1 Practice and Play Makes for Fun Olympic Gear
Current Pros in new gear after little practice time while Hall of Famers had it very different
- Karel Vejmelka's logo-free Brian's setup for Team Czechia is among the standout custom goalie designs at the 2026 Milan Olympics.
- The CCM Tacks and Warrior Alpha Surge made their world debuts on Olympic ice before their official 2026 spring releases.
- Ryan Miller wore his Buffalo Sabres gear at both the 2010 Vancouver and 2014 Sochi Olympics, only using pad skins in 2014 to cover team colors.
- Hockey Canada's Ann-Renee Desbiens, Emerance Maschmeyer, and Kayle Osborne showcased CCM equipment ranging from stock graphics to full All Out custom designs.
- Olympic goalie gear customization has evolved significantly since the NHL's last Olympic participation in Sochi 2014, with full custom setups now the norm.
The NHL’s return to the 2026 Olympics in Milan has been like a little slice of heaven for goalie equipment geeks, with new National Team setups and masks. We’ve already seen incredible custom designs on the men’s side, with the Team Czechia set up from Karel Vejmelka of the Utah Mammoth leading the way in logo-free Brian’s pads and gloves (presumably because they didn’t pay the licensing fee):
On the women’s side we’ve seen both spectacular custom graphics and the world debut for a couple of pending new lines for the spring of 2026 in the CCM Tacks (worn by Gwyneth Philips of the United States and Ann-Renee Desbiens of Canada) and the Warrior Alpha Surge (worn by Martina Fedel for Italy’s first ever Olympic win in women’s ice hockey).
Hockey Canada showed off the best of both worlds in a post-practice goalie photo with Desbiens in the stock Tacks graphic and both Emerance Maschmeyer and Kayle Osborne sporting All Out custom designs on their CCM E-Flex 7 equipment:
It’s easy for the goalie union to get excited seeing all that new equipment but it would be wrong to assume it’s always been this way, especially on the men’s side.
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