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 (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.
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
This is a picture of
them more likely to snap. This means
the $ 239.00 Bauer
that you have to be more careful with
Vapor APX.
the stick. This is important to me
because I play hockey.
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.
Cool Pictures and New Sticks
Bibliography
• http://www.innovationinpractice.com/innovat
ion_in_practice/2009/09/the-lab-innovatingthe-hockey-stick-with-attribute-dependencyseptember-2009.html
• http://www.mri.gov.on.ca/blog/index.php/20
11/03/rjs-hockey-innovations/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hockey_stick
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nhl