The Stick: From Wood to Stanley Cup

The Stick: From Wood to Stanley Cup

When hockey was first created, it was built on wood, not ice. The wood, was chopped, lathed, scraped, and carved to create, in essence, a piece of art. The hockey stick is the most important physical tool a hockey player has at his or her disposal. Without it; there are no goals, no assists, no poke checks, and no miraculous stick saves. Penalties like slashing, hooking, tripping, and cross-checking would not exist, and the sport of hockey would not exist either. How was the idea of the stick created? And how has the stick changed from the 1800’s to modern times?

When the young Canadians responsible for envisioning hockey began to work on their idea, they knew there had to be a physical tool involved. At the time, there weren’t many team sports in North America, but baseball had a bat, so why not a stick. Carpenters and woodworkers created long-shafter sticks, with a curved, flattened head, that could be used to propel the puck. The sticks were originally small, thin pieces of wood, and would break easily after one or two games. Over time, skaters collaborated with the carpenters, and helped design and better stick. A thicker and sturdier piece of wood was used, and each one was wrapped in leather on the handle and on the stick head, to help make it last longer. Skaters also found that wrapping their handles and stick heads reduce sting on bad shots, and make the puck easier to control.

In the early 1940s, stick makers created a new type of stick, that was superior to the old style. Instead of one piece of wood carved and shaped, the wood workers would glue together or laminate several pieces of wood together to create a whole stick, which made the stick much more flexible, lighter than the previous models, and prolonged its usage. The 1940’s were a wild time for the NHL, with the Montreal Canadiens, the league's most successful team, was now at the bottom of the NHL, while American teams like the Bruins, Red Wings and Rangers became more successful. Some hockey historians credit this flip, not just to a loss of funds and talent, but of more American skaters utilizing new stick technology.

The 1950s and 60s brought alot of change to the NHL and to the stick itself. The 1950s were the first time stick manufacturers used fiberglass to make sticks. While the stick was still made out of wood, the shaft and stick head were coated in a fiberglass wrapping that helped prevent wear and tear, and made the sticks more resilient to hits, shots, and body contact. It also made the stick harder, which many skaters disliked, due to increased injury. In the 60’s, Gordie Howe, the second most important name in hockey history, was still an elite scorer and skater, but was slowly being edged by Bobby Hull, the new phenom on the scene. Both Hulland Howe embraced a new style stick, which players created themselves. In modern times, sticks heads come pre-warped or bent, but back in the day, skater had to create their own curve, usually by wedging the stick head underneath a door frame or with their hands and feet. These “banana blades” became increasingly popular among skaters due to their unpredictability. A slapshot or a hard snap shot was often given a crazy, wild, knuckleball-like spin that, while effective in fooling opposing goalies, became an unruly rubber missile, and the league put a limit on the amount of curve a stick could have shortly after.

The 1970s and 80s saw the most drastic change in hockey sticks, the movement from wood, to synthetic products. In the 70s, the first purely synthetic stick was produced and used, and the sport moved up from there. The synthetic stick, opposed to the wood sticks, the synthetic brought never before seen flexibility, lightness, and durability. The only drawback was a two-piece system. The head/blade and the shaft were made in two separate parts, and would split if bent or put under too much pressure. This would be solved soon. In the 80s, the aluminium stick was brought to market, and gained popularity with skaters, mostly defenseman. While the aluminium stick was heavier and less flexible than its synthetic counterpart, it was unmatched in durability. Defensemen preferred the aluminum stick because it made their jobs easier and it wouldn’t break under pressure.

Finally, the 90’s and today. Composite was finally adopted as the mainstay of stick shaft design and development. The new composite sticks offered the best of both worlds, natural wood and synthetic materials. The composite allowed the stick shafts to have the flexibility and balance of wooden sticks, while keeping the durability of the synthetic sticks. These composite sticks were a breakthrough in stick evolution, and had skaters clammering for the newest models from big time names like Bauer, CCM, and Easton. Skaters would soon learn that the composite sticks offered a better value and a better shot than the wooden models, even though some skaters still used the older versions. Old school players stuck to tradition, and still brought out the wooden sticks for games a practices, but with a new millennium, wooden sticks became a thing of the past. In the early 2000’s, stick manufacturers began creating single piece sticks, where the shaft and blade/head of the stick was one-piece, not two.This allowed for an even more stable stick and for players to “abuse” their sticks without worry of snapping them in two. The composite sticks, now made completely out of graphite, carbon fiber, or even Kevlar could take a nasty beating, and still be good to go next game. Composite was the mainstay, and wood was a thing of the past.

Sticks are the most integral physical piece of a hockey player. We see our sticks as an extension of our own arms, similar to how a beautifully forged sword should feel for a knight or warrior. The stick had humble beginnings, just like our great sport, and grew larger, stronger, and prouder overtime. Sticks saw a lot of changes, and naturally went with the times. It became an advanced piece of technology and engineering, and no longer a handcrafted piece of art. Some hockey purists think we should still use wooden sticks, sticking to the old traditions. Others believe that the change has helped create a faster, fluid, and more exciting style of hockey. While fans and sports scientists continue to argue and debate, us skaters know one thing, no matter what it’s made of, the stick is our sword, and we are the warriors of the ice.