Let me tell you a story first. About 12 years ago, I went to Montreal, Canada, to do an internship for 3 months. I loved it there, still do, and it’s probably why I became a Montreal Canadiens fan. As any Canadiens fans would do, I went to the Bell Centre one day to buy myself an official “anything”. I walked into the store and I was like a kid in a candy shop. So many things to choose from! Jerseys, T-shirts, sweaters, hoodies, you name it, they had them… I just couldn’t quite find the women section… so I nicely asked a staff member where it was and I was lead to this micro section that was made of not one, not two but 4 different types of t-shirts, 3 of them had flowers on them and were pink and the last one had the Canadiens colours. I was so frustrated! Even the baby section was bigger!! The staff member explained to me that not a lot of women followed hockey that’s why they didn’t make ladies merchandise…  I mean if one had to be a hockey fan, who would you pick: a baby or a woman?… of course, a baby! Mind… Blown!

12 years later, they have now increased their range significantly so I guess that’s a win. Rant over! 🙂

Now let’s talk about equipment. Everything obviously is made for men and to be fair, when it comes to pants, elbow pads and even shin pads, we don’t really need them specifically designed for women but when it comes to shoulder pads for example, well… they should be slightly different. We need to protect different parts of our body so that makes sense. As a newbie at hockey, I didn’t argue and picked shoulder pads like everyone so I had the Bauer Supreme 9 for my first year. Then I got crossed checked in the chest a couple of times and I thought I should start looking for a women’s model.

I went to one of those huge hockey stores in Quebec, Canada and after looking at the overwhelming choice of 2, I went for the CCM WS1 Women pads. They are a few more options out there but most shops would only carry a couple of models or none.

I had tried the Bauer S180 Women’s shoulder pads and really liked the fit but I wanted something that would protect me even more. The CCM WS1 shoulder pads are very comfortable, they offer a very good fit and they are at a very good price (~$60-$90). They have a great chest protection with medium density padding on the side, the shoulder pads are smaller which allows for a better feel if you have small shoulders like mine. The front is not as adjustable as other ones like the Supreme One.4 but they didn’t have them in the stores I visited. It also has got a removable belly guard which I will take off as I found it reduces my mobility and sometimes gets in the way of my very high-rise pants 🙂

Overall, I am very happy with them and I feel really safe wearing them. I would definitely recommend them.

You can find them on the Pure Hockey or Hockey Monkey websites.

For reference, this is a size Small and I am 165cm tall.