equipment repair

Believe it or not, knowing how to sew can be a valuable goaltending skill. It allows you to improve the fit and protection of your equipment or extend the life of pieces you are happy with. Poorly fitting equipment or insufficient protection can seriously restrict your movement and limit your ability or even desire to get in front of the puck. On the other hand, equipment that feels like a second skin and properly protects can give you the freedom to move efficiently and the confidence to get in front of even the hardest shots.

While it is always fun to get new equipment, extending the life of what you have has several advantages. The most obvious is cost. Equipment is very expensive now and I see a lot of parents spending hundreds of dollars to replace a piece that only needs a tune-up. Also, while you are breaking in new equipment, your game is being broken down. Your form is altered as you adjust and it can take some time to put your game back together again after the piece is broken in. If it takes a week to get used to a new C&A, it can take another week to get your game back. Two weeks is a lot of time out of a season and C&A is an easy piece to break in.

So, how to go about it? Sewing is as easy as tying your skates. If you don't know the basics, ask Mom! This is hockey equipment so you won't get points for artistic impression. The sewing can be rough enough to simply hold things in place but, if you do plan on selling the stuff later, it doesn't hurt to make it look neat or to hide the stitching a bit or even use a matching color thread.



	The first thing you'll need are needles (1). An assortment is a good idea. All of them should be heavier and longer than normal. You'll also need some curved needles. Go to a sewing store and see if they have a pack like in the picture (1). It should cost a couple of bucks.
Thimble:(2) Borrow Mom's. There are some things a goalie shouldn't do and going out to buy a thimble is one of them. You'll need one though because pushing a needle through hockey equipment can hurt. Thread: (3) You'll need the heavy stuff. I buy a brand called Koban. It's all polyester. The more cotton, the weaker it is. If you can break it with your hands, it's not strong enough. If you draw blood...perfect. Hand Tool:(4) One of these hand tools is essential for repairs on the heavy material on pads and gloves. I got mine at a place called Mountain Equipment Co-op, an outdoor supplies store. The thread is very heavy and don't forget to buy extra spools; you'll go through it quickly. It's easy to use and has instructions. They cost about $15.00, but it's worth it because working on pads and gloves is very hard on the hands with plain needles. It will save you a lot of time and a lot of pain. Scissors: (5) I've destroyed a few pairs cutting through heavy stuff so be careful if you borrow Mom's. Pliers: (6) Not essential but they're handy for pulling needles through tight spots. I've used them a lot when working on my trapper or pads. Glue Gun: (7) Can come in handy. Exacto Knife: (8) I couldn't live without one. Bandages: (9) See #8.

If you're going to fix your equipment, you're going to need foam. There is all kinds of it out there, different thickness, different densities. Some is easy to get and some is hard to find. The best thing to do is to get a variety because you'll need it and you'll go through a lot, what with mistakes and changes. What you don't want to do is spend a lot of money, so here is a cheap way to go about it. For $12.00 at any camping store, you can get a big roll of closed cell (won't let water in) foam used for underneath sleeping bags (photo right). It's good stuff, it doesn't thin out quickly and it'll last you quite a while.

You can also look up "foam" in the yellow pages and go see what they've got. I've done this and found good stuff but it's hard to find the really good stuff. I once managed to secure a supply from an equipment company. It's rated according to density, so it's called HD (High Density) 80, 100, etc., and it's the best. Even the really thin stuff can absorb impact and retain it's shape. It's used a lot in equipment now.

Another option is to cannibalize old equipment. Take whatever you can find and keep it; foam, plastic, even the nylon for covering rips. I got a new pair of pants last year and the old ones got stripped for parts.

Left: A selection of foam of varying thickness and densities. Don't forget that you can and should combine different foams to make a 'sandwich' that's best suited to shock absorption. I usually just tape them together. It holds.

Right; My bag of spare parts.

Plastic: You'll need some hard plastic to cut and reshape for new parts. Again, different thickness help here because adding too much plastic can make a piece too heavy. You can either cannibalize old equipment or call around to find who's selling. To cut the plastic I use a pair of shears, but an exacto knife can do it and is good for trimming and smoothing the sharp edges. You'll also need one (1) stove, as in for cooking, in case you have to reshape the plastic. Just heat it up until it's pliable, bend it and let it cool in that shape. I don't think it weakens it, but I just run it under cold water. Also, some plastic pieces may need holes in them, so you'll need a drill. Before I was big enough to have a drill, I heated up a big nail on the stove, picked it up with pliers and pushed it through to make the hole. (Do not let your mother see you do this - I know!). If your Father balks at getting a drill, present this option to him.

So, that's it for material. If you dig around the house, you should be able to find a lot of what you'll need. Otherwise, you shouldn't have to spend very much.

The next question is, how to work on your equipment? Well, first of all, you should find out exactly what the problem is. Is it the fit, the flexibility or the protection? The most important thing to do is to find out or you'll waste a lot of time and effort. Take your time to think about doing the right thing and look for the simplest solution. Don't redesign the equipment unless you have to; it's best to simply alter it slightly because most equipment now is not too bad. Once you've decided what to do, be prepared to do it several times. Once you've made a change, you'll find that it needs to be altered slightly because the fit or the flex isn't quite right, or once you put on your other equipment, you find that something else is in the way. Oftentimes, I think I've got something right and then when I go on the ice, it feels slightly off, like it's in the way somehow. I might even have to play a few games with it before I figure out what's wrong. Redoing things can be frustrating but you have to expect it. You want a custom fit and that takes time. However, don't forget that if, for instance you add foam to your armpads, it will need time to break in.

Obviously, a good fit is very important here. You don't want it shifting when your head moves or turns quickly. It could do some damage if the mask shifts and you get hit. Don't remove anything, but add some foam if it will make for a snug fit. Do it when the mask is dry and you'll need a good glue to make the foam stick. With the right kind of foam, just shape it with a knife.

As blockers get older, you'll feel hard shots on the back of your hand. On my Koho I was feeling shots there after just 2 months. Blockers are easy to fix. Just undo the zipper or lacing at the top (photo right) slide out the padding and add more. I just take a square of foam the size of the back of my hand, tape it to the big piece of foam (the 'in' side) where my hand sits and slide everything back in. Don't make too big a piece because it'll be adding unnecessary weight and won't be protecting anything. You'll quickly find that the weight difference of a small piece of foam can be easily noticed. Be careful that the foam is not too thick or the blocker will sit funny on your hand.

Small tears on the palm should be sewn up before they get too big (below). Sewing these can be tricky. If you sew too close to the edge of the hole it'll rip again easily. If you sew from too far away from the hole it'll create a lump when you're done. Work it and you'll figure it out.

Finger protection is spotty on some blockers and then gets loose after a while to make things even worse. You do not want a puck to find a finger. Loose protection can also hurt the finger nails or knuckles on the paddle down. Hold your stick and see what is poking out. A lot of blockers show some index finger (photo below) or some pinky, especially when the elastic gets old and loosens. You can replace the elastic that holds the glove part to the blocker part (left, big circle) but I just sew the elastic tighter. I fold it over a bit and sew.

There are quite a few things I don't like about my blocker and the fit is one of them. It was loose and wobbled a lot. This meant rebounds could go anywhere and it has caused some really frustrating goals. I have a nice clip of me freaking out on it. One thing I tried was to tighten up the whole glove by sewing it with the hand tool (left).


Once pants get old all kinds of soft spots can develop. The foam compresses a bit, things loosen and then you've got gaps in the protection. You may even start feeling shots on the thigh. It's mostly soft tissue there so you'll only get bruised. The inner thigh is another bruise zone. However, the hip bone area must be properly protected (photo below). One thing you might want to consider is extending the protection on your jock waistband about 1" to completely cover the hip bone. It would be nice if manufacturers considered it too! Pants are easy to fix. A lot of times you just have to slide more foam into a pocket. Other times, I'll take an exacto knife and slice a hole, slide the foam in and sew it shut. When you slice a hole, make it as small as will allow the foam in and also, choose a good spot along a seam to make the cut.
You may find that in the spot you want to cover, there's no pocket. In this case you'll have to create a pocket with a piece of nylon, insert the foam, sew it shut and then attach the piece to the pants. Sometimes an old piece that I kept saves me from all that trouble. Repairing pants is not difficult. It's mostly just simple sewing. Just be careful about flexibility in the hip area because too much padding there can bind or buckle when you go into your crouch. If you're working on that area, prepare to do it at least twice.

Chest and arm protection has improved in the last few years, but it has also gotten very expensive so if you're reluctant to spend $500.00 then it's not hard to fix the old ones. Besides, I've talked to some people who have the new ones and they say they started feeling shots after just a few months of use. What likely happens is the foam compresses slightly and this enlarges the breaks in protection that are needed for flex. Foam compression is normal for any piece of equipment and it's also desirable because that's what breaking in a piece involves. However, if the piece is broken in or broken down and you're feeling pain, something must be done.

For the chest protection, if the foam in each of the squares of the chest protection compresses just a bit, then the gaps (green '+') will increase. In the middle of the '+', where the corners of 4 squares meet you can get a noticeable soft spot so that if the puck hits it on edge, you'll be feeling some pain. You'll be feeling a lot more pain if it hits a joint right above the solar plexus. My C/A is old so what I did was replace the foam in each and every square. I made a slice at the top (red line), not the bottom of each square, pulled out the foam and replaced it with an improved 'sandwich' that filled in the gaps better. If you wanted, you could simply slide extra foam in instead. I then sewed up the hole. Each square took about 5 minutes.

Now for the tricky part. Those gaps are there for a reason and if you fill up the squares too much, the chest part will be too stiff and will restrict your movement. You need a fair amount of flex in the chest to crouch comfortably and you also need flex to allow the arms to move forward, like when you're reaching for a rebound or shooting the puck.So what do you do if you fill in the gaps, find that it 's too stiff, pull some padding out and then find that you're still feeling pain. Not a prob! I'm a great believer in layered protection. Layers cover gaps, distribute the shock and don't restrict movement. Notice the shoulders on the Eagle C/A. There are 3 or 4 layers there. A number of manufacturers have added floating pieces on the chest and you might want to consider this. In fact I highly recommend it for over the solar plexus and the heart area.

Here's what I did with mine years ago. I just drilled holes right through everything and attached the pieces loosely with nylon lace so that they float over the chest. I added a thin foam to the back of the plastic. You can glue it but the drilled holes keep it in place. Be careful using glue because too much adds weight and it goes into the foam to affect it's performance. The wrong glue doesn't hold for long. Where the plastic butted and buckled I trimmed it back. It isn't pretty and it did add weight to the piece but it worked. I'm sure you can do better. One thing that would have helped is a soft puffy foam on the inside of the chest against your skin (undershirt) to reduce the sting of the whole thing pressing in on you when you get hit. A number of brands have this.

Incidentally, when you're working with nylon lace keep a lighter or matches handy to melt down the frayed edges so you can thread it and keep the ends neat. I usually light it up and let it bubble away a bit and then shape a pointy end. Don't burn your fingers and don't burn the house down. You'll always need this lace so get lots. When I ran out, I took it off the cuffs of my gloves and put regular lace there.

With the arms, fit and flexibility are even more important. Loose protection here won't cover properly and will give a sloppy feel when the arms have to snap out quickly. Too much padding at the elbows may protect well but it can restrict your movement and slow your hands. Repairing is easy because all the padding is in little pockets. Just open up the pocket and put more or better padding in. If it is a pocket that is sewn shut, cut the thread of the top, not the bottom (photo right) of the pocket. Slide the foam in and sew it shut. If you have to cut material to open a pocket, again, choose the most convenient spot, a place that will do the least damage and be easy to sew up. That's all there is to it, but....the hard part starts when you find that things aren't quite right. Too much foam on the arms and the pads don't sit around the curvature of the arms. Similarly, with the shoulder, too much and the shoulder cap sits too high, instead of wrapping around the shoulder. Too much at the elbows, which is always a weak spot, and you find you can't move your arms as well.

Keep all of this in mind so you don't go crazy with the padding. Try different combinations of plastic and foam and don't be afraid to try something completely different. You'll want it thin, light and protective. Here's where the newer HD foam comes in handy. Weight must always be considered because it doesn't take much foam or plastic for a piece to become too heavy. Arms are easy to fix but can be hard to get right. However, getting hit on the arms is never pleasant and it's worth it to have them right, even if it takes two or three or four attempts.

Finally, if the elastic that holds the pieces in place starts to loosen, something has to be done because the piece it is holding will not be held in it's proper protective position. You can tighten up the elastic by folding it over and sewing the fold but that isn't an ideal solution. The piece will be held in position but without the elasticity. Once elasticity is gone, it's gone. Picture a pair of socks that hangs around your ankles. Sewing them tight doesn't really help. Try sewing the elastic but eventually you'll have to think about replacing the elastic itself.

A trapper with the wrong feel will be like a giant, slow, sloppy claw. Besides making it hard to catch the puck, it can ruin your shot, give up rebounds and make it hard to smother the puck. One good thing that happened was the new NHL rules. Although they thought they were making things more difficult for goalies by mandating smaller gloves, I think they actually did them a favor. Gloves were way too big and the extra weight at the end of your arm slowed things down.

Without a doubt, the hardest piece to repair or customize is the trapper. In fact, I don't recommend it unless you are already familiar with working on your equipment, you have a lot of time before your next game, and can afford mistakes. They're hard to fix and harder to get right. Because of this, I'm only going to speak in general terms. This will probably be disappointing to many because getting the right feel from your trapper is crucial and few gloves on the market offer that. Most are incredibly stiff and by the time they finally break in, they also feel broken down and can hurt the hand. A trapper that is right will protect the very sensitive hand and will give it that quick, lively feel. While the smaller trappers have a snappier feel, they are still a problem. No where else is the tradeoff of protection versus flexibility more difficult. The ideal flexibility would be something like your favorite baseball glove but to protect the hand you have to add on the padding. Just to understand the problem, you can feel a puck through a blocker, which has at least 1" of padding. Trappers have to make do with a lot less so you'll find yourself inserting thin slivers of padding to make some kind of improvement.

First of all, the cuff part is rarely a problem. If you're feeling pain because of it, it's likely because the gap between it and the glove is too big (red line). You could tighten up the lacing that connects the two but that could change the feel of the glove when you use it. I find that some looseness between the cuff and glove better follows the natural bending back of the wrist. However, if it's too loose it'll bend too much when a puck hits. Notice that I loosened the lace a bit (red circle); one of the many things I've tried to make this glove tolerable. If you want to change the foam then you'll have to remove the cuff. It's not hard, you just unlace it but, any lacing you undo on the trapper is going to be hard, if not impossible to put back in exactly the same way. If you're feeling brave then examine how it is laced, use a marker for reference if you want and go to it. I never worried about that putting things back exactly the same. As long as you're close it'll be fine. If it's off, try again. We're not working on a carburetor here. Notice the blue circle below. It's a hole I didn't use when I relaced the glove. One simple thing you could try is to wear sweatbands. Those for forwards that have extra padding in them are pretty good. You should wear sweatbands anyway because sweat will run down your arm and straight into your glove, making it heavier, sloppier and harder to dry between games.

That leaves the two main parts; the thumb part (greenish line) and the finger part (blue line) and they're divided by the dreaded crease. Basically, the entire area is prone to pain and it's simply a question of how much padding are you comfortable with.

If you want to add padding to the thumb area, then the only easy part to get to is the green shaded area. You get there by going in through the finger side.Otherwise, you have to detach the cuff first and it is a pain to put together again. Don't forget that you're going to be taking it apart and doing it up about 4 or 5 times per session to get what you hope is the right feel. I rarely bother with the thumb part but if you're feeling a lot of pain then you'll have to go in. If you look at the bone structure of the hand in that area, there are a million little bones so it's worth it to fix. I had a Reactor 4 trapper that had an insert that covered the thumb and base of the hand and was attached to the cuff by Velcro. It was pretty good. Perhaps you could consider getting or making one of those before opening up the thumb.

The finger area is easy to get to. First undo the outer row of laces which usually starts at the heel of the hand. Undo it to about the red X (above). You can undo it further if you want but I find it a pain to do the T up again. What I do is put a knot in the end of the lace and then loosen the next few holes without undoing them (you'll know what I mean when you do it). Next, undo the inner row of laces and it usually starts somewhere around the blue circle but closer to the T. As you undo it, you'll see how the laces are threaded and probably decide to turn around and go back. If you keep at it, understand that you'll have some problems threading it correctly when you're done. No biggie. On your sixth or seventh try you'll know this part of the glove like the back of your hand. Undo the inner lace to about the crease area and then open the glove up. More than likely, the plastic piece is developing cracks where the holes are drilled. If it's too far gone, take it in for repair. If you are really enterprising, make a new one from some plastic. Heat it and curve it and drill it etc. You'll have to look around and examine everything and stare at it for a long time to figure out what's what and what should be done. See where padding might be improved and figure out how to get it in there. Trial and error is all I can suggest here. Be bold and you shall succeed. We're not dealing with a car here, where it won't work if one thing is off. Your trapper will still work if everything you try is off. It just won't work well and you'll have to go back in. Use very thin pieces of padding and hardly any plastic because weight will be noticed.

The crease can be a huge problem. It's placement is crucial and the protection it offers is minimal. Altering the placement of the crease is a bit of work and you'll have to figure that out for yourself. You'll likely need to detach the plastic from the piece it is sewn to and shave it down. Then put more padding around the crease to cover the gap you created. Every glove is different and I usually stare at it and think about it a long time before I take my first shot at it. You'll have to try a number of things - different combinations of foam and maybe plastic - to get the right feel.

The crease on my glove was a headache and the photo above shows its current state. The whole glove was too big so I kind of pulled it in so the material buckled to form this thing. There's quite a bit of material pulled together there and it does protect better without hurting the flex.

So, that's all I'll say about the trapper. Think long and hard about it and be prepared to improvise. It'll be a bit of work, but it could be worth it. A nice glove can cost $500.00 and there is no guarantee it'll be better. They are hell to break in and that can seriously affect your game. They do not necessarily offer better protection along the crease and in six months you might be back where you started. I'll add that you can always protect your hand directly. Some guys tape them or wear gloves or add stuff. Those little Dr. Scholl gel pads can stick right on your hand. They're handy for covering a bruise and they come in different sizes.


Repairing your pads doesn't entail anything different from what we've covered already. Sewing up tears is simple enough and replacing foam is the same as you'd do on your C/A. If you're going to go into your pads, choose the right spot to open them up. Do not go in by cutting through the leather type stuff on the face. Always go in through the nylon back or the seams (blue line, below) . It's not hard to restore your pads. In fact pads were the first thing I ever worked on when I took mine apart in Peewee.

Here's a look at some changes to my Velocities. I trimmed back the foot protection because both layers got in the way. I took an exacto knife and cut close to the pad and then sewed up the ends. As you can see by my stitching at the bottom of the red piece, I'm no great artist with a needle. When you cut pieces off, think carefully about were to make the cut. There is always a better and worse way to do it. Cutting on one side of the stitching may be better than cutting on the other side. That's what I did here and simply cutting the piece off worked out OK. After I cut the red piece off, I had to trim off a tiny bit of the foam inside it so that the red material could be sewn together. Right is a shot of new Velocities with the full protection.

So, that's it for now on repairing your equipment. If you're want a perfect fit, expect to do it yourself because you're the only one who knows when everything is right. A repair person can do major changes but if you want customization, it requires numerous attempts to zero in on perfection. Going back and forth to a repairman can get expensive and going back and forth to your trainer will drive him nuts.