It happens every fall. We all feel the temptation to try to squeeze an extra year out of a piece of hockey equipment, or force a young child into hand-me-downs that are either too small or too large. Some parents even stuff socks or another kind of padding into the toes of large skates in the belief that this trick will serve a child as well as properly fitting skates.

Wrong. It's fantastically easy to create "work arounds," and force a child to wear wrong-sized equipment. It might seem clever on the surface, but this can actually be quite dangerous, and also damage the development of hockey skills.

Here are just a few of the important pieces of equipment that absolutely must fit properly, and the reasons why:

Skates
Skates are the only piece of equipment that every player ever has worn. You could, if you're particularly silly, play without any other equipment, but the skates have to be there. Skates are what make hockey hockey. That's why it's so startling that so many people try to cut corners when it comes to buying skates. As mentioned, some people stuff socks into the toes in order to artificially decrease their size, or make a child wear two, three or four pairs of socks, or jam their feet into small skates in order to "get another year out of them." However, it's a short-term gain, if it's any gain at all. Poor-fitting skates damage a child's development, as they will subconsciously adapt their style to compensate for the looseness or tightness of bad skates, and to alleviate pain. Bad habits once learned will stick with the child even once proper skates are finally worn. Skates should fit snugly, so that your feet gently touch the sides, and your longest toe just reaches the tip as your heel sits firmly against the back of the skate. Also, properly fit skates will maximize protection against slashes and slapshots, as the padding will actually be in the right place.

Helmets
In terms of safety, no piece of equipment is more important than the helmet. Some tricks include making the child wear a toque underneath a large helmet, so he or she can use an older sibling's hand-me-down. This is not a brilliant idea, it's insane! A loose helmet can easily pop off during a collision or fall. Try wearing a toque and slamming head-first into the boards. On the other hand, a tight helmet, besides being extremely uncomfortable and causing headaches, won't properly absorb any impact. Saving a few bucks simply isn't worth the risk. A good helmet will feel snug and comfortable. A good fitting test is to get the child to turn his or her head side to side, then up and down while wearing a helmet with all the straps done up. The helmet should move with the child's head. A loose helmet will noticeably move a split second later. A tight helmet and the child will already be in tears before the test has begun.

Sticks
Mario Lemieux uses a stick that some would say is too short for his height. Other players use sticks that might look a little longer than they require. Although there are suggestions about how to find the proper length?like that the stick comes up to your nose (or chin, if you're wearing skates)?there are no hard-and-fast rules. The best idea is to start with that suggestion, but trial-and-error as you use slightly longer and shorter sticks will reveal the proper length needed to maximize your natural ability. Forcing two children to use the same stick, when one child is much larger than the other, will affect at least one of the child's stick-handling, passing and shooting. Not to mention that if the stick is too long, the child might pose a danger to other players.

Gloves
Gloves have one purpose, protection, which they fulfill as long as they don't ruin the player's stick handling. Gloves that are too tight will impede the bending of wrists, amongst other things, while gloves that are too loose will continually fall off, or at least the player's fingers will slip out of the glove's fingers, which could cost a goal. Your aim is to maximize protection while at the same time allowing full movement of the hands. Admittedly, it's a delicate balance. Perhaps the main difference between different gloves is the wrist protection. Some gloves stop right at the top of the hand, so they provide no protection but obviously allow full use of the wrists. Others are quite long, thick and relatively tight, so you won't feel a thing if some hack slashes you, but at the same time your ability may be impeded. Best bet is to try on many pairs until you find something that offers quite a lot of protection, but is quite loose and won't affect your wrist at all. And, no, it won't work to wear a pair of Isotoners underneath.