let it run for a couple hours.

The rest of my gear don't pick up much sweat or odour so they dry up quick. I just leave them on the floor in my guest bedroom, put my pants on top of my Grit wheelie bag.

[Jim A 4]

I thought about taking the attached garage and turning it more into a proper locker room/gym. However there are too many cracks, etc that allow for bugs here in CO.

I picked up a basic plastic 4 shelf unit at Home Depot ($20) and put it in the spare room. I put my gear out on it when I get home, crack the window to let the stink get out of the room. Crank up the fan and aim it at the gear, sweatiest stuff on the 3rd shelf and fan and oscillate back and forth. Typically everything is dry within an hour or so, thank you CO and it's lack of humidity. Otherwise I would just run a dehumidifier to dry it out quickly on a medium setting.

[cammerz12 0]

It is rare that I do not air out my bag. I spread all my stuff out on a weight bench and have a de-humidifier nearby that runs that helps with the smell. As far as germs and whatnot, I have a spray bottle of cleansing alcohol that I get from my Mom (she gets it from a beauty supply I think. She told me they use it at salons?). Its 70% alcohol and the rest is fragrance and water. It works well with the smell and stuff I can't wash.

I was wondering if any of you guys use a special detergent for washing equipment? The sports specific kind of stuff.

[Jim A 4]

If I were going to wash anything (i.e. removable liner on a shin pad) i would use something like Penguin Sport Wash, etc. They are designed to keep the pores of the eq/clothing open and not fill it up or stick to it as would a traditional detergent.

[salibandy 21]

Rocket Sport Dryer.

After every game, I take out my insoles, gloves, shoulder pads and let it run for a couple hours.

The rest of my gear don't pick up much sweat or odour so they dry up quick. I just leave them on the floor in my guest bedroom, put my pants on top of my Grit wheelie bag.

How long does it usually take for your gear to dry? Also, what's the weather like around your area?

[wilch 1]

How long does it usually take for your gear to dry? Also, what's the weather like around your area?

I've been splitting my time between Taipei, Shanghai and Vancouver. My gear usually dries up fast as long as I air them out, regardless where I am.

Since I usually play at night and rarely played more than 1 game a day, I don't keep count of the hours it takes to dry up. It's always dry in the morning.

But I got the dryer to speed things up, hopefully partially denying the growth of whatever bacteria/fungus in my gear. Also great for drying up my gear after I wash them too.

[shotty 7]

if i brought my gear into the kitchen my wife would kill me.

i unpack it in the back of my truck, open the canopy windows and air it for a few days.