Sweet Smell of Hockey Hands

As hockey players, we’ve all been the victim of our own stink at one time or another, and theres no one to blame but ourselves. You know the scenario all to well. Getting home from your game at 1:00am, while the thought of actually bending over to unzip your bag leads you to believe you may collapse in a heap on the floor. “Tomorrow,” you promise yourself, “first thing before I go to work.”

One week later…at your next game you stare at your bag and prepare yourself for that bouquet of fermented sweat and leather to drift out at you. A morbid curiosity overcomes you as you actually lean into the fallout zone while unzipping the bag. However, if it’s your team mate unleashing that odor your curiosity is replaced by disgust. “Their” stench is usually thick enough to lean on, and definately thick enough to gag on.

Hockey gear has that unique pungent odour to it that we all know and tolerate - as long as it’s ours. Regular airing-out of the gear helps somewhat yet there’s always that tang embedded deep into the fabric. But of all the gear that retains an odour it’s the glove that reigns supreme.

It’s not that the glove has a distinguishable smell as it sits in your bag amongst the rest of the gear. It’s not that it has a stronger smell than the other gear. What elevates its status is its ability to transfer that smell onto your hand where the smell lingers for days. Most equipment is worn overtop of piece of clothing; t-shirt, socks, underwear. The glove’s direct contact with your skin during the game rubs the odour deep into your pores. No other piece of equipment has that ability. Perhaps shin pads have the same effect but I’ve never had the inkling, nor the flexibility, to smell my shin.

The infamous hockey-glove hand-smell. It changes your sleeping habits: It’ll be two or three days after a game until you sleep with your hand under your head. It keeps you alert at your desk: Drifting off to sleep at your terminal? One whiff and your focused.

Those that don’t understand this may think that we’re unhygienic and that we’re simply not washing our hands. Thats not the case. It’s just that washing doesn’t seem to help. Part of the problem is when you do shower after the game at the rink, you pack your bag after you finish showering and the smell gets on your hands again. And as my team mate Bear reminded me on IM, “Then you go home and unpack it and blammo, again!”

He was also kind enough to leave me this tip,

“Dont ever play hockey then go eat a whopper, you will notice that both the whopper and your fingers smell the same.”

Stinky hockey hands are so prevalent in the sport that it is even the focus of online forums. These are exerpts from a forum at jjhuddle(http://www.jjhuddle.com/discus/messages/36108/82288.php) where the whole discussion is about “that smell” and what to do about it.

Sniper_8: I’ve heard shaving cream works.

statman: I washed a pair out with water, filled them with baking soda, and hung them outside. After they dried, I banged them against the wall and most of the soda came out.

magpuck: The only way I’ve found to get the smell out is to buy new gloves & give your old ones to someone you don’t like.

JJ: Try humidifier freshener. No kidding. This stuff is designed to kill fungus and bacteria that lives in damp places. Wet them down with this stuff diluted in water and hang them out to dry on a sunny summer day.

PHS30: i tried febreeze and i just absolutely douse my gloeves in them but then my hands just end up smelling like BO and frebreeze a lethal combination.

The latest concotion that i have tried is actually a tip and trick from the movie industry: water and vodka. Mix equal parts of water and vodka together, put it in a spray bottle and spray your gear. As the alcohol evaporates it takes with it the odor-causing bacteria.
Hockey-glove hand-smell has even sparked a new niche in the cleaning market. Companies like Esporta specialize in sports equipment cleaning.They have drop zones and cleaning centres set up at rinks across Canada and the US. Other companies like GloveBuddies focus on the glove and sell a home-use product that they claim absorbs moisture from, prolongs the life of and leaves a long lasting fresh smell inside of your hockey gloves. This is by no means an endorsement, as I’ve never tried either of these products, but perhaps I should. Not that anyone has complained about the smell of my gear or my hands (except my wife), but because of health issues.

According to the Esporta website “Hockey Canada has issued hygiene recommendations to teams for routine cleaning of all players’ protective equipment. With professional athletes in both football and hockey hospitalized from skin infection, the need to clean the gear is evident.” It seems to me that the hygiene issue here is associated with cuts on the hands and the fermented sweat and leather mixture seeping into it causing infection, and no one has yet been hospitalized from the smell alone. Although prolonged exposure to Santa’s gear could definitely be a cause for concern.

However, until the time comes that there are recorded cases of nasal infection, I may just elect to live with hockey-hand and take advantage of my “odour-memory.” The sense of smell and the connection between olfaction (is that a word? - should be) and memory is so powerful that I can sit at my desk at work and reminisce about the rink by just sniffing my fingertips. Ahhh… the sweet smell of hockey hand. One whiff and the images and memories of the rink come flooding back.

Why would you want to wash that away?