TPS Shell—Ack, my pants are all hollow!
Written: Nov 25 '07
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Product Rating:
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Pros: If you're converting from inline to ice, you can use your girdle
Cons: It isn't bad enough to wear a garter and stockings, now you're wearing a girdle?
The Bottom Line: A great cheap alternative to buying ice pants when you convert from inline hockey
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| puckmugger's Full Review: Tps Senior Belted Ice Hockey Pant Shell |
What the heck is a shell?
It’s just the outside part of a pair of pants. Now, I know that might seem confusing since the inside part of a pair of pants is usually people legs, crotch, buttocks and the sort. But we’re talking about hockey pants here, not Dockers. Normally on the inside of a pair of pants you have some padding. A shell is just a fabric cover that goes over either a regular pair of pants or a girdle. Simple, right?
Why would I wear pants over pants and what’s a girdle have to do with hockey?
Hmm, I see I have a little bit explaining to do yet. Let’s start with the first part. Perhaps your team decides that they’d like to wear bright yellow pants to go with the pink and white jerseys that the captain’s mother designed. (Let’s hope not though). Of course as a hockey loving man who was appalled by the jerseys, the last thing you want to do is spend your hard earned money on a pair of yellow pants. Let’s face it, you’re going to get nicknamed “Yellow Pants” if you do. Instead you buy a shell to go over your black pants thus matching your fashion challenged hockey team on game day but maintaining what shred of dignity you have when you show up for a pickup game.
As far as the second part goes, the girdle is something of a new/old thing. Back in the days of Cooperalls (a dreadful experiment in which the NHL wore long pants) players wore a set of pads that were independent of the pant shell. Today, this is the normal fashion of choice for inline hockey. As you might guess there is a fair amount of crossover from inline to ice hockey. Hip pads (a.k.a. girdles) can still be utilized for ice hockey with the use of a shell. Of course players can play in their inline pants as well, but once again there is the risk of a demeaning nickname such as, “yellow roller pants guy.”
So to sum up the purpose of a shell, they are intended to help players avoid being nicknamed for the color or style of their pants. This isn’t always a good thing as many players are instead named for the shape and or size of their noggin. For example, the guy who would have been called Yellow Pants may well end up with the moniker, “Enormous Monkey Butt Head” instead. This in many minds is not an improvement.
The TPS Shell
TPS makes some pretty good hockey equipment. They are the hockey extension of H&B Louisville Slugger. You may know them in hockey as Louisville TPS. Nonetheless, I’m going to go way out on a limb and say that this pant shell is as good as almost any on the market. Of course, that’s not as big a reach as you might think. Pant shells are pretty basic pieces of gear.
TPS does use 440-denier nylon for this shell which is proven tough for hockey. 440 is used in all higher quality pants, while 220 is generally used in less expensive pants. (One might assume that gong by the numbers 220 is only half as good). Basically, it’s like buying sheets and checking the thread count. Higher numbers in nylon indicate a higher quality. However, it is thickness, not softness that these numbers measure.
The crotch of the TPS shell is elastic stretch material. Again, this is pretty standard in a shell. It is important as it allows the shell to fit tightly over the pants or girdle without inhibiting the player’s motion. Of course a belt is a must with any shell to keep it from falling down. It’s hard to skate with your shell around your ankles.
The shell covers from the belt down on a pair of pants. The top of most girdles will also stick out. This might seem like a design flaw, but in fact it allows players to adjust their pant or girdle belt without fiddling with their shell in the process. Further, the player’s hockey jersey covers the area above the belt, so there’s no need to worry if you did buy yellow pants and are covering them up with a black shell.
How does it stack up?
TPS’s design and quality of this shell is on par with its competitors. I’ve sold a few Bauer shells which were completely made of an air knit style material. They were certainly not as good as the TPS shell. However, I’ve also sold a few CCM shells that were pretty much the same as these. Tackla does make a shell that goes a little better for full coverage on a girdle or pants by coming up a little higher.
In all, the quality of the TPS is equal or better than that of other brands. The design is good too. If you want more ventilation, the Bauer’s are very nice. If you want more coverage, the Tacklas are better. If you’re worried about the possibility of your pants and shell falling down, the TPS or CCM shell is the way to go.
Sizes and Colors
TPS makes these only in women’s plus sizes which makes for some tricky calculations to convert them to hockey sizes. No, I am kidding. The shell comes in senior sizes from S through XXL. If you need women’s plus sizes, you’ll have to convert them yourself. However, you can simply order the size that matches your pant size and they should fit just fine.
These come in all the normal hockey pant colors. Of course if you didn’t know what a shell was before reading this, you may need to know just what the normal hockey pant colors are. Thus I will list them here: Black, Navy, Royal, Red, Purple and Forrest Green. Also considered normal hockey colors are Orange, Yellow and some might argue pink. However, these later colors are thankfully not normal pant colors.
Parting thoughts
Shells can be handy for players converting from inline to ice hockey. It’s a cheaper alternative than buying a whole new pair of pants. Don’t spend too much time worrying about which pair is best though. They’re all pretty similar in the end. The main thing is to pick a normal color. (That would be black on most planets).
© 2007 Scott Noble – All rights reserved. Unauthorized use prohibited.
You might also enjoy my book on hockey, Hockey for Weekend Warriors. Click here to read the reviews.
Recommended:
Yes
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