Hornbeam supplies eventually began to diminish since they were such excellent materials for many products, and Yellow Birch and Ash began to replace Hornbeam as the main manufacturing materials. Ash eventually won out over Birch and by the 1920’s it was the wood of choice for two piece wooden sticks.
The famous Canadian hockey company Hespeler began inserting the blades into a joint and glueing it to a wooden shaft. Hespeler would eventually file a patent for their two piece design.
At this point in history hockey stick blades were still straight and had not been curved yet, but it is thought that Cy Denneny of the Ottawa Senators was the first to curve his stick into a ‘banana blade’ in 1927. Despite the innovation this early, due to Denneny’s alleged unpredictable knuckler shots, the method did not gain any popularity in this era.
In this era the popular shots were backhands and wrist flicks. Slap shots existed, but no one was going bar down at this point.
The one stick you should’ve mentioned was the Titan Turbo. A one piece, fiberglass rapped shafts, the core filled with fiberglass foam, and the unique fiberglass inner-core blade. I loved that stick. It was original and light. However the shafts was unresponsive hen taking snapshots. I still have on somewhere.
That’s a great idea Luke, fire us some pictures if you find it! We’ll do some research on it as well! Thanks for the comment.
Hello, does someone has any knowledge about Easton bubbly??
Thank you
Hi Anna,
What sort of information are you looking for on the Z-Easton Bubble stick?
Hi, Can’t believe you didn’t mention one word about Northlands which was the dominate stick used by all NHL players ( skaters and goalies ) in 1950’s and 60’s. Just about every picture you see from that era had a Northland stick in it held by all players.
Absolutely! I played high school hockey at the same rink as the Rhode Island Reds, and I never saw anything but Northland sticks. We all used them, and we used to get the Reds’ cast off cracked goalie sticks, tape them up and use them in practice.
We have a Lovell 300 one piece wooden stick made in Erie, PA. Do you know when these may have been manufactured . It is a right handed stick according to the stamp on the stick
Thanks for this great article. Do you know if any books on the history of hockey sticks. I’m interested in learning more.
Hey Jonathan, we aren’t aware of any stick specific books, but there are many hockey history books around. They may have what you are looking for!
Ok thanks. Maybe I’ll have to write one myself. Lol.
Sounds like a great side project!
Hello hockey stick pros!!!
First i would love to see pics from the Mi’kmaq hockey stick and I have a very particularités question for you guys. Its been a White since I watch hockey and I notices that the sticks seams way or à little longer then I remeber can anybody help me on this?
Thank you and I really enjoyed reading some of the post on here and thank you for the history lesson!!!
Thanks for the comment Tanya, we do not have any of the original Mi’kmaq sticks in our possession unfortunately. As for the length of sticks, the NHL has a standard length limit of 63″ on a stick shaft. With smaller and smaller players entering the league, you should actually start seeing smaller sticks more often!
I have a one piece Salyerd hockey stick. It says red dot on the blade. It had H5 on the shaft near the blade. Anyone who knows anything about it I’d appreciate some input. Len
I have a stick that is rather unique. With some research, it’s origin appears to be that it was made by the Mi’kmaq Indians of Nova Scotia and sold to a Hardware store in Dartmouth, N.S., named Cragg’s Hardware, somewhere around 1920 or 1925. They in turn, used Starr Manufacturing as a distributor to go along with their famous skates. It is a one piece carved stick about 50 inches tall. The handle is a little wider than most sticks, and has finger grooves down both sides of the shaft. There is a logo stamped on the blade that states: “Cragg’s Red Dot”. But, the most intriguing part of this stick is the blade has about a one inch curve. The curve is very pronounced and not a function of the stick drying out over the 100 year timeframe.
This rare stick was on display at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, since I dropped off there 47 years ago, when it was at the CNE grounds. I’d be happy to send pictures, if anyone was interested.
Hey Scott, Thanks for commenting! We’d love to see some pictures of that beauty and maybe upload them into the article! Hit us up at ryan@goingbardown.com
I am trying to determine the approximate age of an ice hockey stick. Any idea when Wilson sporting goods in the USA was making wooden Hockey sticks? I have one and the blade appears wrapped with fiberglass. The shaft is stamped Wilson, Made in USA. Thanks
I don’t like hockey I don’t Evan like hockey I will never play it in my life
We’re sorry to hear that Michael, but you must have been intrigued since you ended up on our page 🙂
I have a wooden Hockey Stick with the the words ***BANTAM*** Made in Canada on the side. Its a youth hockey stick. Does anyone know where this came from? I cannot seem to find anything about it?
i have a Lovell co. one piece wooden ice hockey stick made in Erie Pa., its no. is stamped on its side no.25 its length is 50 inches from top of shaft to tip of blade in very good condition, any idea of value?
There likely isn’t much monetary value with this stick unless you can find someone that collects vintage wooden sticks, but a very cool piece of hockey history!