i’m guessing we must have a few hockey players here… so if you are here, do you wear a visor? half visor? a full cage? or no facial protection?
i wear a half visor, because i while i value my eyesight, if i wear a full visor or cage i can’t see down in my feet, and that hinders my ability to receive passes, tip shots, and step over trips. also, i can bump the half visor high when i need to see more clearly up ice, especially when it gets a bit foggy.
there are upsides & downsides to any of the face protection options… last season, i took a high stick that split my eyebrow open, even though i was wearing the half visor. then again, my cheek / orbital was saved from being crushed by a puck earlier this season, thanks to the half visor. a full cage would offer more protection, but limit vision, and therefore mobility.
i play in two men’s leagues right now… between the two, i’d say there are about 6 or 8 guys who wear no facial protection, and the rest are almost 50/50 between half & full, with most of the full wearing cages instead of itechs.
Being a keeper, I wear a full mask (not the cage) when I play. When I skate as an official I wear a half visor (Oakley). I’ve been a goaltender for about 10 years longer than I’ve skated as a referee, so I couldn’t skate not having some sort of eye protection. I do have to say I’m very happy with the Oakley visor
For the last two years it’s been half visor, but I’m going back to a cage. I keep getting sticks in the jaw, and I’m ugly enough as it is without adding scar tissue.
I’d never go back to no protection - twice in the last two years I’ve taken pucks that have cracked visors. I hate to think what they’d have done to my head.
bump… there has to be more hockey players here… what say you?
when playing minor hockey, i alternated between full cage & full visor (one or the other was required) and i couldn’t get comfortable with either option. so when i hit midget, and was allowed to go to half-visor, i did. haven’t gone back. never played without facial protection… but the half-visor is pretty damn good, and not really restrictive vision-wise.
a few guys i play with still go sans-visor, but after i took the puck to the head earlier this year, only to be saved from severe facial damage thanks to the visor, two guys on my team who had never worn facial protection before added a half-visor to their gear.
so i guess the half visor seems to be the consensus choice? i know it works best for me… and even in the pros, it seems to be the standard.
i guess i’m really looking for arguments towards or against no facial protection, or full coverage… because the middle ground seems to be quite well taken care of.
I only played through high school, and a full cage or visor was required. I wish I would have used a full visor, or half visor/half cage, but I used a full cage. I don’t play anymore, but if I did, it wouldn’t be at a very high level, so I would go with the half visor/half cage or a full cage. Any advantages that go along with increased vision wouldn’t be worth the potential injury.
Three former teammates play in a men’s league, two don’t wear any visor/cage, and one wears a full cage.
I played for a few years in the lowest skill level intramural league in college, and we were required to have a cage or full visor. My helmet was rather old and used, so it was a cage, though I’d have preferred a visor. Had I the choice to only go half visor, I wouldn’t have done it. Even though it was the lowest level, where checking and slap-shots weren’t allowed, there were still times I got a puck or a stick in the cage, and I likes my teeth and checkbones, thankyouverymuch.
On a timely note, last night at my local club’s weekly game one of our defence took a puck off the face. Two teeth lost, and a right mess of his cheek.
On a fortunate note (and we were quick to console him with this) he was already extremely ugly, so no real loss.
I have always used a full cage. I don’t want to think about the things that could end up going wrong with my face and the cage makes sure that I don’t have to worry.
They’re your eyes and it’s your face, but I’ll be perfectly forward; a half visor is not much more valuable than wearing a big pair of sunglasses. There’s a reason no reputable safety inspection organization recognizes half visors.
All hockey players should wear full visors or face masks. They should be UL or CSA approved. If you wear anything else you’re risking blindings or serious facial injuries. With an approved face mask or full visor, properly worn, a facial injury is essentially impossible.
You will get used to wearing a full visor; they do not significantly impair vision.
I play beginner level coed hockey where a full face mask is required, but even if it weren’t I’d still wear it. I like the all-plastic ones, because the visibility is better. I’d really rather not have anything smack me in the unprotected face, thanks.
I wear a full cage. I see perhaps two facial injuries every week in the emergency room from hockey players who wear less protection. I have seen perhaps eight broken jaws, dozens and dozens of cuts and bruises, a couple broken noses and three people who have required immediate surgery to salvage whatever vision could be salvaged.
I’m not a hockey player but here is one more anecdotal story for ya…
My brother nearly lost the vision in one of his eyes due to not having a full visor. For two weeks he didn’t know if he was going to be blind in that eye or not. Watching him trying to scoop peas up on his fork with the fork 1/2" from his plate was humorous (no depth perception) to some degree, but also a bit scary.
Going blind or partially blind when the risk can be completely mitigated doesn’t seem worth it to me. Especially for a “hobby”.
actually, my itech hlc_dlx is csa approved, as is all of my equipment. and i did play for over a decade with a full cage/visor - it does impair your vision, especially in the lower peripheral. only someone who has never played, or has never played with anything less than a full cage, would suggest otherwise.
i’m not saying anyone should or shouldn’t wear any specific type of facial protection… that’s up to the individual, and possibly league rules.
i’m just wondering what people actually wear, outside of my own observations from the two leagues in which i currently play.
'Nother goalie here. I play in a high school league so cats eye cages aren’t allowed, but I did manage a HECC approved half-cat’s eye from NXi. When I played defense a full cage/ half and half/ full visor was mandatory. In the adult league that I play in sometimes, I see about 50/50 between face protection and not but i don’t recall ever seeing a half visor.
I’ve been playing hockey for 18 years now. For the first 11 or so, through high school, I wore a full cage. After graduating HS I played a year of Junior Hockey where I wore a half-shield. League rules allowed halfies for people over 18. Under 18 and you had to wear a full cage.
After that I was relegated to mens league and decided to take it all off. No facial protection. Ohhhhhh how good it felt. No longer were there little metal bars in front of my face obstructing my view! I could see the ice better, I could feel the passing air better, I could catch passes better. It was wonderful. Even the feeling of throwing the lid on without having to put on the chin strap was better. This lasted for two years without incident.
Then it happened. I went behind the net to do battle for a loose puck. The other guy tried to lift my stick and missed. His stick came square across my face and I immediately knew what had happened. My front right tooth was broken off at the gumline and the one next to it shattered in half. 3 years and several thousand dollars in dental work I now have a full set of teeth again.
After that I went back to a full cage. Incidentally, it was a blessing in disguise since I had to wear one for the hockey team I started at school. Had I not been wearing it for 2 years prior it would have been a relly difficult adjustment.
Moral of the story? Unless you’re getting paid to play hockey, leave the full cage on.
Raunchy analogy follows:
Playing hockey without a face mask is like having sex without a condom. You don’t know how much better it is until you try it. But once you try it, you’ll never want to go back. Leave the cage on.
