Season Plan was started by a lifelong hockey coach in Massachusetts who watched too many families get priced out of the game or pressured into spending that protects nothing. The product is built on a research base of checked prices, certification records, recall data, sizing research, and independent lab testing — reviewed before anything reaches a parent.
The rules
We never call equipment "safe." No state of any check in our system means "safe" — not a clean recall lookup, not a passed inspection. We report what was verified: "certification record verified," "no recall match found in the data we hold." Absence of evidence is never presented as evidence of safety.
Every price carries its date. Prices are shown with the date we checked them. Nothing on this site or in the app is a live quote, and we say so.
Rules vs. recommendations stay separate. "Required by rule," "required by your program," "standard equipment," and "our recommendation" are different things, and we never blur them to sell urgency.
Commissions can't reach recommendations. If Season Plan ever earns affiliate revenue on purchases, the recommendation engine is architecturally unable to see it — the ranking system has no field for commission data. Picks are made first; any monetization happens after, and never changes the pick.
We refuse rather than guess. No exact skate sizes from home measurements. No goalie advice until goalie research exists. No Canadian rules guidance until it's verified. Every refusal comes with a useful next step.
About the pictures on this site
There aren't any photographs here, and that's deliberate. Every illustration, diagram and chart on this site was drawn for Season Plan — the fit diagrams, the equipment icons, the rink line work, the helmet chart. Nothing is stock photography and nothing is AI-generated imagery. If we draw a diagram of how a shoulder pad should sit, it's because we think that's true and we're accountable for it.
Sources we lean on
Virginia Tech Helmet Lab STAR ratings · HECC certification lists · CPSC recall data · USA Hockey rulebook (with the words "required" and "should" kept honestly distinct) · Hockey Canada fit guidance · manufacturer sizing and pricing pages, checked directly and dated.