Gear Talk

What Gear to Put In a Hockey Toiletry Bag

Chris OstranderLeave a comment

Not many hockey players have an equipment staff or an NHL-style stick prep station at their disposal. But that doesn’t mean you need to be empty handed at the rink when you need to make a minor repair or other adjustment to your gear. 

Toiletry bags (also referred to as tape bags, shower bags or shave kits) have become popular items in locker rooms over the last few years as the preferred option for keeping your hockey bag organized. Virtually every hockey company makes some version of one of these bags, meaning you can find great deals on hockey toiletry bags online. 

What you choose to keep in the bags is up to the sort of player you are. Maybe you’re the type who is always borrowing clear tape. Or you’re always making some tweak to your stick or other equipment and you need more accessories and tools at your disposal. If you’re thinking of picking up a toiletry bag or if you got one at Christmas and aren’t sure what to put in it, here is a list of the five best items to keep in your hockey bag.

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The Instigator Podcast Featuring Noah Ennis of Shell Shock Paint

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Noah Ennis, goal mask artist and owner of Shell Shock Paint joins the show for an expansive conversation about goalie mask art and the pro clients Noah works with. New Sabres goalie Eric Comrie is among the roster of pro clients Ennis works with in addition to the Anaheim Ducks’ Lukas Dostal, John Gibson and Anthony Stolarz, Laurent Brossoit of the Vegas Golden Knights and many other NHL and AHL netminders. Our conversation covered some of the finer details of working with NHL goalies on mask designs and the trends and innovations within the wider industry. Noah’s work can be found online at shellshockpaint.com or on Instagram @shellshockco.

You can catch The Instigator Podcast on these platforms any virtually everywhere else you find your podcasts:
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The Instigator Podcast – SkateSkins and the Intersection of Hockey and Fashion with JustDishin

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Matt Keeler and Nick Ciavarella of JustDishin join the show to discuss SkateSkins and the product’s introduction into the NHL. They also offer some tremendous insight into the intersection of hockey and fashion and how that evolution has the ability to move the sport forward on a number of levels. This wide ranging conversation touches on a number of intriguing topics, including the latest from JustDishin and SkateSkins, a product that made a huge splash in the NHL last week.

The 10 Best Sets of Sabres Goalie Equipment

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Another season is winding down and the future in net for the Sabres is up in the air once again. That’s exciting for a few reasons. First and foremost, the opportunity to improve in net opens the door for the Sabres to take a big step back to respectability as they work through this rebuild.

Second, and most importantly, a new goalie (or goalies) means new goalie gear.

Thanks to the Sabres rich history in goal, there have been buckets of goalies whose mask design or gear choices have been terrific. With the 2021-22 NHL season ready to wrap up, it felt like a good time to look back at 10 of the best sets of goalie gear in Sabres history.

You’ll notice that no one from the era of vintage pads did not make the cut. That’s simply because vintage pads are quite ambiguous. There’s nothing that really sets Roger Crozier apart from Gerry Desjardins or Gary Bromley besides their masks (and we’ve already ranked those). Those terrific vintage sets all have their place in history, but when it comes to the best looks in team history, they can’t compare to the way more modern pads pop with different color combinations.

This isn’t a ranking so much as a collection of the sets I feel look the best. So, the list isn’t in any particular order. Though I did save the best for last.

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How to Move with Sport Equipment

Two in the Box StaffLeave a comment

Moving out is bound to take a toll on anyone. It’s a process that’s both stressful and tiresome. The rigors of moving are even more pronounced when it comes to moving your sporting equipment. Continue reading →

Exploring Some of the Best Masks of the Era

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Goalie masks hold a unique place in sporting culture. Few sports provide any outlet for personal expression in the way masks do. It’s an excellent feature and I can tie my own personal desire to play goal to an attraction to the myriad masks I’d inspect on my hockey card collection.

There are a million and one awesome masks out there and a simple Google search will yield you endless rankings and top ten lists from half the writers on THW or Bardown. To avoid plaguing the internet with another goalie mask ranking, I’m going to try a slightly different approach. Cataloging some of the most iconic masks of the modern era while sprinkling in some of my personal favorites along the way.

When I say modern era I’m thinking strictly from the perspective of the history of goaltending. So most of my attention is being directed to masks designed and worn from the late 1980s on. My loose definition of the modern era of goaltending is when most of the league’s goalies had transitioned away from the old fully molded masks and had begun to transition away from helmet and cage combos towards the modern masks we are familiar with today.

That isn’t to discount some of the incredible works of art from the 60s, 70s and 80s, but just to keep the focus on a smaller group. I won’t leave out the league’s golden age as the masks of Giles Gratton, Murray Bannerman, Gary Bromley, Gerry Cheevers and Gilles Meloche are worthy of their rightful place as some of the most beautiful masks of all time. Continue reading →

The Instigator Podcast Interview Featuring Joe Messina of Second String Leather Company

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A brand new Instigator Interview comes your way, featuring Joe Messina of Second String Leather Company. Second String Leather is a new hockey lifestyle brand that crafts unique leather goods from old goalie equipment. I really enjoyed my discussion with him that hit on a wide range of topics including how social media helped expose his company to more hockey players, the process they use to pick out gear and manufacture their goods and we even touched on some of the other goalie products he’s created such as Masked Marvel masks and Edge Protech.

You can listen to The Instigator Podcast on most podcast streaming services, including large providers such as iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRadio and TuneIn and most other third-party podcast streaming apps. You can find links to subscribe and rate the show below:

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The Instigator Podcast Interview Featuring Doug Todd of Warrior Hockey

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I’ve been brand loyal to Warrior for quite some time now. Warrior and Vaughn are probably the two brands I’m most loyal to when it comes to both forward and goaltending equipment. Part of this stems from the way Warrior markets themselves compared to most other hockey equipment companies. Their unique approach to marketing is exactly why I wanted to have them join the podcast and I was lucky enough to speak with Doug Todd about a myriad of topics related to Warrior. We spoke about the hurdles they face when introducing new products into categories that have been dominated by traditional powers like CCM or Bauer, we spoke about Warrior’s approach to building a loyal customer base in goal and we also touched on the Warrior VIP program.

That last point, the VIP program, is something I’ve long been interested in as it’s a unique feature to the sport of hockey and I find it to be a clever and fun way to get the word out about new products in an influencer marketing setting. The VIP program was the primary reason I had reached out to Warrior in the past and I hope you find their strategy to be as interesting as I do.

You can listen to The Instigator Podcast on most podcast streaming services, including large providers such as iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRadio and TuneIn and most other third party podcast streaming apps. You can find links to subscribe and rate the show below:

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Spotify
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iHeartRadio
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The Instigator Podcast Interview Featuring Rob LaLonde of Buttendz

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As a Good Friend of the Pod™ Rob LaLonde basically has an open invite to come on the show and talk hockey and I was really excited to get him back on after he spent the winter traveling to the 2018 Winter Olympics and the Let’s Play Hockey Expo at the Minnesota State Tournament. 

Rob and I discuss a host of topics including the impressive growth of Buttendz around the NHL, how influencer marketing has been such an effective tool for hockey companies like Buttendz, Warrior and others. We also discuss how the sport is growing in new markets like Korea, Japan and China and the work Rob has done with youth teams in those countries.

The Instigator Podcast Interview – Featuring Goalie Gear Nerd

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This is an interview I had been looking forward to for some time. I was joined by Goalie Gear Nerd, one of the most interesting and enjoyable follows on both Twitter and Instagram. Especially if you’re a goalie. We discussed the way he’s grown a massive social media following and what goes into handling that rapid growth. We also dive in on the evolution of goalie equipment in the modern game and just how detailed different goalies can be with their gear.