Tips for Buying a Ice Hockey Stick

It is best to start out with an inexpensive wood hockey stick for your very first Ice Hockey Stick and it should have a basic version of each of the unique features of a hockey stick.

Left handed or right handed stick?
Using a right handed versus left handed hockey stick is not an automatic decision and it really comes down to which way feels more comfortable to you. One guideline is to choose a hockey stick so that your dominate hand is on top (i.e. a left handed stick for a right handed person). The best way to figure this out is to borrow one of each stick from friends, or your local hockey shop, and try them out. Choose the way that feels most comfortable to you.

Length:
Choosing the right length stick is very important and it will dramatically affect your ability to use the hockey stick. Your hockey stick needs to be long enough to reach to approximately your chin when you are standing in skates when the hockey stick is held vertically in front of you. Hockey sticks come in a few standard sizes: junior, intermediate and senior and you will choose the one that is the closest length or longer. Expect to end up with a longer stick and cut it to the correct length with a wood saw (or have it cut at the local hockey shop).

The Blade Pattern of the hockey stick:
If you are going down the path of starting with a flat blade, then your decision is already made. If you are going to get a curved blade then get one that only has a slight curve to it. Forehand passing and shooting might be a little easier if you end up with a large curve, but back hand passing and shooting will be much more difficult. Master good stick handling and shooting with a basic blade pattern before moving to an advance curve.

Flex:
Flex is a measurement of how stiff the hockey stick is. When you take a shot, the pressure you apply with your lower hand causes the hockey stick to bend. This bending is good, up to a point, because it helps accelerate your shot when the hockey stick snaps back. The right flex is one that has the most flex that you can still bend when you shoot. Again, go with a standard/regular flex for your first stick.

Preparing your new hockey stick for game time requires three things:

1. Cut your stick to the proper length. When you are standing in your skates, the top of the stick should be around your chin when it is held vertically in front of you. A fine tooth wood saw works best.

2. Tape the blade from heel to toe with hockey tape.

3. Tape the handle to provide a better grip. This usually consists of a knob of tape on the very end of the stick, and a single layer of tape wrapped 6-8 inches down the shaft starting from the knob.

Enjoy your new stick and the great sport of ice hockey!

History of Ice Hockey

* A 16th-century Dutch paintings show some townsfolk playing a hockey-like game on a frozen canal.
* Author Thomas Chandler Haliburton wrote in his book of boys from King's College School in Windsor, Nova Scotia, playing "hurley on the ice" when he was a student there around 1800.
* In the year 1825 Sir John Franklin wrote that "The game of hockey played on the ice was the morning sport" while on Great Bear Lake during one of his Arctic expeditions.
* In 1843 a British Army officer in Kingston (Ontario) wrote "Began to skate this year, improved quickly and had great fun at hockey on the ice."

FOUNDATION OF MODERN ICE HOCKEY

• The development of the modern ice hockey centered in Montreal on March 3, 1875, the first organized indoor game played at Montreal's Victoria Rink by James Creighton and several McGill University students.
• In the year 1877, several McGill students, including Henry Joseph, Creighton, Richard F. Smith, W.F. Robertson, and W.L. Murray codified seven ice hockey rules.
• McGill University Hockey Club, the first ice hockey club, was founded in 1880.

Equipment used by regular players

Helmet Combo - composed of a helmet with strap, and optionally a face cage or visor

Neck Guard - helps prevent injury from skates, sticks and pucks to the neck and throat. It is usually optional as it restricts neck movement.

Shoulder Pads - also includes torso and spine protection from flying pucks and most collisions.

Elbow Pads - provides forearm and tricep protection against pucks in addition to a reinforced elbow cup.

Hockey Gloves - protects the hands; player's gloves are constructed with a very thin palm and fingers while providing substantially more padding to the outside of the hands; also reinforces the thumb to prevent it bending backwards.

Hockey Pants - incorporates thigh, pelvic, hip and tailbone pads

Jock/cup or ladies' pelvic protector (jillstrap)

Shin Guards - incorporating a kneepad as well, the shin guard has a hard shell in front to protect against pucks, but usually has little or no protection on the calf.

Mouthguard - many variants exists from standard plastic guards to custom-moldable compounds that make speaking easier.

Ice skates - incorporate a rigid shell, often reinforced with metal mesh to prevent a skate blade cutting through.

Hockey Stick - Many are wood, though most players even at the amateur level prefer a composite shaft and blade for increased flex and durability. Most players use a "right-hand curve", where the blade is curved such that it will "cup" the puck when held on the right side of the player's body. However, some "left-handed shooters" reverse this. The preference is largely immaterial of left- or right-handedness.

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Description Of "Ice hockey & Equipments"

Ice Hockey is played on a large flat area of ice, using a three inch (76.2 mm) diameter vulcanized rubber disc called a puck. This puck is often frozen before high-level games to decrease the amount of bouncing and friction on the ice. The game is contested between two teams of skaters. The game is played all over North America, Europe and in many other countries around the world to varying extent. It is the most popular sport in Canada and in Finland.

The governing body is the 64-member International Ice Hockey Federation, (IIHF). Men's ice hockey has been played at the Winter Olympics since 1924, and was in the 1920 Summer Olympics. Women's ice hockey was added to the Winter Olympics in 1998. North America's National Hockey League (NHL) is the strongest professional ice hockey league, drawing top ice hockey players from around the globe. The NHL rules are slightly different from those used in Olympic ice hockey: the periods are 20 minutes long, counting downwards. There are three periods.

Ice hockey sticks are long L-shaped sticks made of wood, graphite, or composites with a blade at the bottom that can lie flat on the playing surface when the stick is held upright and can curve either way, legally, as to help a left- or right-handed player gain an advantage. Variations in curves include its lie and its curve type. Most companies that produce sticks have sponsored players and in return, use their custom curve on publicly retailed sticks. To shoot with a left curved stick, the stick is held with the right hand at the top and the left hand partway down the shaft. To shoot with a right curved stick, the stick is held with the left hand at the top and the right hand partway down the shaft. Most people who are right handed shoot with a left curved stick, and most people who are left handed shoot with a right curved stick. This keeps their dominant hand at the top of the stick, allowing more control. Sticks also have flex numbers, a number on the stick ranging upward from 0. It indicates how much the stick will bend before breaking when pressed on the ice. The higher the number is, the more pressure it is able to withstand. This flexing is what enables slapshots.

There are early representations and reports of hockey-type games being played on ice in the Netherlands, and reports from Canada from the beginning of the nineteenth century, but the modern game was initially organized by students at McGill University, Montreal in 1875 who, by two years later, codified the first set of ice hockey rules and organized the first teams.

Some notable players in ice hockey are Steve Yzerman, Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe, and Maurice "The Rocket" Richard.