What is the oddest hockey equipment ever?

[burrheadjr 4]

Hey everyone, I am working on a youtube video to showcase the oddest hockey gear of all time.  I already made a video about the oddest goalie gear that you can see here: 

https://youtu.be/SwptDoEm4NQ

But I wanted to know what everyone thinks the oddest SKATER gear is, and there is know better place to ask than ModSquad.  

 

[Buzz_LightBeer 969]

Bauer made the SGX 90, a shin pad with built in knee brace. (I vaguely remember Eric Lindros being the poster boy for these, as they were originally produced for him)

[flip12 714]

52 minutes ago, Buzz_LightBeer said:

Bauer made the SGX 90, a shin pad with built in knee brace. (I vaguely remember Eric Lindros being the poster boy for these, as they were originally produced for him)

I remember those. Elbow pads like it too. That was my first thought. With the return of the hinged skate maybe they’ll do a protective rerun as well. 

[Monty22 832]

The half cage.  The shitty visibility of a cage with the lack of protection of a half shield. The worst of two worlds. 

TBlades 

Edited December 28, 2022 by Monty22

[Cavs019 708]

https://www.hockeyworld.com/RBK-9K-O-Stick-Composite-Hockey-Stick-Sr

[xstartxtodayx 343]

Reebok O-Stick, the Tovi hockey stick, or any stick with holes in it (looking at you Bauer Sling 😂).  CCM X-Ray helmets will also fit in here.

[bl4 39]

Some thoughts:

The Hespeler "offset" sticks and blades of the late 90s.  The claimed benefit was that they were supposed to keep your hands in front of the puck.

TBlades - I am still baffled by these.

Mission's 3-finger gloves of the late 90s/early 00s.  I had a pair of these and actually really liked them.  The claimed benefit was that they combined two weaker fingers into one stronger one.  I don't know if I buy that, but they were comfortable (perhaps veering a bit too close to hockey mittens)

Cooperalls

[burrheadjr 4]

18 hours ago, bl4 said:

Some thoughts:

The Hespeler "offset" sticks and blades of the late 90s.  The claimed benefit was that they were supposed to keep your hands in front of the puck.

TBlades - I am still baffled by these.

Mission's 3-finger gloves of the late 90s/early 00s.  I had a pair of these and actually really liked them.  The claimed benefit was that they combined two weaker fingers into one stronger one.  I don't know if I buy that, but they were comfortable (perhaps veering a bit too close to hockey mittens)

Cooperalls

Some good ones in here, I forgot about those ninja turtle gloves.

[flip12 714]

20 minutes ago, burrheadjr said:

Some good ones in here, I forgot about those ninja turtle gloves.

I have the traditionally 4-fingered (+thumb) Mission Warp 2s from that era in my basement. The break pattern on the backhand and fingers was way ahead of its time, but a lot of small details were poorly executed or mistaken in their premises. Biggest issue is the thumb-index junction is too shallow, forcing the index finger into an awkward position. Otherwise, the feel is almost as natural as AK27 gloves…maybe no wonder because Kovalev experimented with Mission gloves of that vintage.

 

Edited December 29, 2022 by flip12

[OldCY 94]

Louisville lock jaw

[BruinDust 42]

18 minutes ago, OldCY said:

Louisville lock jaw

Weird yes, but I used these back in Bantam in the mid-1990s with a Bauer Composite shaft. Kept two blades in my bag and could change them out in seconds. The lock-jaw system actually worked really well. 

[OldCY 94]

All I recall of them was messier using them in 94. Never actually tried one myself. 

[stick9 890]

7 hours ago, OldCY said:

Louisville lock jaw

That was going to be my entry. Since it's covered. How about something a bit more recent, https://driblades.com/

[OldCY 94]

The messier cascade helmet was pretty “odd” too.  By the end of the game you had corpsegrinder neck

[Cavs019 708]

Nike Quest helmet is up there too for sheer ugliness. Cooperall pants also come to mind if they haven’t been mentioned already. 

[start_today 770]

Those battery powered heated skate blades that were super heavy and had dubious science behind them. 
 

Roller hockey, but those Mission skates that didn’t have traditional grommets and had hiking boot style quick tightening nylon pull throughs (there’s gotta be a name those that I’m blanking on). It was like Mission had a cool idea and did no longer term stress testing and everyone’s “eyelets” ripped out in three months. 

[start_today 770]

3 hours ago, OldCY said:

The messier cascade helmet was pretty “odd” too.  By the end of the game you had corpsegrinder neck

I feel like the number of people who both post on this forum and get the oblique death metal references have to pretty small. 

[OldCY 94]

1 hour ago, start_today said:

I feel like the number of people who both post on this forum and get the oblique death metal references have to pretty small. 

Horns up

[flip12 714]

2 hours ago, start_today said:

Those battery powered heated skate blades that were super heavy and had dubious science behind them. 
 

Roller hockey, but those Mission skates that didn’t have traditional grommets and had hiking boot style quick tightening nylon pull throughs (there’s gotta be a name those that I’m blanking on). It was like Mission had a cool idea and did no longer term stress testing and everyone’s “eyelets” ripped out in three months. 

Nike Quest 1s featured similar nylon loops instead of eyelets over the forefoot. They cleverly covered the loops with pleather facing to prevent them from get sliced by skate blades.

 

[Monty22 832]

V-Form inline skates. 

[decoy 164]

Maybe not the oddest gear but players used to wear these.

Mouth guard

https://www.ebay.com/itm/233485615267

 

Ankle guards

https://sidelineswap.com/gear/hockey/hockey-training-accessories-other/other-hockey/3515663-vintage-cooper-canada-ag1-all-leather-ankle-guards

[stick9 890]

3 hours ago, start_today said:

I feel like the number of people who both post on this forum and get the oblique death metal references have to pretty small. 

You'd be surprised, though I may have called it slayer neck, obvious Tom A reference. 

[start_today 770]

29 minutes ago, Monty22 said:

V-Form inline skates. 

These are riveted on, remember the ones that had something marketed like “quick change chasis” and you could take the whole chasis off and flip it to the other skate, for a lazy wheel rotation? 
 

(unless I’m confusing two CCM in-line bizzaro chassis)

[Monty22 832]

1 hour ago, start_today said:

These are riveted on, remember the ones that had something marketed like “quick change chasis” and you could take the whole chasis off and flip it to the other skate, for a lazy wheel rotation? 
 

(unless I’m confusing two CCM in-line bizzaro chassis)

I think those were the CCM chassis. The Vforms (at least the ones the shop I worked at) were some of the heaviest skates I ever encountered. 

[Buzz_LightBeer 969]

I may be misremembering the name, but I believe it was RocketHockey sticks, they were a shaft with a hole in the tenon, and blades with snap button built into the hosel for easy removal/changing. Think the Harpoon system but worse. 
and the kicker was, they didn’t initially make blades, so you had to buy one, send it to them to add the connector, and then have it shipped back.