It’s pretty cold out on the ice, but a goalie is fairly active, so achieving a good temperature balance is important. I have a relatively low body fat, so I like to dress warm for playing hockey. And my underwear is the basic protective gear.

Here’s what I wear:

• Jock strap
• WSI Ultra Support Hockey Joc or Stromgren Hockey Short with Bike cup.
• gym socks
• Spandex shirt & hockey pants or Itech one-piece spandex hockey underwear
• wooly hockey socks
• Brown JB-720 SR PRO goalie jock
• RBK goalie knee pads
• DR Bulletproof clavicle and throat guard

You can wear different underwear if you want to. Some goalies wear sweat pants, others don’t. It’s really up to you.

What’s the Best Cup?

I wear two cups when I play hockey: an ordinary cup in the hockey jock plus the cup in my goalie jock. This may seem excessive, but I have seen other goalies suffer terribly after making "cup saves," yet I have never been hurt down there with this system.

I think the best cup for goalies is either the Original Banana Cup or the Bike cup. The Bike cup is narrow and deep, so there’s plenty of room, but it doesn’t get in your way when you skate. The Banana cup has somewhat better padding around its edges but is wider and shallower. The Bauer cup is wider and can chafe your thighs, but if you like to point down it will have more room for you.

I don’t recommend the cup that comes with the Hockey Joc. They are comfortable enough, but they feel just a bit too snug for my liking.

I'm not too keen on the new flex cups. The flexy part lets the cup smush the testicles on a hard shot, and that's exactly what it's supposed to prevent! Shock Doctor has a cool new alloy cup that has a nice rubber edge.

Knee Pads

I like the Bauer goalie knee pads. I used to get really sore knees from doing half-V saves, but these are really great.

Sizing

Hockey underwear comes in standard sizes: Boy’s Small, Regular, Large and Men’s Small, Medium, and Large. Stockings generally come in two sizes, Youth and Adult.