I have had a request to make a hockey stick for a sledge hockey goalie. The current ones are wood and fiberglass. They are pretty light but not all that strong. I don’t really work with much other than wood so I am not sure it there is a material I can use that will fit this request. I thought about using a strong plastic similar to what I used for the skate blades he asked for but I feel like that would be pretty heavy. Anyone have any thoughts on a material that may fit the bill here? They are currently spending about $100 per stick and they don’t last more than about a dozen games. There has to be something better. I expect they would be willing to pay more per stick if it lasted longer.
According to:
with
agreeing…
Wood, aluminum (with wood blade), or composite (a mixture or carbon fiber and foam) — I can’t think of a material which:
- is readily cut on a hobbyist CNC, but not manufactured by industrial processes0
- is rigid, but also flexible
- is affordable
Apparently there are well over 1 million folks playing hockey, so one would think that industry would have well-researched this.
I live in the south where hockey is pretty rare so I never heard of Sledge (Sled) Hockey. I looked it up on google and went to wikiopedia and they had this paragraph about the sticks. Be sure you find the league rules to make sure you do not make an illegal stick.
I went and looked up the Para Olympics Rules and here is where the equipment is stated. Look at 7.2.1.c.
7.2 Equipment
7.2.1 Principles: The IPC Equipment Policy (IPC Handbook, Section 2, Chapter 3.10) applies
to all Recognised Competitions. The fundamental principles that the IPC is promoting
regarding the use of equipment during Recognised Competitions are:
(a) Safety: for the user, players, officials, spectators, and the environment;
(b) Fairness: a player should not receive an unfair advantage that is not within the spirit of
the sport;
(c) Universality: equipment should be reasonably commercially available to all;
Here is the pdf I got that from.
2020_08 World Para Ice Hockey_RegulationsF.pdf (2.5 MB)
Wikiopedia Equipment
The sticks have a blade curved at one end in a manner similar to regular ice hockey, and generally six to eight metal teeth at the opposite end of the blade for maneuvering and propulsion. Movement is achieved by using the metal teeth as a means to grip the ice and push oneself forward. The metal teeth cannot be too pointy nor protrude farther than 1 cm beyond the stick, to prevent damage to the ice or injury of other players. Other equipment includes a helmet with facemask, shoulder and elbow pads, shin guards, and hockey gloves. Pants and footwear are at the discretion of both the player’s comfort and need. Goaltenders wear the standard mask, chest and arm protector, blocker pad and catching glove, plus a leg pad if they so desire and a stick with teeth on both the paddle as well as the knob of the stick. Additionally, goalies may make modifications to their equipment: a common mod is to attach the plastic outsoles of track spikes onto the outer part of their gloves to aid in lateral mobility.
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This is really what I had found as well. The big difference here is the player does not need that flexibility since it is for a goalie. Also sledge hockey sticks are far shorter so they can get away with being a little heavier material since the blade and shaft are shorter. He also does not want a curve on the stick. These changes made him think it was something that I might be able to help with.
Yeah it is not something that many people know about. My son has been playing for years so I know a fair bit about the equipment itself. I actually played most of the season myself this year. His team was always short players and I thought I was taking him there anyway so I asked if I could play. It was a great workout and took me a while to get the hang of it. We had a lot of fun playing together this season and now his brother is thinking of playing with both of us next season.
I will need to look into the curve on the stick and see if it is required for goalie sticks as well. It is required for a player who is shooting the puck generally but the goalie really does not need it. I don’t expect that anything I design would give an unfair advantage outside the spirit of the sport. I would also ensure it is safe. If it really became an issue I guess I could offer my sticks on my Etsy site to fit the commercially available section. The problem with this sport is that there are so few suppliers that a lot of the equipment gets really expensive.
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