Free Sample
The Complete Handbook of Hockey Stick Blades
A Practical Reference for Selecting, Installing, Maintaining, and Profiting from Hockey Stick Blades
by Alumigogo Books
Chapter 1: Understanding Hockey Stick Blades
A hockey stick blade is not just a curved piece of wood or plastic at the end of a shaft. It is a precision tool designed to perform several distinct mechanical functions: receiving a pass, cradling and carrying the puck, protecting it from an opponent's stick, and transferring kinetic energy from your body and the shaft into a shot. These functions demand very different physical characteristics, and the design that optimizes one function often works against others. For example, a blade with a deep curve is excellent for lifting the puck on a wrist shot but makes receiving a hard pass more difficult because the puck hits a more closed face and can bounce off the heel.
The blade is not a passive implement. It is an active agent in how the puck moves. To understand why, you have to look at the two primary interfaces: the interface between the blade's bottom and the ice, and the interface between the blade's face and the puck. The performance of a blade is largely determined by how its design manages these two, often contradictory, contact points.
The Geometry of the Blade Face
The most visible feature of any blade is its curve. However, the curve is a simplification of a more complex set of angles. When we talk about the "curve" of a blade, we are generally talking about the most aggressive portion of the face's curvature, but the spec sheet usually lists three specific measurements: