Random girdle question, but I recently moved from Canada to the US and started playing hockey again after a long hiatus and noticed players with girdles and I had NEVER seen one. I played in Ontario for 14 years and I don't remember ever seeing anyone use one or one sold at any stores. I'm guessing they aren't that new or maybe not that popular at the minor hockey level?
You might be a little young to have been around when they were really popular. Searched a bit to find when they were first available but couldn't find a release date. I grew up in Ontario, graduated high school in'86 for reference of the time frame. They were invented mid-seventies and became really popular around the early 80s. They were introduced by Cooper, a sporting goods company that eventually got bought out by Bauer. They called them Cooperalls and had a short shell and a much maligned long pant shell that was used briefly by many youth, some Major Junior and even a few NHL teams. Most of the other manufacturers at the time quickly came out with versions of their own and they became very popular in minor hockey for a while. I was very resistant and a late adopter, and they had begun to fade from popularity by the time I tried a pair that a teammate was no longer using. In 30 years I have only tried pants for a couple of games since I made the switch. I find it to be a love them or hate them kind of thing. We live in Florida and I know several adults that use them, but I've never seen a teammate or opponent (not always easy to tell) of my 12 year old son with one. I wear a Bauer TotalOne and he wears an X60. We're upgrading him to a 9k this summer as he moves up to Bantam. If it weren't for my suggestion he try the X60 he would be wearing pants.
