Modern Hockey Stick Innovations

By: Alexander Pratt 7th hour

• In my research I found that hockey sticks didn’t always have amenities like a curved blade, flex, or even fit lengths. I found that hockey sticks prior to the 1970’s didn’t have curved blades. This means that the bottom of the stick wasn’t curved which would cause you to not get as much accuracy and power on a shot as you can today. Throughout the years many different curves have been made to fit specific shots. This feature has made the game much better.

My Research

My Research (cont.) Another thing that I learned is that there wasn’t always flex in a stick. This means that the stick wouldn’t bend which is something great that sticks now do. For example, when a player is taking a wrist shot they want a quick, hard shot which requires the stick to flex a lot in a short amount of time causing the blade and puck to spring forward. This has made the game more dangerous because of faster pucks, but also much better because of the better shot quality and speed.

This is a picture of Alexander Ovechkin flexing his stick.

The last thing that I found in my research is that hockey sticks weren’t always fit to a players height. In the early days of the NHL (founded in 1917) hockey sticks would have all been pretty much the same height no matter how tall or short a person was. Now that heights of sticks are fit to the player they can have a much better and more powerful shot. Poke checking (an attempt to deprive an opponent of the puck by pushing it away with one’s stick) as you can imagine would be much easier with a stick of the correct length. It helps your shot because if a stick is not the right length than your technique will be bad. Sticks with the right lengths have made the game much better.

My Research ( cont. )

Main Idea My main idea is that hockey has overall become a better sport because of modern innovations to hockey sticks. It has been slightly a negative thing because it drives prices up but hockey needed this great technology. The scoring has become much better because of this technology, but strategies have changed because the sticks are more flexible and lightweight which makes them more likely to snap. This means that you have to be more careful with the stick. This is important to me because I play hockey.

This is a picture of the $ 239.00 Bauer Vapor APX.

My topic is important because hockey is a popular sport in the U.S.A and affects many people. It’s also important because it’s helpful to know more about something that interests you.

Why Is This Important ?

Videos

Cool Pictures and New Sticks

Bibliography

• http://www.innovationinpractice.com/innovation_in_practice/2009/09/the-lab-innovating-the-hockey-stick-with-attribute-dependency-september-2009.html

• http://www.mri.gov.on.ca/blog/index.php/2011/03/rjs-hockey-innovations/

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hockey_stick• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nhl