The whole bag
Every piece, our honest call
Thirteen things go in a hockey bag. You almost never need to buy all thirteen new. Tap any piece for what to buy, what to skip, and what to do with the hand-me-down.
Hockey stores near you
Season Plan tells hockey families what their player actually needs, what it should cost, and what's smart to buy used — and when the honest answer is "get fitted, don't buy online."
Thirteen things go in a hockey bag. You almost never need to buy all thirteen new. Tap any piece for what to buy, what to skip, and what to do with the hand-me-down.
Virginia Tech runs the only independent lab ratings of youth hockey helmets we could find. Of the 34 helmets they have rated, the one with the best measured score cost $69.99 at testing.
Ten helmets earned five stars — priced from $64.99 to $499.99. Five scored zero, priced from $99.99 to $399. Spending more did not reliably buy a better score.
Read the helmet guideEvery helmet sold here must be HECC certified. These ratings compare measured performance between certified helmets — they are not a pass or a fail, and no helmet prevents every injury.
Virginia Tech Helmet Lab youth hockey ratings, retrieved 9 September 2026. Prices are theirs, recorded at the time of testing, not current retail.
Three things a first-time hockey parent has no way of knowing, and every coach checks without thinking. They take about ten seconds each.
Standing in shoes — not skates — the butt end of the stick should land somewhere between the chin and the nose. A stick that comes in too long is not a problem: any shop cuts it down in a minute.
About one finger width of space above the eyebrows, level on the head, with the chin strap fastened snug so the helmet does not rock. Check the HECC sticker date before anything else — certification expires. Always follow the fitting instructions for your own helmet.
Put the pads on and have your player reach for the ceiling. The hard caps should stay sitting on top of the shoulder joints. If they slide inward or drop off the shoulder when the arms go up, the shoulder is bare on the ice — whatever the price was.
Not one answer handed down — up to five real routes to the same solved problem, with the total landed cost of each and the reasoning in the open. When an option doesn't belong, we say why instead of padding the list.
Our top-ranked current model, after identity, certification and recall checks.
Every card carries the date we checked itLast year's model, brand new. Often the same shell with different graphics, for a lot less.
Basis and provenance shownNew condition, retailer-verified return or end of line.
Condition state recordedHelmets are our new-only policy: a used helmet's impact history is invisible, and certification expires. Stated as a policy, not as a claim about any particular helmet.
An honest refusal is a real answerA shop that carries the category, what they actually do, and what to ask when you call.
See the shop directoryNo 14-item checklist dumped on you. The app walks the bag with you: helmet, then skates, then everything else — one decision per screen.
Before we suggest spending a dollar, we help you check what you already have. A too-long stick gets cut down, not replaced.
Every price shows the date we checked it. We never dress up an estimate as a live quote.
Skate sizes can't be judged from home — so we say "get fitted first" instead of guessing. When we don't know, we tell you.
What independent lab testing actually says about youth hockey helmets — and how to pick one.
Read the guide →
A category-by-category answer, with the checks to run before you hand over cash.
Read the guide →
The one phone call that can make most of the gear list free, and where the money actually goes.
Read the guide →Everything on this site works today and costs nothing — the bag walkthrough, the season cost calculator, the guides, the shop and rink directories. The phone app that pulls it together is still being built. Leave an email and we'll tell you when there's something new.
One address, used to tell you when something new goes up. No spam, and we never sell or share it.
