Baby Powder?

**tapetotwine** · 05-17-2010, 01:17 PM

OK so my buddies who play goal have complained about there lack of mobility in net, as they are used to ice. I have heard that you can put baby powder on your pads to help with movement, is there any truth to this? Thanks for the help!

**MBurke** · 05-17-2010, 01:41 PM

Originally Posted by tapetotwine

OK so my buddies who play goal have complained about there lack of mobility in net, as they are used to ice. I have heard that you can put baby powder on your pads to help with movement, is there any truth to this? Thanks for the help!

I think that's a bad idea - just like the old armor all "trick". As soon as the powder comes off your pads, it ends up on the surface. No grip on surface = inability to move, or worse yet, injury.

Far better to attach some sort of plastic slide plate on the pad. I've also seen velcro used with some success.

**tapetotwine** · 05-17-2010, 02:04 PM

any ideas on how to attach those to your pads?

**hockeyseed** · 05-17-2010, 02:25 PM

Mainstream Sports (pro shop at Sportsplex in Feasterville, PA) makes slides that attach to your goalie pads. I know several goalies who use them and really like them.

You can contact Mainstream Sports at:

phone: (215) 669-8123
email: [email protected]

**Mlrhnorthfan** · 05-17-2010, 03:51 PM

please do not put armor all or baby powder on your pads!

it causes an injury risk on the floor. I have seen a player slip on that crap in the crease and smack his head on the rink hard.

**DannyG** · 05-18-2010, 01:50 AM

I remember back in 1997, when no less than Rob Laurie declared, "Nobody has figured out lateral movement on wheels, yet." [I think that was in a Roller Hockey Magazine article]

Still hasn't happened. Harder wheels, rockered wheels, five wheels, three wheels, wheels with polypropelyne surface nubs,"sliding pads," goalies keep trying, eh? Rob's pronouncement seems still valid today.

Remember that the rule book states that no player may wear equipment that presents a danger to him/herself or other players. Frankly, powder or silicate sprays would seem to rank right up there with vaseline(tm) baseball pitchers.

**ECHOHockey** · 05-20-2010, 04:54 PM

Originally Posted by tapetotwine

OK so my buddies who play goal have complained about there lack of mobility in net, as they are used to ice. I have heard that you can put baby powder on your pads to help with movement, is there any truth to this? Thanks for the help!

It will eventually end up on the floor and while YOU may be able to slide better, so do the wheels of your defensemen who is cutting through your crease...

**FAUplayer** · 07-25-2010, 11:14 AM

There are a few ways to help you out. For one, when I play ice I wear about a size 9 skate, where on roller I use 10.5 extra wide skate. This allows me to slide a bit of the sides of my cowlings (using vapor xxx skates). I have seen people attach Velcro strips to the inner guessets of pads and that helps reduce friction (I think they use the hard side of the Velcro). Newest thing I have seen, never tried, is slippery tape. Essentially it is like a tephlon tape I believe, so apply that to the inner guessets of the pads and it will in theory reduce friction between the pad and the rink surface. A lot of places will make slide plates (Battram, Smith, Vaughn will even make them onto a new Vaughn pad for you) but I would personally never do that; it says that you are trying to hard to have an advantage. Nothing beats practicing and working on proper foot work in net!

**MBurke** · 07-25-2010, 12:07 PM

Originally Posted by FAUplayer

A lot of places will make slide plates (Battram, Smith, Vaughn will even make them onto a new Vaughn pad for you) but I would personally never do that; it says that you are trying to hard to have an advantage. Nothing beats practicing and working on proper foot work in net!

That's like saying shooters are trying to have an advantage by putting tape on their sticks because it grips the puck better!

Proper footwork is key and there's no substitute for that - roller surfaces will never allow you to slide like ice. Hard work on your mechanics and getting a good push is absolutely essential to getting better. That said, I've used slide plates for quite a while now, and they do help in keeping your pads from hanging up and sticking to the surface, especially when you need to kick out quickly.

I think the amount of benefit you'll see is entirely dependent on how deep the boot channel is on your pads. If you have a shallow channel, you probably are already using your cowling on most of your lateral movement. I use a deeper channel and like the boot area of my pad snug, so most of my sliding is on the foot gusset.

**FAUplayer** · 07-25-2010, 02:35 PM

Originally Posted by MBurke

That's like saying shooters are trying to have an advantage by putting tape on their sticks because it grips the puck better!

Proper footwork is key and there's no substitute for that - roller surfaces will never allow you to slide like ice. Hard work on your mechanics and getting a good push is absolutely essential to getting better. That said, I've used slide plates for quite a while now, and they do help in keeping your pads from hanging up and sticking to the surface, especially when you need to kick out quickly.

I think the amount of benefit you'll see is entirely dependent on how deep the boot channel is on your pads. If you have a shallow channel, you probably are already using your cowling on most of your lateral movement. I use a deeper channel and like the boot area of my pad snug, so most of my sliding is on the foot gusset.

I would not say it is comparable to putting tape on a blade for added grip, I would say it is like illegally curving your blade beyond the legal limit. As per USA hockey inline rule book, are slide plates legal?

I was told by someone about a year ago who was involved with Mission about a pad they developed that had "little balls" on the inner guessets of the pads that would roll on the surface and allow the pad to slide. Never saw anything public though regarding that, and never followed up with the person who told me about this.

Boot channels these days are all relatively the same, except if you are using say one of Smith's new pads that has entirely a flat leg/boot channel. Not to mention the NHL limiting dimension and specs of the leg and boot channels now which has inturn made manufacturers pretty much equate all of their channel depths. Also, if your strapping is done tightly on your skate you are going to have more contact with the boot guesset to the surface rather if your straps are loose you will have more contact with the cowling of your skate to the surface. I now use a strapping setup that holds my skate tight to the boot but still allows proper rotation of pads when going down; I like to be in control and fell my pads. Having my leg pads snug to me also makes me feel more mobile as opposed to the pads being very loose and feeling like I am swimming in them (feel a loss of mobility).

Curious, are you a member of GSBB?

Another alternative which is popular with ice goalies playing roller are low friction pad covers. I am now using GDI Evo2 pads, but previously, on my custom TPS R8 pads, I spent a week and hand stitched 1000 denier nylon (aka cordura) to the inner guessets of my pads to reduce friction between the pad and the surface. I look at this alternative the highest as it is completely legal in terms of the rule book, it actually does work, and it works long term (4 years never had a problem). I did not do this to my GDI pads though.

Here is some random video I found on YouTube showing off the "slippery tape"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRu22Ri9H_A

**quick_dry** · 07-25-2010, 07:58 PM

Originally Posted by FAUplayer

I would not say it is comparable to putting tape on a blade for added grip, I would say it is like illegally curving your blade beyond the legal limit. As per USA hockey inline rule book, are slide plates legal?

they're about as legal a contrivance as stitching more slippery material onto the pads, or using pad covers that can slide better than the OEM material.

The purpose of both is to let you slide better, it isn't for protection - IMO the only way you'd get one declared illegal and not the other was if it took the pads outside of the allowed dimensions (width/height).

I think you'd have a very tough time persuading a ref that one was legal whereas the other wasn't - IMO they'd say both were fine.

for reference, rule 303 a is:
"with the exception of skates and stick, all the equipment worn by the goalkeeper must be constructed solely for the protection of the head or body and must not include any garment or contrivance which would give the goalkeper undue assistance in keeping goal."

(just a note on the blade curve - last time I checked that is only a rule in IIHF based rulebooks, if you play under FIRS rules then there isn't a restriction on curvature)