Skate Socks: The Hockey Gear Nobody Talks About

The Beer Leaguer
0:00

If there's one piece of equipment out there that I don't think ever really gets talked about for us beer leaguers, but really it should because it's kind of expensive and can be annoying to buy if you don't know what you're looking for. It's skate socks. That's right. We're talking all about skate socks on this edition of the Beer Leaguer podcast. All right, skate socks. Why should you care about them? Well, number one, you should care about them because they're not cheap. Uh you can obviously wear athletic socks, you know, with your skates, or if you wanted to wear like really short socks. I don't know why you would do that. Or you could be one of those gross heathens that doesn't wear any socks and goes barefoot, which is, I think, just disgusting, but you do you. But why would you

– Why cut-resistant socks matter

The Beer Leaguer
0:49

care about these? Well, a good pair of skate socks can cost you upwards of 60 bucks. A crappy pair of skate socks can cost you upwards of 20 bucks. What's the difference? Is there a difference? What should you be looking for? So I've decided to go through the last six pairs of skate socks that I've owned, none of which are that old. Uh, they're all still available out there that you can buy and tell you what I've liked, what I haven't liked, differences in them and well, how they felt wearing them. All the ones that I'm going to be looking at today are cut resistant socks because whenever I'm buying skate socks, I figure it's worth the extra couple of bucks to get the cut resistance. I also highly recommend it. If you're getting skate socks, definitely get cut resistance. I don't know why you wouldn't. It's worth the money. Uh, what do they protect? Well, in general, with your skates, I mean, yeah, skates work here, is right above the top of the skate, uh, and especially the back of your leg above the tongue. That's not protected. It's not protected usually from anything. Maybe just your regular hockey socks are back there. Or if you have some shin guards that have like wraparound hard plastic protection, you might get some protection right near your knee. There's a whole gap in there that's not protected. And on the sides, it's not protected. You can't really have anything that's hard plastic or foam or anything there right around your skate because you need to have mobility. And having anything hard there would take away from that mobility. So that's where the cut resistant socks come in handy. All right, let's get into it.

– Easton Socks

The Beer Leaguer
2:22

Okay, so here we go. All six socks here that I've previously worn the last couple years, from the oldest ones I have to the latest ones that I've been wearing just this year. All right, uh, just kind of quick rundown here. Well, we have here this is the Easton Toiron sock. Hope I have that name right. Couldn't really find a price for it. I don't think they're really available uh so much anymore, but that's a number of years old for me. Uh not much to really say about it. It's you know, it's it's kind of this design that is pretty standard for these kind of cut resistant socks. Uh, the actual part that goes around your foot is like a smaller, almost dress socky. This one is very, very stretchy. That's very comfortable. But because this is older, you can kind of see the difference here. The upper part that goes to about mid-calf was where the cut protection is. It's really thick. It's really thick, not very stretchy, not very comfortable, honestly. And while wearing it, it definitely stretched out uh and didn't stretch back very well. So, what wound up happening after about a year, year and a half of wearing it is it got stretched out. The top here, as you can see, is very stretched out, and it would fall down. It'd fall down and you'd have floppy socks, which not great in your skate. Uh, so it got to be pretty uncomfortable and just kind of weird feeling because this heavy part of the sock would start to fall down for it. But this is an older style. This is kind of what I think all these skate socks sort of look like from here on out. Uh, this is the Easton Toiron protective skate sock. So don't have a price for it because I couldn't find it anywhere because I don't think they make these anymore. Uh, the next one I got here is another Easton. This is just an Easton cut protective skate sock. Uh, this obviously much, much shorter sock. Uh, same kind of thing. The foot part, very, very stretchy, very, very elastic y to have on there. So it stays put pretty good on your foot. But again, a real thick, not very stretchy upper part here. Uh, this is much shorter. It kind of just sticks out just above your skate. Uh, it doesn't offer much protection above that, but it definitely is some protection. Uh, but again, super thick up there, super thick. It's like double layered uh for a skate sock and comfortable, but be a little bit weird. As someone who is used to wearing athletic socks in my skates beforehand, this was a super odd thing for me to be wearing. Uh, just felt weird for the size of it. And this is the Easton Cup Protective Skate sock. Now, what I could find out about this one, uh, a little bit more info, is apparently it is 33% nylon, 21% paraaramid. No idea what that is, 21% glass polymer, 15% polyethylene, 8% polyester, and 2% spandex. I'm assuming all the spandex is in the bottom part here because that's super stretchy. And apparently the UHM WPE, which again, no clue what that is, but that is whatever that is, is it provides the ultimate strength weight protection ratio. So that's kind of their technology for this cup resistant part here. You'll see a lot of these older socks have a lot of kind of crazy sounding stuff that they use for the cup protection. Uh, and it gets a little gets a little bit more standardized uh as you get later on. But these are still available. You can find them for around 40 bucks a piece uh for these, or for the ones that are a little bit longer, mid-calf length. Like I said, they're comfortable, they work, uh, but they're heavy, they're very, very heavy. Older cup protective socks. You'll see the cup protective part is usually very, very heavy and uh thick, very thick. So even though they are kind of wick away, the bottom part very thin, very comfortable, upper part very thick and heavy to wear. All right, next up we have Swift Wick with the hockey knee-high 360-degree cut resistant socks.

– Swiftwick Hockey Knee High 360

The Beer Leaguer
6:50

So now we're getting into socks that look a little bit more like normal socks. Uh, so this Swift Wick, it very much looks like just a regular athletic sock, as you can see. Very similar to that. Uh, it has patches of cut resistance on it. So, as you can kind of see here on the back, it doesn't have cut protection that goes all the way up. Uh, it just kind of goes above your tendon guard a little bit, but not very much. So it's not gonna protect the whole back of your leg if that's something you're worried about. Uh, but there is a little patch of cut resistance here in the front that can protect kind of where your tongue is, like right behind your tongue and a little bit above it. So that's kind of nice. Uh, what that also means though is that the top part of this sock kind of feels like a regular sock. There, these cut protective pieces are definitely thicker and not as stretchy as the rest of it, but it definitely makes the whole sock feel a lot nicer. Uh, the bottom of the sock where your foot is is not nearly as thin as the other ones. It's not like a dress sock. This is much more kind of like your generic white athletic sock for it. Uh, so it is a lot more comfortable. Um, but again, though, it is kind of hot. It is kind of a hot sock compared to just a regular stock sock. So, a little bit of info on that Swift Wick from what they say about it. Uh, they say that it's engineered with lightweight olefin fiber. Uh, also that it has uh 360-degree protection for the Achilles and tibual tendons, which you definitely has that, it's not just in one spot. Has a sweat channel that moves excess moisture to ejection ports on the bottom of your skates, and it has a double cuff on it. The double cuff, it's nice, it keeps the sock up, makes it last a little bit longer uh for it. These are nice socks. Uh, right now you can get these for around 40 bucks uh if you can find them. They're real nice cut resistant sock. Uh, I like them, but we can do better. Next up, we have the CCM Pro Line Cut Resistant Level 5 ice hockey socks.

– CCM Level 5 cut-resistant hockey sock

The Beer Leaguer
9:06

All right, and so you can see with these guys, we're still in kind of that classic athletic sock style. Um, these are overall a little bit stiffer than the Swiftwood ones. The lower portion of it that's on your foot is definitely thicker. That's definitely like a thick sock on there. But this part here that provides the cup protection, one, it goes all the way around, which is nice, and it is much thinner than the other ones that I've shown. This is the thinnest of the ones that I've shown so far that provides cup protection that goes all the way around for it. You can feel it being very thin. You can, but you can, I don't know if you can see this on camera as well, you can feel the transitions from the cut resistance to the regular sock portion. You can definitely feel those inside the sock, uh, unfortunately. But it is a lot more comfortable than the previous socks because this upper part is not nearly as stiff. So, what does CCM say about these socks? Uh, they tell you that they're 40% dynema, 30% nylon, 15% glass again, 10% polyester, and 5% spandex. And these guys you can find online at a lot of places for around 35 bucks. Uh, but you can see way stretchier than the other socks so far for the cut resistant area. All right, next up we have

– Bauer Pro 360 tall sock

The Beer Leaguer
10:33

the Bauer Pro 360 cut resistant tall sock. Another sock that costs about 40 bucks. Uh, this one, very similar to the CCM one, a little bit, I'd say, less compartmentalized than the CCM one. Like you don't feel it uh transitioning from the cut resistance to the non-cut resistance. Again, the foot is pretty stretchy. It's pretty thick, but it's also pretty darn stretchy, like an athletic sock. Uh, and the upper part here, cut resistance all the way around. It does have some little panels on it that are supposed to help with uh moisture to keep your feet cool. Uh I really like these socks, uh, they're real nice. One of the issues that I've had with a lot of these cut-resistant socks is I have pretty big feet. And trying to get them in and getting right here where they transition from the cut-resistant upper half to the regular sock lower half, just getting my foot through there because they don't usually stretch that great, that's always been a problem for me. So these same kind of issue with it because the upper part is stretchy, but not as stretchy as a regular sock. But very comfortable, they do wick away moisture pretty good, but your feet will sweat in these, at least mine did. They sweat pretty well, um, which is weird because the lower part keeps them pretty cool. So my actual feet don't sweat, but kind of everything from the ankle up definitely does. In the winter, not a big deal, but if you're playing summer hockey, not really the best uh experience you can have out there.

– Aycane socks

The Beer Leaguer
12:09

All right, next up we have the A-Kane Power Light socks. Um, I've talked about these a little bit before on the channel. These A-Kane socks. These uh you can see they're kind of an evolution from all these other socks. Again, look like pretty much just like an athletic sock with that 360 protection. It is taller than the East is in the CCM, so this does go up almost to my knee for protection, which is nice. Uh, has the little little vents and stuff on here to help out with moisture and have a little padding uh in your skates, which help out and are very nice to have. And on the actual bottom sock portion, we've got these little vents on here that help out. Now, these are not as stretchy as some of the other ones, but they are very cool. These kept my actual foot very, very cool. And because this upper part is not as thick as some of the other ones used to be, uh, that actually kept it fairly cool as well. One thing that these socks is they have like a liner, it's like a two-piece upper construction, which I thought was going to be really hot, but I think that might actually be part of the reason that these were actually a lot cooler than the other ones. These were insanely comfortable, and I was very, very happy to have these socks. I was very happy to have these, and I would still be wearing these today, if not for the A-Kane A-Shield skate sock that they actually sent me a while ago. Uh, I've been wearing these for about a year now. This is my everyday sock that I wear for hockey. Insanely comfortable. Um, the bottom is very similar to the other A-Kane sock, whereas it's stretchy, but not overly stretchy like a compression shirt. This is very much like a standard like white athletic tube sock. It's got the little pattern on here. I don't know a better way to put it, that does help with some of the moisture management. It has the little uh ankle guy here that is a little extra padding right where your ankle is, which is nice for it. And the upper here is single layer, unlike the other older A-Kane sock, single layer all the way around, cut protection, super, super comfortable, super stretchy, which is nice. And like I said, on the other socks, this is the first sock that for me putting on is super easy because that transition here from the cut resistant upper to the regular sock lower, it's fine, it does it stretches out, it stretches out no problem. I don't have a problem putting my big foot through there. I have no issues with it, which is a huge deal for me. So, what does A Kane say about these socks? They say that obviously they are cut resistant, they follow the ANSI uh IISEA A5 standards for cut resistance. They are NHL cleared, so that obviously says a lot right there. Says that they're 15 times stronger than steel. They have a chimney construction for wicking moisture and padded zones for protection from other pressure points. And finally, these guys retail for about $55. So a little bit more expensive than some of the other socks, but they have held up great so far for wearing them multiple games a week. Uh, no kinds of issues

– Are cut-resistant socks worth it for beer league?

The Beer Leaguer
15:41

for it. So there you have it. There is the six skate socks that I've worn in the last couple years, and what I've liked and what I've not liked about it. Uh like I said in the beginning, I really recommend getting cut-proof skate socks. I think they are very much worth the extra little bit of money that they are over regular skate socks. If you're someone that just likes an athletic sock or even a dress sock, uh, I can totally get that, but I still think that the cut resistance is worth the money. Uh, especially like in beer league, where you have people falling around and skates flying up in the air, people can't control their bodies very well. Uh, to me, it's a similar thing of the reason to wear a full face cage or full visor uh when you play out there in beer league. It's not because of you, it's because the other people you're playing out there with. You know, that's who you have to be worried about and protecting against, really.

– Wrap-Up

The Beer Leaguer
16:35

So, what about you? What kind of skate socks do you wear? Cut resistant ones, regular ones? Are you a dress sock wearer? Are you one of those gross people that doesn't wear any kind of socks with your skates? Love to hear about it. Let me know. Either drop a comment on this video or get a hold of the show over at thebeerleager.com. Thebeerleaguer.com is also where you can find past episodes, all sorts of other stuff that's put out on social media, and anything you want to know about the beer leaguer. As always, thanks a lot for listening. Catch you in the next one.