Five Hole Sports

The good: This is the only local sporting goods store that caters to hockey goalies as well as players. Because they have a corner on the market and much smaller sales volume than the online guys, their prices on previous years gear is high. If you know exactly what you want, you'll clearly pay less at Perani's, TotalHockey, or GoalieMonkey/HockeyMonkey. But on current year gear, their prices are fairly close, and you get to try the gear on. Having a place you can try on the goalie pads is great. Five Hole also does a great job sharpening skates quickly.



The bad: Obviously the higher cost. Also, their return policy is something to check on before you pay! And lastly, some of their staff are not knowledgeable about fit on things like goalie masks. Some are really good, but one employee tried to fit my son into a junior mask because of his age. She was quite confident it was a good fit until I checked and saw that his forehead was an inch from the sweat band. That was on a "teacher work day", so off peak hours, and maybe they have less experienced staff at those times? Even so, if you don't know how to fit gear, and are buying for a kid, it is worth calling ahead to make sure there is an experienced fitter present when you go! Because on skates, helmets, and goalie masks, fit is critical!