There’s nothing quite like an intense game of hockey. Players have it in their blood from an early age, loving the speed and agility the skates offer and the hard-hitting physicality the game is known for. Many actually consider hockey an elegant game, drawing the analogy of elephants on ice. It’s true, a lot of padding and gear must be worn to protect players from the ice and the speeding puck. But if you’ve ever really watched players skate, you see they have great control over their bodies, capable of changing direction on a dime and completing complex motions in the blink of an eye.

Hockey players must wear a helmet and elbow pads, shin guards, breezers, chest protectors and long tubes called hockey socks. Of course, there’s the skates and sticks too. All this gear takes up a lot of space and can easily overwhelm a small-sized car.

Some families have multiple players, like mine. My son and I both play so it’s all the gear times two. Because we can’t afford to upgrade our truck to an extended model, we use a couple of different types of straps to keep things organized and out of the way. Because we have practice several times a week and tournaments on weekends, it’s more important to find a place for everything than it might be for a more casual skater. As our primary vehicle, the one we use must accommodate everything from groceries to grandparents to gear.

I use a couple of great hook-and-loop cinch straps to hold hockey sticks up out of the way and along the car ceiling. A couple of times I’ve used tie down straps and a small metal platform that slides into the trailer hitch to hold down gear bags. The straps slide around the bags and around the handles and hook into the metal grid of the platform.

An experienced owner-operator, Scott Brunson helps members of the transportation industry each day as a product specialist for US Cargo Control, an online retailer of logistic straps and other cargo securement products. Find what you’re looking for at US Cargo Control today.

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