Why does hockey equipment stink

When laundry is wet, we dry it out. Same theory should go for hockey equipment. The proper drying of equipment is the ground floor in the fight against hockey smell.

This is because wet clothes and pads equal bacteria, mold and a festering smell. When hockey equipment has been used, we should make a solid effort to simply dry the equipment out — every time. Then we use fans in the room to get air circulating. Along with heat and fans, the Minnesota Wild dries gloves on a PVC style pipe dryer think of a boot dryer but one specifically used for hockey gloves.

There are now several hockey drying stands now on the market, too. All that is needed is a small space to hang the gear up. Jameson Slusarek, 10, is a multisport athlete in St. He plays baseball and basketball as well as playing on a Squirt B team for the St. Paul Capitals Hockey Club. And it also assures nothing is left behind when it is time to repack the gear. Oliver Prentice is a Minneapolis Storm Peewee.

Because of this, Oliver has taken ownership of his own gear. This vested interest in the quality of his pads and their upkeep has been a great life lesson.

After the gloves and skates are somewhat dry, you can also sprinkle a little Vapor Fresh Foot, Shoe and Glove Powder into them to eliminate any lingering moisture and leave behind a nice fresh scent.

This would include any base layers you were wearing, hockey jerseys and hockey socks. Like washing any other piece of sports apparel or washing any other sports jersey , there are a few things you should keep in mind:.

This will help maximize your cleaning power in cold water, which is usually tough. Allow everything to air dry. Do not put these items in the dryer! The heat and tumbling will shorten their lifespan. Let Vapor Fresh help you start fresh at every practice and game! Stephen Steinberg August 20, Hockey equipment is notoriously smelly. Add a few games, scrimmages, and practices to your mileage and the neighbors may come over to file a complaint about the smell. I applied Febreze to my equipment after every skate because my pads would always smell like how I played my last game, terrible.

Yeah, like that did anything. My equipment then had the distinct smell of opening up a bottle of Febreze and dumping the liquid onto the gear. The Febreze just masked the smell, not eliminate the odor. Now with hockey equipment, there is no dumping it in the washing machine.

With all the pads and straps, good luck not breaking the washer or ruining your gear. The one thing that partially worked was treating my equipment like it was a car wash. I laid out my gear on the patio furniture, filled up a small bucket with water and soap, and used a sponge to hand wash all the equipment except for the skates. I used a mild soap because how do I know if it will ruin my pads? Afterwards, I rinsed it all off with the garden hose and let it air dry overnight.

Washing the pads seemed to work, but not so great. I did the hockey car wash about once every month.