We Review Gear the Way Players Use It

No press day fluff. No unboxing theater. Just honest evaluations from people who've been playing hockey long enough to know what actually matters.

Why We Built This Site

Best Hockey Gear started in 2019 because we were frustrated. Every major gear review site seemed to publish the same glowing take on every product they covered — five stars, minor quibbles, buy now. The affiliate money was obvious. The independent judgment wasn't.

We're a small team of hockey players — from beer league to Junior A alumni — who started writing honest gear evaluations for ourselves and our teammates. The site grew from a shared Google Doc into what you're reading now. The goal has never changed: give players real, unfiltered information so they can make smart buying decisions.

We make money through affiliate commissions when you buy through our links. That's the business model, and we disclose it fully. But our commissions are the same whether we recommend a product or trash it — so our opinions are genuinely our own. We've killed more than a few affiliate relationships by publishing negative reviews, and we'd do it again.

Our Testing Methodology

Every piece of equipment we review goes through a structured evaluation process before we publish a word. Here's exactly how we do it:

1
Acquisition

We purchase gear independently or borrow it from teammates who already own it. We do not accept manufacturer-provided review units in exchange for editorial coverage. When gear is loaned or provided, we disclose it clearly in the review header.

2
Ice Testing Minimum

We require a minimum of 10 ice sessions before publishing any review. Skates must go through at least one bake cycle and full break-in. Sticks must survive actual game use, not just shooting drills. Helmets are worn through a minimum of 15 full practices and games.

3
Structured Scoring

Each product is scored across five standardized dimensions: Performance, Fit & Comfort, Durability, Value, and a category-specific fifth metric (Edge Retention for skates, Puck Feel for sticks, Safety Rating for helmets). The overall score is a weighted average, not an editorial gut call.

4
Multiple Testers

Major reviews involve at least two testers at different skill levels. A stick reviewed by a Junior A forward will read differently than the same stick in the hands of a recreational player — we want both perspectives, and we say which tester said what.

5
Ongoing Updates

We revisit reviews after a full season of use. If a product we praised has durability problems at the 6-month mark, we update the review and the score. Our recommendations are live documents, not snapshots frozen at launch day.

What We Don't Do

We don't accept payment to place products in our roundups or move them up a ranking. We don't publish "sponsored content" labeled as editorial. We don't receive advance product samples in exchange for embargo coverage. We don't pull negative reviews because a brand complained. If a product we recommended fails in the field, we say so — with specifics.

The Team

Mike Callahan
Founder & Lead Reviewer — Skates & Sticks

Mike played competitive hockey through Junior B and has been in adult recreational leagues in the Boston area for the past nine years. He works as a mechanical engineer by day, which makes him annoyingly specific about materials, stiffness curves, and construction tolerances. He's been baking his own skates since 2012 and has strong opinions about blade steel that most people find excessive.

Sara Lindqvist
Reviewer — Helmets, Protective Gear & Goalie Equipment

Sara played NCAA Division III hockey at a small school in Vermont and has been coaching youth hockey for six years. She's the most knowledgeable person on the team when it comes to safety certifications, HECC standards, and the Virginia Tech STAR testing protocol. She takes helmet reviews more seriously than anyone — which is exactly the right attitude for the job.

Derek Pham
Reviewer — Sticks, Gloves & Budget Gear

Derek came to hockey late — picked up skating at 28 and has been obsessively making up for lost time. He brings the adult beginner perspective to everything he tests, which is genuinely rare on gear review sites staffed entirely by lifers. He's broken 14 composite sticks in three years and has detailed opinions about which brands snap cleanly versus which ones shatter into dangerous shards.

Contact & Corrections

If you've spotted a factual error in one of our reviews, found a price discrepancy, or have a gear question we haven't answered — reach out. We read everything that comes in. We can't respond to every email, but we do update reviews when readers catch mistakes we missed.

For corrections: corrections@besthockeygear.com
For general questions: hello@besthockeygear.com

We are not affiliated with Bauer, CCM, Warrior, True, Easton, or any other equipment manufacturer. Brand names are used for identification purposes only.