There are two styles of gloves worn by

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

players. Skaters wear similar gloves on each hand, while goaltenders wear gloves of different types on each hand.

Types of gloves

Skaters' gloves

Skaters gloves help prevent the hands getting bruised and battered and stops them from getting burned from the ice. The top padding and shell thumb is designed to help protect the player from flying

hockey puck A hockey puck is either an open or closed disk used in a variety of sports and games. There are designs made for use on an ice surface, such as in ice hockey, and others for the different variants of floor hockey which includes the wheeled skat ...

s and opponents'

ice hockey stick An ice hockey stick is a piece of equipment used in ice hockey to shoot, pass, and carry the puck across the ice. Ice hockey sticks are approximately 150–200 cm long, composed of a long, slender shaft with a flat extension at one end c ...

s. In today's hockey game, gloves will generally fall into two types of categories, the first being the traditional four-roll style. These types of gloves have more room on the inside, giving it a looser feel on the hand than the natural fit gloves. Hockey players who choose the four-roll style have less resistance in their fingers and hands, so wearing the gloves feels less noticeable. The other category of gloves are the tighter fitting, natural or anatomical fit glove. These have a much tighter fit than the four-roll gloves, and are designed to become an extension of the players' hand. The tapered gloves are tight on the hand, but ergonomically designed for better wrist mobility and range of motion. Hockey gloves also range in sizes, and are generally available in three categories: Youth size hockey gloves run , and ; Junior sizes are and ; and Senior sizes run , and .

Goaltender's gloves

Goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as the goalie) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays in or near t ...

s wear a different type of glove on each hand. While these gloves do offer the goaltender a measure of protection, their design is to aid the goaltender in performance of their duties. On the hand with which they carry their stick, often called the "stick hand", the goaltender wears a blocker with a large pad across the back of the forearm, usually extending just beyond the wrist.

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

rules mandate that the blocking glove may be no wider than and no longer than . The goaltender uses this blocker to deflect shots. On the other hand, often called the "glove hand", the goaltender wears a catching glove called a trapper, which is similar to a

baseball glove A baseball glove or mitt is a large glove (traditionally made of leather, today other options do exist) worn by baseball players of the defending team, which assists players in catching and fielding balls hit by a batter or thrown by a teammate ...

. In addition to using it to catch shots, goaltenders can distribute caught pucks by tossing them from the catching glove. National Hockey League rules limit the perimeter of the catching glove to and the widest part of the glove may not exceed . Most goaltender's glove hands are their non-dominant hand like in baseball, but exceptions do exist.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Glove (Ice Hockey) Ice hockey equipment