The 6 Best Gifts for the Hockey Fans in Your Life
July 11, 2023 | Kevin Schultz
The 6 Best Gifts for the Hockey Fans in Your Life
Six ideas that will not end up in the trinket drawer, from people who have received a lot of bad hockey gifts.
Buying for a hockey fan is harder than it looks. The obvious gifts have all been given already, and the first page of any search will hand you the same generic merchandise everyone else is looking at. What follows goes past that, including apparel your recipient almost certainly does not know exists.
We put this together the direct way, by asking our own staff of hockey obsessives what they would actually want to receive. You don't need to know the sport to give a good hockey gift. You just need to know where to look.
The six
1. Exclusive Retro Minor League Apparel
What do you get the fan who has seen it all? Something they have never seen before. Minor league hockey has been running in the United States and Canada since the early 1900s, and hundreds of teams have come and gone in that time, very likely including one in your recipient's own state or city. The logos and the stories behind them are strange enough that one of them will land.
That's what we do. Apparel for defunct minor league teams, covering more than 40 states and every Canadian province. We like the current sport fine, but we care more about the clubs nobody kept a record of. Putting those logos back into circulation is how the teams stay in the conversation. Somebody wearing an Albany River Rats shirt or a Kentucky Thoroughblades hoodie gets asked about it, which is the whole point.
Not sure where to start? Use shop by state to find the defunct teams from your recipient's area, which turns a gift into a piece of local history they didn't know about. Or browse every team A to Z.
We make jerseys, tees, hoodies, crewnecks, hats, and beanies, plus kids' tees and kids' hoodies.
2. Retro Hockey Jerseys
All of our apparel is worth giving, but nothing lands like a retro hockey jersey. Many of ours exist nowhere else, because nobody else is focused this narrowly on defunct hockey. They're modern replicas built to carry the spirit of the original designs, and having worn a lot of jerseys over the years, we can tell you these hold up both on the ice and off it.
The part we care most about is getting them right. We work from old memorabilia, photographs, and conversations with people who were actually there, and we stay as true to the original as the record allows while adding the occasional deliberate flourish.
3. Equipment
Buying equipment is intimidating if you don't play, but it doesn't have to be. Hockey Monkey and Pure Hockey both carry everything, and Bauer and Warrior are the safest brands to buy blind, since they've been the players' favorites for years. Equipment is also more than skates, sticks, and pucks. Helmets, gloves, pads, and even tape all make sense as gifts.
Gear is expensive. If you want a cheaper and greener route, Sideline Swap is a marketplace for used and new equipment, started by college athletes who had firsthand experience of what the stuff costs.
4. Game Tickets
Giving experiences instead of objects has become the default in a lot of families, and for a hockey fan the experience is a game. SeatGeek and Ticketmaster are the obvious places to start. On both, find the event categories across the top of the homepage, choose sports, then filter to hockey.
It helps to know which arenas near you host hockey at all. And don't assume the NHL is the only option. The American Hockey League, ECHL, Federal Prospects Hockey League, and Southern Professional Hockey League all put on a good night out for considerably less money, and the buildings are usually better for it.
Team websites are worth checking directly, since they sometimes carry deals and season packages you won't see elsewhere, though they'll often reroute you to Ticketmaster anyway. Groupon occasionally has discounts worth the two minutes it takes to look.
5. Vintage Souvenirs and Collectibles
Everyone has one mug or one glass they reach for first. A gift that gets used every single day is the one worth giving, and drinkware is the easiest way to get there.
Our pint glasses run to over 200 logo options, with a standing offer that takes 62% off the second glass when you buy two. The coffee mugs are durable and the colors are vivid. Both are hand wash only, and we would rather tell you that now than have you find out later.
For a smaller gift or a stocking stuffer, our Koozies do the job. And our collectible pucks are official Inglasco pucks with our own designs, generally $19.99, though they sometimes ship free with a pre-order jersey.
6. Gift Cards
When you genuinely don't know, a gift card is the honest answer, and every site mentioned above sells one. The trick is in the presentation, because a card on its own reads as an afterthought even when it isn't.
Tuck it inside a Koozie. Or build it into a small basket with a Koozie, a pint glass, and a six pack. The same idea works with a mug and a bag of their coffee.
Final Thoughts
Retro hockey apparel works as a gift because it comes with something attached. A funny name, a logo nobody else has, or a team that played six blocks from where your recipient grew up and that they have never once heard of. Vintage doesn't go out of style, and it starts conversations, which is more than most gifts manage.
And if you can't settle on one shirt, there is no shame in the gift card. Let them go through the archive and find their own team.
Over 40 states, every Canadian province, and a few hundred teams that stopped playing a long time ago.
Shop hockey giftsMore ways to shop
All teams A to Z · By state · Jerseys · Mugs · Pucks · Pint glasses
More from the archive: The 12 Best Minor League Hockey Jerseys From Defunct Franchises · Marquette Iron Rangers: Karen Koch, Oakie Brumm, and the Carlson Brothers