If you are a hockey player who is considering making the switch in positions to play goaltender, you might be hesitant because of horror stories that you have heard regarding the cost of the protective equipment that is necessary in order to play goalie. Though it is true that you will probably spend more money on your hockey goalie pads than you would spend on regular ice hockey gear, it does not necessarily have to cost you an arm and a leg to get started playing goalie.
It is important to understand that you never want to sacrifice your safety and protection in order to buy affordable gear, and you probably will want to avoid buying and goalie equipment or goalie mask that is more than a few years old because the more used the equipment, the more broken down the gear becomes which can eventually leave you vulnerable in certain areas to injury. That being said, if you really want to save money on your goalie equipment, you should definitely consider buying some lightly used goaltender gear. Most goalies prefer to buy their gear brand new, but this never made sense to me. Buying used goalie equipment has a few advantages over buying brand new. Obviously it is less expensive, but the other great benefit to buying slightly used goalie gear is that you do not have to deal with the dreaded break in process that so many goaltenders hate.
If you refuse to buy used goalie pads, there are a few more things that you can do in order to potentially save money on your protective equipment. You would be surprised how many good deals on hockey equipment you will find online. There are many hockey equipment websites out there that offer sales and discounts on their equipment because they do not have the costs of a traditional hockey pro shop, so they can afford to drop the prices a bit and still make a profit. The downside to this is that you don’t get to try on the equipment until after you buy it. Another thing to pay attention to when trying to buy affordable hockey equipment is when to buy. If you buy during the off season you will often find closeout deals on some equipment that is not the newest model.
If you are hesitating in making the change from forward to goalie in hockey because of the cost, you should know that if you go about researching and buying your hockey gear the right way, you could potentially save hundreds of dollars on your goalie gear.