My son's chin pad/strap only touches his chin if we tighten the back plate to where it is inside the shell AND the pads inside the shell. When I see pictures or other players with goalie helmets, it appears that the back plate fits inside the shell, but not inside the pads, which are inside the shell. This causes his helmet to ride kind of high to where his eyes sit an inch or more below the top of the opening of the helmet. He wants his eyebrows to be about even with the top of the opening of his helmet, and with most other folks I see, that's where their helmet rests. I tried loosening the backplate to where it sits outside the inner pads of the helmet, but my son's chin doesn't touch the chin pad/strap. The strange thing is that I can stick my head in his helmet with it adjusted this way, and my chin barely touches the chin pad/strap. The chin pad/strap is certainly not snug enough to keep the helmet on my head, much less his. This is an Itech 1200 helmet, either youth or junior.
My son plays football as well as hockey and he's expecting a snug goalie helmet, similar to his football helmet. Also, he sometimes plays forward and his regular hockey helmet has a chin pad practically attached to the cage, which we have adjusted to snuggly fit against his chin. Is his and my assumptions about a snug goalie helmet totally wrong? Is the chin strap irrelevant? Should we adjust his helmet to where the back plate fits inside the shell, but outside the pads within the shell? I know that adjustment would help his vision, but would it be safe?
Posted on Jun 15, 2007, 9:08 PM from IP address 75.66.205.9
