Why do hockey players wear shorts?

Factual Questions
1

All right, blame my father. He always told me there’s no such thing as a stupid question.

It occurs to me that ice hockey was developed in the Canadian winter, was played on frozen ponds, etc. Ergo, the people who played it probably bundled up pretty well. I’m sure that included long pants.

Hockey jerseys are still basically big, bulky sweaters, but at some point in the evolution of the uniform, long pants must have given way to some sort of shorts-and-leggings type of style. Does anyone know when and why? Were hockey players getting their skates caught in their pants cuffs?

2

  1. Long pants look funny. The Flyers and Whalers tried them for a while.

  2. Shorts have been around for a while.

This should link to a photo of Hobey Baker, who played before WWI (and is the namesake of the award given to the best collegiate player in the US)
http://www.legendsofhockey.net:8080/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/LegendsMember.jsp?type=Player&mem=P194502&list=ByPosition&pos=R#photo

It’s a bit hard to make out, but it looks to me like he’s wearing shorts or knickers.

I would think that with shorts you can tuck things in and keep ice from getting inside your clothes a bit more easily.

3

This link contains some information that suggests that even in 1915, they were wearing short pants over long pants. The link doesn’t go into a lot of detail but it seems to suggest that originally the extra pair of short pants was to add hip padding.
THis link has a bunch of information on the evolution of the hockey uniform that shows it was not a uniform (sorry) development.
Finally, this link (look about halfway down the page) says that long pants were dropped when the shin and knee guards got too big to fit under them.

4

Because it would breach nudity laws to skate around just wearing a jock strap. :smiley:

5

The pants were slippery.

If a player fell and slid on the ice… the pants caused less friction and he would keep on sliding. The socks prevent this.

And… watch a player skate. Generally his legs are bent… and wearing shorts makes this easier. Bending your knees in pants, causes the fabric to pull and restrict your motion.

6

I always thought that it was merely adapted from the field hockey uniform.

7

The “shorts” are really hip, thigh, and crotch pads. You want those separate from the shin pads so that your legs have maximum movement ability. Football players have a similar arrangement.

And if you’re playing indoors, you get really hot. You’ll only be cold if you are playing outside and it’s 15 below or colder…if you are doing your job and hustling.

8

In professional roller hockey (RHI, before it folded in 1999), long pants are the norm. Black Biscuit, CCM, and other companies sell roller hockey pants, which are basically just thicker-type plastic pants to help shield against abrasions. But yes, it has to do with the evolution of the uniform and wearing the socks causes greater friction when a player slips on the ice.

9

When I played, another common name for the shorts that was used by some of the guys was “breezers.”