If you are looking to protect your hands when you play hockey, you need the best hockey gloves that you can get.
Your hands are essential in the sport of ice hockey. They control the stick, which controls the puck. But you cannot leave your hands exposed and you also need to be able to keep a grip on your stick.
How can you know what the right hockey gloves are for you? You will need to consider your own hands, how you would like a fit, and the amount of padding that you prefer. Here’s how you can decide.
Factors To Consider When Choosing Hockey Gloves
There are several factors that you must take into consideration when you are shopping for the best hockey gloves, including the material, thumb locks, padding, and how the gloves fit on your hands.
Not every player will need the same type of gloves, so you need to choose the right type for your needs.
Nylon vs. Synthetic Leather Shells
The two most common types of glove materials are nylon and synthetic leather. Natural leather is not used any longer and synthetic leather is more pliable and water repellent.
Nylon gloves are normally breathable and lightweight, making it easier to hold the stick. They are not as durable as you will get with synthetic leather gloves, however. Synthetic gloves are less likely to tear. Ideally, you should aim for gloves that have a combination of the two materials.
Thumb Locks
Most of the gloves that you will find are going to have a thumb lock system. This means that the gloves are made with a plastic insert that only bends one direction, making sure that your thumb cannot bend unnaturally the opposite direction.
If you collide during a game, your thumb could be hyperextended backward without a thumb lock, putting your thumb at a greater risk of injury. If you injure your thumb, you cannot hold the stick well, making thumb locks essential.
Padding
All hockey gloves come with some form of padding, with most having three or four horizontal pads that can flex on top of the hand. There are also two pieces of padding on each finger, flexing with both protection and flexibility.
Some padding comes in different shapes, allowing for different types of flexibility and movement. The shape of padding goes down to a personal preference, as one type is not better than another.
Type Of Fit (Anatomical, Tapered, Classic)
There are three primary types of fits when it comes to hockey gloves: tapered fit, traditional fit, and anatomical fit. The decision for fit is all personal preference.
Anatomical gloves have the snuggest and most form-fitting feel without any wiggle room. Tapered fits are similar, but do have added room in the wrist and hand so it is not quite as snug. The classic fit is looser than the other two and is the choice of players who like to have some room inside of their gloves.
10 Best Hockey Gloves (2021)
Brand | Skill Level | Weight | Rating | Check Now |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1. Bauer Vapor 2X Editor's Choice | Intermediate/Advanced | 265 grams | 100% | |
2. TRUE XC9 Gloves High Performance | Advanced | 289 grams | 99% | |
3. Bauer Vapor X2.9 Budget Friendly | Beginner/ | 295 grams | 97% | |
4. Bauer Nexus 2N | Intermediate/ | 323 grams | 96% | |
5. CCM Super Tacks | Intermediate | 312 grams | 94% | |
6. STX Surgeon 500 | Intermediate | 280 grams | 95% | |
7. Bauer Supreme 2S | Intermediate/ | 308 grams | 97% | |
8. Bauer Nexus N2900 | Beginner | 319 grams | 93% | |
9. CCM JetSpeed FT1 Junior Hockey Gloves | Intermediate/ | 236 grams | 98% | |
10. Bauer Supreme 2S Youth Hockey Gloves | Intermediate/ | 217 grams | 97% |
1. Bauer Vapor 2X Pro Hockey Gloves
Best Hockey Gloves (Editor's Choice)
If you are looking for the best hockey gloves on the market, you can’t do better than the Bauer Vapor 2X Pro gloves.
Design
These gloves are designed for elite players, but will work well for less experienced players as well. These are new in 2021 to Bauer’s Vapor line, so you really will be getting the top of the line in quality, protection, and comfort when you wear these gloves.
To begin with, the gloves are the lightest hockey gloves on the market. They only weigh 265 grams, which is about half of a pound. Even though they are lightweight, they will still offer you a high level of protection. They are made with Shock Lite foam, which easily provides both protection and feel.
Features
Furthermore, there is a Thermo Core lining that has been combined with HyperSense comfort lining in the fingers. That way, the gloves will also give you a little bit of comfort and cushion.
The palm itself is ultra-sensitive, which means that you will be able to feel your hockey stick like you never have before. You should be able to sense it like an extension of yourself, rather than a bulky piece of equipment to work around. As a result, you should be able to see an improvement in your stickhandling as well as your performance on the ice.
Finally, the gloves come in a huge array of colours, which means that you will be able to find a pair that should work well with your uniform’s colours. The do come in multiple sizes as well, including 13”, 14”, and 15”, making it easy to find a pair to fit most hand sizes.
2. True XC9 Hockey Gloves
High Performance
If you are an elite player looking for a pair of hockey gloves that is high performance, check out the True XC9. These are gloves with an anatomical fit that are design to form to the shape of your hand.
Design
The glove is made up of nylon and textured PU exterior shell. It has an AX suede base palm sewn in with True Blue AX suede overlay for a comfortable grip on your stick. The suede includes the palms and the gussets.
The gloves come with an anatomical, tapered fit. That means that they will be snug against your hands and taper down around the wrist so that there is no gap between the end of the glove and your skin.
Features
The padding within the gloves is pro-grade 24mm EPP foam that should help protect your hands from any kind of unnecessary impact on the ice. The gloves themselves are made up of a 15-piece backhand, which will give you a lot of mobility with your fingers.
They also have the TrueFlexx and a lock thumb feature that provides an ergonomic flexible cuff for superior writs mobility while still helping the support of your thumb.
These gloves are available in sizes ranging from youth, all the way up through senior sizing. You can get them in sizes anywhere from 7” up to 15”, showing that they should really work for just about any player who wants that high performance fit. The gloves come in black, black/red, red, and navy as well, so you can get them to match the colour of your uniforms as well.
3. Bauer Vapor X2.9 Hockey Gloves
Budget Friendly
You do not need to pay a fortune to get a good quality pair of hockey gloves. If you are looking for high quality hockey gloves that you can get while working on a budget, the Bauer Vapor X2.9 is the right type of glove for you.
Design
These are great for skilled players and beginners alike, depending on your needs as well as your preference for glove fits and attributes.
The Vapor X2.9 hockey gloves have a Taktile palm, which is durable and provides you with an instant level of comfort with a soft feel. The iconic Vapor fit has a 3-piece index and a 2-piece flex thumb with an open cuff construction to allow for an incredible stickhandling and complete mobility.
Features
The gloves have a good moisture wicking ability that will help keep your hands from sweating too much inside of the gloves. That way, you will have a good, strong grip that does not slip around within the gloves. This is achieved through a Thermo Max lining material. It is designed to get your hands a comfortable feel that is also dry.
The gloves are a little on the bulky-side of things, but that might work out if that is your personal preference. They do have good mobility and flexibility, despite the bulkiness, so that you still should be able to manage stickhandling, if that is your thing.
This isn’t a good pair for players who prefer anatomical fits. The gloves do come in sizes ranging from 13” to 15” as well as black, black/red, black/white, navy, and navy/red/white, so you do have some option as far as colour goes if you had a preference.
4 .Bauer Nexus 2N Hockey Gloves
For Larger Hands
Another great design from Bauer, the Nexus 2N hockey gloves are a traditional fit. These will give you extra room within the gloves themselves, which is ideal for players who have larger hands who feel too squeezed-in with more anatomical designs.
These gloves include a 4-roll design that has protection, comfort, and style. They are meant to hold up during a fast-paced game, even with the loose-fitting design. The cuff is also a wide and loose fit, but it is adjustable to make it fit better for your own wrist, giving you the right amount of protection.
The thumb lock on these gloves is made up of three pieces, allowing you the movement that you would want from your thumb in gloves while still making sure that your thumb is not going to hyperextend during gameplay. Speaking of features, there is a soft finger touch with the Nexus 2N with AX-Suede gussets.
5. CCM Super Tacks Hockey Gloves
The CCM Super Tacks Hockey Gloves provide pro-level protection while still offering all of the comfort that you need from your gloves. They are lightweight, slick, and ready to take a spin out on the ice with you.
The Super Tacks line uses a palm extension that goes further down the base of your palm, preventing scrunching around the wrists as well as rolling that could mean less stick feel. The cuff is flared and made up of three-pieces, providing players with better mobility. Since it is anatomical, it will be good to wear right out of the package, without any break-in time.
The microfiber of the Super Tacks gloves has a polygiene additive to reduce bacteria growth within the gloves and keeps odour down, so no matter how much you sweat in the gloves, your hands will not develop an unpleasant smell.
6. STX Surgeon 500 Hockey Gloves
Looking at the name, you should already have a good idea of what the STX Surgeon 500 gloves are all about. These gloves are made to be a part of your hand rather than a stiff piece of equipment, giving you superior grip and stick feel.
The M2 knuckles on the Surgeon 500s increases your range of motion while reducing the amount of tension within your hands. There is open stitching in the knuckle break, giving you freedom of movement throughout your fingers. The liner is made of a Dri-Lex material, keeping the sweat from pooling within your hands.
The Cable-Flex Thumbs of these gloves will give you the best control and protection possible, making sure that your thumbs will not hyperextend while at the same time giving you the freedom of movement that you really need.
7. Bauer Supreme 2S Hockey Gloves
The Bauer Supreme 2S hockey gloves are an anatomical type of glove that will give you amazing feel on your stick. While they might feel snug, they will give you better control than before.
The gloves themselves are made with a double density type of foam for the best protection possible, but they also have an odor resistance technology on the inside to ensure that you will not develop an odd odor with them. The improved airflow of the palm is due to the ventilated patches on both the thumb and the palm, keeping your hands as cool as possible.
Protection-wise, the fingers are made with three-piece technology, giving you both the freedom of movement while still giving you the protection that you should expect from Bauer. The palm is an Ax Sueded Quattro Pro palm, one of the best palms on the market. It maintains a nice feel while still being durable.
8. Bauer Nexus N2900 Hockey Gloves
The final pair of gloves that we will review is the Bauer Nexus N2900 hockey gloves. Just as Bauer is dedicated to making a quality product, these gloves should not disappoint.
The N2900 are a traditional 4-roll style of glove that has been the preference of players for years, with a looser feel on both the backhand and the wrist for mobility. There is a full-volume fit, made from a pro nylon mesh shell, dual density foam, and poly inserts for extra protection. The Thermo-Max liner has sanitized technology to keep odour and bacteria down.
The thumb lock is a FLEX-LOCK technology, which means that you will be able to flex your thumb and maintain a good grip on your hockey stick, but it will still be protected against hyperextension or other injuries. The Quattro Grip palm has AX Suede with poly knit gussets as well, giving you the best grip possible while still maintaining some flexibility.
9. CCM Jetspeed FT1 Hockey Gloves
Junior Hockey Gloves
The top hockey gloves for junior players are the CCM Jetspeed FT1. These gloves offer a great combination of comfort and pro-level comfort and act almost like a second skin around the fingers.
To begin with, the FT1 has a combination of three levels of materials that result in lightweight, pro-level protection. D3O, Zotefoam, and PE inserts are used along the fingers and the backhand of the gloves to provide the highest level of protection possible.
These gloves have a tapered fit, so they are snug around the fingers and anatomical around the cuff as well as the thumb. This has become a popular fit, because it is much easier to feel the stick. The cuff is flexible, which allows for more hand mobility and handling. These gloves will make a perfect hockey Christmas gift for your son or daughter.
10. Bauer Supreme 2S Hockey Gloves
Youth Hockey Gloves
The best youth hockey gloves on the market are the Bauer Supreme 2S. These gloves are made with a neutral fit to give you an overall comfortable feel.
Even though these gloves are considered to have a neutral fit, they are completely ergonomic. The senior version of these gloves is anatomical, but they are not that way for the youth version. Instead, they have a snug feel with more volume for protection and mobility.
The Supreme 2S gloves have two-piece fingers in addition to the ergonomic thumb and the segmented foam backhand. All of this will increase the mobility that is possible from these gloves. It will improve the player’s stick control, which is important for emerging players who really need to work on technique.
11. Warrior Covert QR Edge Hockey Gloves
These are a lightweight and flexible pair of hockey gloves.
Some of the features of the Covert QR Edge are that they are made with an Exo Protect system that has medium-density foam in both the cuff and the side of the fingers and thumb. They also have an added bonus of bacteria and odour reduction, keeping your gloves from developing an unpleasant smell as they are used. They have synthetic leather accents and are otherwise a nylon construction, giving you the best of both worlds.
These gloves also have SmartPalm+ with Gatorskin which means that there is a soft and secure overlay for a great stick feel. Grip is essential and these gloves will not disappoint.
Ultimately these have just about everything that you could ask for from a good pair of hockey gloves, including solid protection, flexible design, and elite-level performance.
12. Bauer Vapor 1X Lite Pro Hockey Gloves
For a more high performance type of hockey glove, you should look at the Bauer Vapor 1X Lite gloves. These are a professional level of hockey gloves made by an industry leader.
When it comes to fit, you will not be disappointed with these hockey gloves. They have a tapered fit, like all Vapor gloves, with a 4-segment configuration on the back of your hand for mobility. The fingers also a have a 3-piece construction to give you superior mobility while not losing anything in protection.
The material of these gloves is a pro nylon mesh with cable mesh in different areas around the gloves. The liner is made up of an XRD foam, which gives you lightweight and reliable padding. The cuffroll is molded as well to protect the wrist and forearm from any kind of injury.
13. Warrior Alpha QX Hockey Gloves
Another hit from the Warrior brand, the Warrior Alpha QX are a budget-friendly hockey glove that will still give you high performance. They are considered a premium pair of hockey gloves, rather than elite, but should still protect you well during a game.
This is an anatomical-style hockey glove that gives you the broken-in feeling right away, due to its stretch mesh, especially within the finger gussets. It has a layer for high-density foam in the glove’s upper cuffroll as well as medium-density foam in the lower cuff, giving you the best protection possible.
The Alpha QX has a DynaMesh material that will give you some durability, but really it gives you the breathability that you really need in a pair of hockey gloves. The liner is made from the Warrior’s WarTech FNC technology with polygiene. Polygiene is an odour-reducer that is put in the foam itself as well the liner.
How To Fit Hockey Gloves
It might be surprising, but hockey gloves are actually one of the hardest pieces of hockey equipment to measure correctly.
When you are measuring your hand to figure out the right size, you need to measure from the crease of your elbow up to the base of your middle finger, measuring on the palm side. This is the most accurate way to measure without trying them on, but it doesn’t take into account your finger length, if you have longer or shorter fingers.
Hockey Gloves Palms
You might not have considered the importance of the palms of your hockey gloves, but they are something you need to think about. Generally, hockey glove palms are made with one or two layers of material. It should feel like a synthetic leather or suede.
While nash is the most common type of palm material, not all nash material palms are the same level of quality, so buying the cheapest pair will not do you any favours. Some gloves will also have reinforced palms for better durability and grip. If you can try on the hockey gloves, you should be able to get a better idea of the type of palm you prefer.
Long Cuff vs Short Cuff
Hockey gloves typically have two types of cuffs to choose from, long-cuffed and short-cuffed. The Long-cuffed gloves have a full coverage from the hand up to the forearm, without any space between your gloves and your elbow pads. Meanwhile, short-cuffed gloves have wrist exposure.
Overall, long-cuffed gloves are safer than short-cuffed gloves as the wrist exposure with short cuffs puts you at risk of wrist injury. The problem is that long-cuffed gloves are not as easy to find anymore since the trend has moved toward short-cuffed gloves. Instead, wearing slash guards or wrist guards has become the defence against wrist injury.
Parts Of A Hockey Gloves
A hockey glove has many parts to work with. A typical hockey glove is made up of four parts.
- Fingers: In a hockey glove, the fingers are padded for extra protection and the underside of the glove is made of some kind of soft material. There should be a grip involved so the stick doesn’t slip.
- Cuff Roll: The cuff roll extends up your forearm beyond the cuff for extra protection.
- Back Rolls: The back rolls are the padding on the back of your hand.
- Cuff: The cuff is the padded part of the glove that keeps your wrists protected.
How Long Do Hockey Gloves Last
On average, your hockey gloves can last up to 5 years. If you have noticed a tear in your glove and are worried that you might have to replace them, you can try to repair them first. A lot of pro shops will have a service available to repair the gloves for you, but you might be able to purchase a kit or try patching it yourself.
If your gloves have a lot of holes and tears in them, you really should replace them, because there is a safety concern now. The gloves won’t be able to protect you if they are damaged.
Final Words
When it comes down to it, the best hockey gloves for you will depend on your situation. For a competitive adult player, the Bauer Vapor 2X gloves are versatile, comfortable, and offer a high level of protection.
For younger players, the Jetspeed FT1 junior gloves are the perfect hockey gloves for that age group, and the Bauer Supreme 2S youth gloves are the best for the youngest players.
The best high performance gloves are the TRUE XC9 gloves, providing a little more focus on the game rather than technique, which is why they are a good fit for elite players.
Consider your natural hold on the stick when shopping for gloves. The Covert QR Edge gloves supply an array of comfort and protection, but they will not work the same for everyone.
Instead, find a pair of hockey gloves, like the Covert QR Edge, that have all of the levels of comfort and protection that you need the most.
Hey there, my name is Shawn and I’m a semi-professional hockey player. I’m also the founder and chief editor here at Hockey Pursuits. I love playing hockey and helping players improve their game and that’s why I decided to start this blog.