EALER Hockey Compression Shirt with Neck Guard

Purchased the XXL size because it identified the neck size as 16 to 19 inches on the website, however when rec’d the neck size was 15 to 17 inches (See attached pic).

Comfortable to wear and the neck protection is not overly thick and doesn’t interfere with your game so much. Good quality material and feels good on.

I would say it might be slightly oversized but only a little bit. If you are a medium, buy a medium, don’t go large or small depending on your inclination.

I’m about 5’10” and 170lbs. I bought this in large because I have the CCM version in medium and that one fits a little too tight and a little too short. This one fit as I’d hoped, which is snug enough for a base layer but not skin-tight, and it feels as high-quality as the CCM version. The collar is really lightweight and flexible. It looks like it’s a single layer of cut resistant fabric sewn between two pieces of polyester. I prefer that for comfort but if you are looking for something really robust it might not be enough. Wore this in a two-hour practice and threw it in the washing machine afterward – no chafing or itching and came out of the washer looking fine.

So far, this shirt is soft enough to be comfortable but firm enough to hold its shape. It seems to be more comfortable than the neck-gaurd only options we’ve tested out so far which makes it easier to look down. I hope it holds up as well or better than the other brands we’ve tested. I have no reason to think it won’t hold up, but the only way to know for sure is to try it for a season.

For reasons, it’s now compulsory to wear neck guards when playing ice hockey in our beer league at iceHQ in Melbourne, Australia, because the IIHF has made them compulsory.
Broadly speaking, there’s two types. There’s seperate neck guards that wrap around your neck and are held in place (maybe …) by a velcro tab, or there’s ones that are integrated into an undershirt (think a sklvvy, you’re all dressed up like Steve Jobs but with some form of cut resistance built into the neck bit, it’s a turtleneck).
I’m not a fan of the rule in the first place, IMO it’s a knee-jerk reaction to an incredibly rare occurance, but it’s a rule now and we have to wear them, so they may as well do the job they’re supposed to. They’d better not be uncomfortable or distracting either. No point bitching about it, just STFU and wear it, aye. I’m one of those idiots that refuses to wear a full face cage anyway, even visors sh1t me, my cred when it comes to safety equipment is marginal at best. I did make a carbon fibre box for a friend as a joke, but it would be damn-near indestructable!
So for your benefit as well as arguably mine, I’ve been shopping.
A couple of months ago I got myself one of the CCM X30 seperate guards. Even with the built-in “bib”, they don’t strike me as being more than a token thing. I think the whole idea of a seperate guard is fundamentally flawed. Ok, they’re a quick solution to pass the requirement, but would they actually work? …maybe… But since they float around, ride up and down your neck etc, I don’t hold much for their effectiveness. Uncomfortable and IMO unlikely to be good for anything except satisfying the rule. There’s some popping up now with straps to go under your shoulders to try and address the issue, but that’s still the wrong fix.
So the next option, and one I think far more likely to actually do what it’s supposed to (which is more than just be something to make the manufacturer and supply chain a profit!), is the built-in to the shirt option. CCM have one but it’s not available yet at my local shop (I’m pretty loyal to them, they look after me very well, but if they can’t supply I will go elsewhere), so a bit of an Internet search and I found these on Amazon. The Ealer compression shirt with neck guard. I wore it last night at a training session for the first time.
Comfort? After the first 30s I forgot I was wearing it. That’s a pretty good thing. I’m going to give it 4 stars for comfort. The shirt is equivalent to the CCM compression shirt (sans turtleneck!) that I’ve been wearing for years. The non-slip elbow stuff works. It’s pretty good.
Protection? As above, how do you really know? Take a skate in the throat and see? Even if it stops the “slash your arteries” thing, the impact and bruises will still be considerable. Crushing injuries are just as bad as slashing in many cases around fragile bits of our anatomy. I’ll be waiting a few thousand years for that to happen anyway (odds on) so I can’t test it and confirm just by playing hockey. It feels pretty flimsy. It’s an aramid (kevlar is the most well known, but same-same) guard. I’ve used (and tested for real!) kevlar motorcycling gear in the past and it’s very tear and abrasion resistant, but it’s not just the properties of the fabric that matter. I have no way of knowing if the thing would stay put under the sort of random “knife attatched to swinging foot” collision that these are supposed to protect you from bleeding out against. Maybe? It’s going to work better than the detacted ones at least. But unless you go full on medieval armour or a head-down balaclava you’re not going to get your whole neck covered.
You can test the fabrics for cut resistance easily enough and publish standards for them to be able to resist x slashes at y nm of force etc, but that’s only a small part of the equation. Do they actually work? Well, for starters, they’d better stay where they’re supposed to! Time to reboot the MythBusters test lab and have them set up a kicking machine and a ballistic gel head and neck and let it go a few times. Come to think of it, I have a 3D printer … heh! That could be kinda fun …
For me, having very short hair, the velcro tab at the back that allows you to make it snug is not much of an issue (apart from the “wash it, will it last?” thing), but the Jayney-Lou says “velcro bad, my hair! my hair!”, so for those of you with long hair, this may rate less. There are a few options cropping up that may be a better solution, such as the Aycane https://aycane.com/en-au one. But, sorry girls, not in stock! As usual, the girls miss out on stuff that might actually fit properly. You are the bottom of the priority list, again. Bikes, hockey .. same same .. it’s fsck()ing wrong, sorry 🙁
Regardless, for me the Ealer’s a comfortable solution, that passes the “yes you can still play the game” test. It’s about a hundred bucks on Amazon in Australia. I also have on order the Titan Battlegear one ( https://titanbattlegear.com/…/battlegear-upper-armor… ) which should arrive “soon”, they make some big claims about the cut resistance of their fabric that’s not a kevlar variant, and free shipping (sorry, US and Aye only …) but not crazy shipping (ever tried to get a Pacific Rink bag shipped to Aus? FFS these guys do -not- want to ship bags overseas!)
I will also be testing and reviewing the CCM version, when it shows up at our pro shop. They’ve had plenty of time to do something good, let’s see if they have.

Initially bought it after the hockey incident because my wife got freaked out. It’s a good undershirt though, keeps your elbow pads in place and the neck protection feels good to have. Just make sure to remember to put the Velcro for the neck guard back on before putting in your bag after practice like you do your other Velcro gear (I forgot first few times and it caught on everything)

All the local stores were sold out of my son’s beloved Bauer compression gear which he out grew so we took a chance on this brand. No lie, this is better than Bauer or any other brands that we’ve tried in the past. Great quality, true to size, velcro tabs holding up perfect and I like that it has rubber lines to hold the hockey gear in place. I have recommended this to all our hockey playing friends and will continue to do so. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!