Ice Hockey Equipment Tip
If you have a dedicated soldier on your team who religiously washes and refills a setof water bottles for your team, consider yourself lucky. What a trooper. Buy this person a beer.
On our team, we are all supposed to take a turn each week for this honorable task. The problem is, nobody wants to do it. It’s like pulling teeth every week getting a volunteer. Sometimes the bottles just sit on the floor in the middle of the dressing room while everyone leaves. The last guy out the door gets the honor.
Sometimes I wonder if the bottles were even cleaned properly as I’m sucking back that stream of H20 on the bench after a long shift. The thought of the leftover water fermenting in the bottle for a week in a cool, dark place, was enough for me to ‘opt-out’ of the team-bottle program. It really is the perfect environment for growing bacteria between games. Like a swamp. Nice. A quick rinse with fresh water just before the game isn’t going to kill anything.
If you’re o.k. using your team’s water bottles, just make sure they replace them once in a while. Over time the plastic breaks down and the nasty particles will get into your system. If not, bring your own water bottle and run it through the dishwasher between games. The same goes for cleaning your mouthguard if you use one. (Beer League Hockey has a few good tips on this.)
Oh, and don’t bother asking me to take the water bottles after the game.
More Ice Hockey Equipment Tips:
Ankle Guards
Blade Tape
Neck Guards
