text: Hockey gear's great.  I'd feel really, really exposed without it on the ice.\n\nWhen I first started playing, I was wearing a bunch of borrowed equipment that didn't fit, and wasn't used to putting the gear on, and I felt big, bulky, uncoordinated and *stupid.*\n\nNow I'm in gear three or more times a week, and it's like clothes.  My stuff fits, I know how to put it on right and most importantly I know it's going to protect me when I inevitably do crazy cowboy s*** in the game.  When I'm out there, the gear's just part of me; I don't think about it, except to occasionally be extremely glad it's there!\n\nYou're saying "hockey clothing" along with "protective equipment," but the only clothing you wear on the ice that isn't equipment is the jersey and I guess your hockey socks.  You can't wear hockey socks as streetwear (unless you like the legwarmer look), and just wearing a jersey is something people do all the time (although game jerseys are made to go over gear and so they always look too big -- I think it looks kind of silly).\n\nWould you wear your gear on the street?  LOL  No.  For a start, unless it was dead of winter you'd die of heat.  Plus, it's just not made to be worn around like that, and there'd be no reason to.  \n\nMy favorite part of my gear next to my skates are my gloves.  They're like old friends.  Comfortable, worn over time to fit my hands and no one else's, and they mean hockey.  They mean a sure grip on my stick, they mean business, they mean hockey.