The most important part of the hockey glove is the palm. The palm is the area on the inside of the glove. It stretches from the base of the hand to the tip of the fingers. Ideally, the palm of a glove should be firm-fitting from the thumb area across all fingers to the outside of the palm. This fit should be firm�not tight. Players do not want to have a lot of excess room, or slip in the hand. If there is excess room in the palm, as the player grabs the stick, the glove will move and a player will never get a good feel of the stick. Glove makers use different materials for the palms of their gloves. Some use Clarino, which is a man-made �leather.� Some companies use leather, while others use a combination. Today, glove manufacturers have added more material to the center of the palm�the area where massive �stick wear� occurs. This wear patch, like the palm itself, is made of different materials. Glove designers have begun to use pigskin and Kevlar, both long-lasting materials.

Moving up the palm, the gussets�the sides of the glove�are the next area to look at. The gusset area separates the palm from the fingers. The gussets in most high-end gloves are made of leather. Many gloves have nylon gussets, while others will have a combination. The combination gussets have leather on the outside fingers and nylon on the inside. Both nylon and leather work equally well.

The fingers of a glove are made via a two-piece construction. The material is either leather or nylon, depending on the model. The inside of most gloves is made of foam, as a protector for the hand against the dangers of hockey play. When buying gloves, players should look very closely at the feel of the fingers. The fingers should not be tight to the point of being pushed into the end of the glove when the glove is natural in the hand. If the fingers are tight, when the player grabs the stick, the end of the fingers will be pushed out. This will lengthen the finger slots as the fingers push and tighten. In the last five years, glove makers have come out with pre-formed fingers. The pre-formed fingers incorporate a small arc which makes it easier, from the first wearing, to grab the stick. The traditional straight fingers are stiff at buying time and must be broken-in entirely by the player.

Rules of thumb

Most of the thumbs on hockey gloves are made in a three-piece construction. The top piece is where most of the injuries to the thumb occur. Companies use an armor-like material to guard against these injuries. The three-piece design of most gloves allows for maximum movement while still giving the player maximum protection. Another safety measure all thumbs have is a tab on the underside of the palm. This tab holds the armor part of the thumb to the lining of the palm. If the tab were to be taken out, the thumb would be free-wheeling, and may be in the open when collisions with sticks and other players occur.

The backroll of the glove is the area beneath the fingers on the back of the hand. There are many different styles for the backroll design. Many companies favor a more traditional approach, which is a ribbed back straight across. In other words, the �ribs� run horizontally across the back of the glove. Some gloves have no ribs at all, while some makes prefer to use vertical ribs. Each of the ribs is made of the same material�either foam, gel or air. All three types of padding serve the same purpose, to protect the back of the hand.

A new design movement is to have an angled backroll. The angle is like the natural bending of the hand. Even when the gloves are brand new, they seem to be more comfortable.

The �roll� of the glove is right beneath the backroll. This piece of equipment is vital to the safety of the back of the hand. The roll arcs from the base of the thumb across the wrist. The function of the roll is to protect the wrist and the back of the hand from serious injury.

The cuffs of the hockey glove come in short or long styles. The advantage of a short cuff is that it allows greater wrist movement�something many find useful for stickhandling. The disadvantage of the shorter cuff is it opens up more bare arm to get hit. An advantage of the long cuff is good wrist protection, while the disadvantage is a smaller amount of wrist movement.

Of course, size also plays a part in a cuff length�s impact on your game. A long-cuffed glove can allow a long-armed player the same amount of wrist movement as a short cuffed glove. In many cases, a short cuff on a long-armed person could leave a player way too vulnerable to injury. With the increased popularity of the short-cuffed glove, many companies have developed wrist slash protectors. These protect the exposed wrist from hits with a stick.

Instead of the traditional lacing, many companies have gone to no lacing at all. These types of gloves have an extra wedge sewn into the glove. Some gloves still have the laces, but the trend is moving away from it. Another trend in the lace area is a Velcro strap. This strap is located on the underside of the glove and allows the player to adjust the tightness of the wrist very easily.

The most important changes in glove making and design over the last five years have definitely been the anatomically-correct curving of several pieces of the glove, and the trend toward short-cuffed gloves. The curving of the fingers and the backroll allow a player to break in the glove faster and easier. These pre-formed curves also fit the hand more naturally. The short-cuffed glove allows the player greater wrist movement for wrist flexibility and stickhandling.

But again, this greater movement comes at a price: without the protection of the long cuff the wrist is open to a greater number of injuries.

Another change that has occurred is an extra rib on the underside of the glove. This rib runs from the little finger to the back of the wrist. The reason the rib has been added to the glove is to prevent sticks that come up on a player.

Finally, the advent of the air and gel systems have significantly impacted glove manufacturing and design. These two systems work on the glove something like the way airbags work on a car, by absorbing the force of a blow. In foam gloves, the hit is absorbed at the point of impact. The air/gel system is not necessarily better or worse than the foam system, it�s just a matter of personal preference.

Several things play into the cost factor of purchasing gloves. Material type is one. Price will vary dramatically depending on whether the shell of the glove is made of nylon or leather�leather being more expensive. The material in the palm will also determine the cost of the glove. The length of the glove is another factor that will impact the price you pay. And while there are no hard and fast rules, gloves featuring new designs and technology are likely to be sold at a premium. l