I’m not going to lie, I became a goaltender mainly because I thought the equipment was mesmerizing and the coolest thing on the planet.
As a five-year-old, the thought of having a painted goalie mask like Ken Dryden, Mike Palmateer, or Bunny Laraque was enough to drive me to the insanity of goaltending.
Ask any young goalie the question why they became goaltenders and I guarantee that 90 per cent will tell you the same thing, the equipment was the reason. The thought of being padded up like the Michelin Man and having pucks fired at you is not a normal thing for any child. However the athleticism, the accolades, and the chance to express my own personality through equipment was a complete marvel to me.
Then came the 2000s. White became the dominant colour of goaltenders and still is in today’s game. White gloves, white pads, white stick tape; it’s all so completely generic and hospital-like it makes me ill.
Every goalie looks the same, and any expression of personality through equipment has been taken out of goaltending. Sure, goalies paint their masks with different cartoonish characters, but it’s not the same as it was.
The theory behind all this madness is that white makes you look bigger. It’s that simple. Fashion gurus will tell you white makes you look bigger and dark makes you look slimmer. It’s all in the illusion.
Let’s flashback 30-40 years ago in the NHL, to an era where a goaltender could wear anything that was made for him. In 1990, the NHL stepped in and wanted exorbitant fees for advertising costs from equipment being used on television, and that was it. Gone was the little guy and all the character that came with him.
The small business, personalized equipment makers were gone by the wayside, swallowed up by the equipment giants that could afford the fees. Small business companies, like Kinesky, Miller, and Brown, are now only a part of NHL history. Which is sad. In fairness to the giant manufacturers, the issue becomes that it takes time, money, and man-hours to personalize equipment. Therefore white cookie cutter, goalie gear, has become the norm.
There are so many goalies, and so much demand from the NHL all the way down to mites, that they need to get equipment out as quickly as possible to anxiety ridden, superstitious goalies. I’m not going to say goalies are fickle and hard to please, but we want new equipment and we want it yesterday.
Here’s the deal, if an NHL goalie wants coloured equipment, I know manufacturers will bend over backwards to put it on him. For superstitious goalies, last I checked anyways, the colourful equipment was the same size, same weight, and stopped the same puck as the white pads do.
I personally would like to see goalies put a little personality back into their gear. Mike Smith’s head-to-toe black gear he wears during Arizona Coyotes third jersey night looks, as my good friend would say, “badass.” He is also undefeated wearing it, which proves my theory.
So as a member of the goaltending union I say, come on fellow brethren, you have an obligation to the kids and goalie enthusiasts alike. Get rid of the white goalie equipment and show your personality.
We’re letting the goalies of the future down.
