[Jeremiah81]

Gonna start wearing a half shield instead of full cage.

Was wondering if anyone had suggestions of brands, recommendations or just all around comments about the half shield vs full cage.

[Austin]

Why do you think you need to wear a half-shield? Do you not like your teeth / nose / eyes?

[Wild4life]

I dont have a shield yet, but im planning on getting one soon considering some can get pretty pricy. basically what i look for is the amount of protection i want my face covered up. it really all comes down to personal preference, some shields are skinny and some cover up the nose. Really just try some out and find what looks comfy

[ccrognlie]

I wear an Oakley Pro Aviator when I skate out. I like it for the design and it does not seem to fog and even if a little shows up as soon as I get back on the ice it is gone. Now once you switch it will seem a little wierd because you have a lot more open vision. A question I have is what level do you skate? Anything lower than level 3 JMS I think your nuts as the stick control is not there in the lower levels. I have been hit in the chops a couple of time and I still have all of my own chicklets... Get a good mouth guard and be safe.

[Jeremiah81]

I play lvl3 when I can, C3 AHA.

I have a tapout mouth guard atm, seems to work fine, i like the full frontal protection of upper and lower teeth.

Austin, hockey is a game of preference and if you don't try it, how will you know what works best?

[Austin]

Charlie hit it on the head. The risk / reward for an adult novice player just doesn't seem worth it. Do what you want, but a mouth guard won't protect against pain and cuts and sticks still get to eyes. That would be my main concern as sticks that go under the visor often stay there temporarily. Former teammates (I'm currently not playing) with half shields would get pissy when they'd get a high stick in the mush, but I never felt sorry for them. I rarely ever see High Sticking called in the AHA either.

There was an Oakley half-shield / half-cage combo, I actually used one of them (tried it during summer league and I felt too hot). I'd recommend looking for that or something similar.

[cmarnold]

Quote

Former teammates (I'm currently not playing) with half shields would get pissy when they'd get a high stick in the mush, but I never felt sorry for them. I rarely ever see High Sticking called in the AHA either.

I think attitudes like this are just plain ignorant. I wear a half-shield and I know that there's a certain level of risk involved, but you're basically saying we should all wear cages so that players don't have to worry about following the basic rules of the game.

[sting27]

cmarnold, on 09 January 2012 - 10:15 AM, said:

I think attitudes like this are just plain ignorant. I wear a half-shield and I know that there's a certain level of risk involved, but you're basically saying we should all wear cages so that players don't have to worry about following the basic rules of the game.

I disagree. Sure it's personal choice, but this is adult rec-league hockey. We all have jobs/families/lives outside of hockey. A couple of years ago in a Level 4 JMS session a guy fell behind the net, his skates went up and caught a guy with a half-shield in the face opening him up pretty good. I'm not saying we should be forced to use cages but there's no way in hell I'd switch to a half-shield.

[Austin]

cmarnold, on 09 January 2012 - 10:15 AM, said:

I think attitudes like this are just plain ignorant. I wear a half-shield and I know that there's a certain level of risk involved, but you're basically saying we should all wear cages so that players don't have to worry about following the basic rules of the game.

Not what I'm saying at all. I'm saying the refs rarely call it and most people don't have strong enough ability / control (or the other, they just don't care who they high stick). There really isn't a payoff here. What is to be gained from an increased risk of injury? I also give a safer alternative to the usual half shield (pictured below). He / you can do whatever you want.

[MobleV]

I prefer to wear a half shield for a completely different reason, I have an extremely hard time with depth perception when I wear a full cage. I attempted to wear a cage when i first started playing jms and my game suffered. The first game I went to a half shield I actually felt more confident even with less facial protection. I do wear a mouth guard, I spent like 50 bucks on a very protective under armour mouth guard. I am at piece with myself with the risk of not wearing a full cage and understand the risk of what could happen. As a matter a fact, I took a deflected puck to the face about 3 weeks ago. But at the end of the day...... That's hockey in my opinion. I accept the waiver each and every time I sign up for a game.

[blitzenagain]

I agree. While it may be a personal choice to wear a half shield... I seriously don't think anyone that plays below B1 level in the AHA should wear one. A guy on my team always wore a half shield until he had a few teeth knocked out by an errant stick. I believe the dental bill was around $8000. Hardly worth it.

Regardless of if high sticking is called in the AHA or not, even if it is called...the penalty comes after the action. So even if the guy gets 2 or 5 minutes...you've already suffered the damage. There is no telling what other weird things that can happen! Was at a JMS L5 session a few months ago and a AHA B1 player with a half shield got hit in the mouth from a deflected shot. Luckily it just glanced off him, but we don't have Team Dentists on the benches that are fully paid for by the team!!!

[cmarnold]

Austin - sorry, I misinterpreted your post; didn't mean to start anything here, just wanted to make a point that players should be making a best-effort to be responsible for their sticks.

[tinwoody]

Having dumped a ton of money into my teeth I know how much it hurts not just chippin a tooth but getting it fixed. I broke my nose once and that was bad when they rebroke it to straighten it out. I'd say wear a full face shield. I'd buy the best one on the market. Dental work is expensive and accidents happen.

[bp6010]

I always loved this argument.

I think that you should only be allowed to wear a half shield if you're also wearing a half cup. I simply cannot understand why anyone would afford their face and head less protection than they do for other parts of their anatomy. Especially in recreational sports where NOTHING is at stake.

Ah-h-h-h well. Good luck!



~L

[Fiasco]

I'm switching from a full cage to a shield with polycarbonate cage. Seems like a good balance to me.

With that said, if someone wants to play with a half shield, no shield or no cup for that matter, it's their business not mine.

[griffshark]

Jeremiah81, on 08 January 2012 - 01:39 PM, said:

Gonna start wearing a half shield instead of full cage.

Was wondering if anyone had suggestions of brands, recommendations or just all around comments about the half shield vs full cage.

I would advise to go with the combo similar to what Austin mentioned, we have the Bauer/Itech version at Hockey Giant. There is also a clear full shield from Bauer/Itech.

We have the full range of Oakleys from the super small pro straight to one that goes down below the nose.

You do have to take care of the clear shields or they will soon get scratched and start to fog easily.

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[griffshark]

sting27, on 09 January 2012 - 11:54 AM, said:

I disagree. Sure it's personal choice, but this is adult rec-league hockey. We all have jobs/families/lives outside of hockey. A couple of years ago in a Level 4 JMS session a guy fell behind the net, his skates went up and caught a guy with a half-shield in the face opening him up pretty good. I'm not saying we should be forced to use cages but there's no way in hell I'd switch to a half-shield.

My problem with the half-shield being allowed in rec hockey is that it gives/forces refs to have 2 sets of rules. If a guy with a half-shield gets hit with an inadvertent stick and gets cut the ref has to call at least a double minor, which actually doesn't exist in USA hockey rules, so if they know this they have to call at least a 5 minute major. If the same inadvertent stick hits a guy with a full cage it is either no penalty or a 2 minute minor.

I've seen a guy take a full baseball swing at a guys head with full intent to injure but didn't injure him because he had a cage, so it allowed the ref to give him a lesser call. The same season had a guy accidentally cut a half-shield wearer with a high stick, and the ref gave him a Match penalty, which carries an indefinite suspension.

[nickdrusch]

Jeremiah81, on 08 January 2012 - 01:39 PM, said:

Gonna start wearing a half shield instead of full cage.

Was wondering if anyone had suggestions of brands, recommendations or just all around comments about the half shield vs full cage.

i wear a bauer half sheild. have been for a couple years now and have never suffered a face injury. when i was looking around for one i compaired the bauer with the oakley sheilds and the are the exact same. so save your money and go with the bauer. get a clear one tho. i have a tinted one like ovi wears and it can bug me at times.

[Tapeleg]

For what it's worth, in my second JMS game (a lower level community session), I got a good smack in the face with an accidental high stick. The person didn't mean to do it, and they were probably a level two. The next game, a guy was carrying his stick pretty high without paying attention to it, and caught me in the high shoulder a few times. I said "hey, keep your stick down" (nicely), and he did so. But people tend to forget when they are newer to the game.

Early on in my playing, I took a shot square in the cage when I fell / was dumped in front of the crease. I was thankful I had a cage on.

While the person starting this topic may be a higher level with more experienced players, I just put this out there for other people to consider. You can control yourself, but you can't control a vast majority of what happens in a game. Save your face.