The goalie blocker is a rectangular piece of equipment worn by goaltenders in the sports of

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

roller hockey Roller hockey is a form of hockey played on a dry surface using wheeled skates. It can be played with traditional roller skates (quad skates) or with inline skates and use either a ball or puck. Combined, roller hockey is played in nearly 60 cou ...

rink hockey Roller hockey (in British English), rink hockey (in American English) or ball roller hockey is a team sport played on roller skates. It is a quad-skate team sport where two teams face-off against one another, trying to drive a hard ball with t ...

broomball Broomball is a both a recreational and organized competitive winter sport, winter and ball sport played on ice or snow. It is played either indoors or outdoors, depending on the climate and location. It is most popularly played in Canada and the ...

, and

ringette Ringette is a winter team sport played on an ice rink using ice hockey skates, straight sticks with drag-tips, and a blue, rubber, pneumatic ring designed for use on ice surfaces. While the sport was originally created exclusively for female c ...

. It is generally worn on the dominant hand. This article deals chiefly with blockers worn by goalies who play winter sports. The blocker is a close-fitting

glove A glove is a garment covering the hand, with separate sheaths or openings for each finger including the thumb. Gloves protect and comfort hands against cold or heat, damage by friction, abrasion or chemicals, and disease; or in turn to provide a ...

augmented on the back of the

hand A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered appendage located at the end of the forearm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs. A few other vertebrates such as the Koala#Characteristics, koala (which has two thumb#O ...

wrist In human anatomy, the wrist is variously defined as (1) the carpus or carpal bones, the complex of eight bones forming the proximal skeletal segment of the hand; "The wrist contains eight bones, roughly aligned in two rows, known as the carpal ...

and part of the forearm by a rectangular "block" of padding and

fabric Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, and different types of fabric. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is no ...

(

leather Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning (leather), tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffal ...

or synthetic). Goaltenders hold their stick in that hand and use the padded

rectangle In Euclidean geometry, Euclidean plane geometry, a rectangle is a Rectilinear polygon, rectilinear convex polygon or a quadrilateral with four right angles. It can also be defined as: an equiangular quadrilateral, since equiangular means that a ...

to block shots -- bouncing them away from the net, as opposed to holding them in the catching

. Experienced goalies can "steer" the shot by angling the blocker as the puck strikes. The padding also serves to protect the hand and lower forearm of the goaltender.

Notes

* A blocker may also be referred to as a 'waffle' or 'waffle-board' stemming from the visual appearance of the blocker in pre-modern ice hockey equipment era. * Typically a right-handed goaltender would wear the blocker glove on their dominant right hand; a left-handed goaltender mirrors this on his left side. Blockers are typically manufactured for right-handed players ("standard setup").

References

Protective gear Ice hockey equipment {{icehockey-stub

Notes

See also

References