Wood Plugs, Burn Them All

This all starts out for me as a young-ish player, 15 or 16 if that counts as young. My formative years as a young goalie, I didn't care much in the way of a players stick, my obese wooden plank was as good as I was going to get in my lifetime so who should care. Fast forward a year later, knee is like jello, no surgery, only other option is to play defense (Quick version of my injury story). Hockey in the mid to late 90's in Chicago has been nothing like what I see in MN. My knee that worked most of the time as a young person would have been a "weakness" that would be utilized by other teams. Even looking at things now, the high school kids in MN, they skate much different than we did as kids... Back to the stick.

My first hockey "god" was Jeremy Roenick, young hockey player in Chicago it was an obvious choice. Don't think I didn't like Eddie the Eagle, however Roenick was the flash that all the kids liked. I even bought a blue and sliver aluminum Easton stick with the Roenick blade, it was a dream.. (Batting eyes). It was a show in itself, I may even find a picture of it because it was a wonderful piece of craftsmanship. With that, comes the flashback..

Looking back, a kid nearly 6 feet tall or more, the Easton, CCM's of the world didn't really make consumer sticks for the above-average height until recently (Yes, it took them 20 years, you counted today, go get a cookie). I have and always will be disappointed with manufacturers since they control the consumer market, hey man, make a stick I can use that's tall. I had been using those $5 pieces of wood in my sticks, well, most of my hockey life. And as of today, they are going back to the store (Fyi, they are too large for a bookmark).

I recently discovered that Warrior and CCM have been making senior sticks that span to 62" or 64". As a man that is 6' 3" without skates, this comes to a perfect height for me, almost as if they had been listening to my thoughts all this time. While I don't have a conspiracy theory, I will say after I;

• Researched sticks that span 62"
• Best weight for my preference
• Best curve for my preference
• Best kick point (Low or Mid) for my preference

I found a wonderful stick, craftsmanship that while is not 90's, gets better with age. It was a great stick, I have already played a game with it, to describe "wicked" or "killer", I don't know what I was doing these past 20 years, so far I like change.

After all my ranting and rambling, I have come to a conclusion, I will no longer, never, ever, in a million years, not once use a wooden plug in a stick again. Why? I will tell you... It all has to do with feel. So far, not only has the "feel" improved where I can feel the puck on my stick, the balance is completely different, I no longer feel like I am holding something heavy with very little weight traveling behind (i.e. the actual stick). I am a changed man for the better. I have already been practicing and know this is what all in the world need. When you talk to an old school player about puck feel, and why they prefer wood, this is why wood lets you "feel" the puck, it's fibers and weight vibrates and bends which sends sensory signals to your hand, and voila, magic!

I would challenge you awesomely awesome hockey people to make the change and tell me it's not for the better. I know sometimes we need a change (like our current presendential choices), and change can be hard, however, sometimes we need to take the time to improve ourselves, take showers, mow the lawn and stop using wooden extenders in our hockey sticks. So all, rejoice with me, come make the world a better place and leave the wood to make paper or something earthy.