Hockey Stick Measurement Help

Well, I love it whenever a new visitor has taken advantage of my offer to help, any time it’s needed.

I’m talking about a young lady this time, asking me a question about measuring a hockey stick. So, with that as an intro, this post is especially for her…

She began with the following:

Hi Coach Chic,

Sorry to bother you but I’ve been searching your site and have not had any luck on finding the info for sizing a hockey stick.

By now, I hope she knows she wasn’t bothering me at all.  Again, I invite anyone in our game to bother me in that way. 

She also gives me the opportunity to point-out the Search box that’s available on the home page and then on just about every other page or post on this site.  For sure, searches can be tricky.  But I suspect she should find plenty of help within CoachChic.com when it comes to hockey sticks.

I found some other web sites say it should come to the players nose but then they conflict by saying it should be when the player has his skates on or off.

No surprise there, that she might find a bunch of conflicting recommendations.  Why?  To my way of thinking, it’s because this is one of those areas that gets bombarded by wives’ tales.

I mean, I’ve heard or read that a hockey player should measure his or her stick to the nose, the chin, the mouth, the whatever.  And, like this new lady friend offers, I’ve also discovered various authorities(?) suggesting that measurements should be taken when the player is either wearing or not wearing skates.  Hmmmm…

Did I suggest these are all wives’ tales?

Just for the heck of it, does holding the stick upright to measure take into account a player’s unique stance?  And, does it bring into the equation the “lie” of the stick?  (The lie of a stick is the angle at which the blade and shaft meet, and this varies from stick to stick.)  Oh, in the event you weren’t able to answer those two questions, I’ll give you the answers:  No!  No!

Now, before finishing here, let me suggest that you watch your favorite team sometime soon when they’re standing on their bench for a national anthem — it’s probably the best chance to see some elite level players standing with their sticks held upright. A

Anyway, our lady friend ultimately closed with:

Can you clarify or do you suggest a different method?

Thanks and have Happy Holidays!

Something really bothered me as I was about to end with her because, while I wanted to point her towards one of my favorite videos for more in depth help, I discovered that I never did post that here. So, I hope she and my members will look for me to add it to this month’s “Coming…” topics. It’ll be called “YOUR Stick”, and it will include just about everything one needs to know about a stick — from selecting to measuring to eventually doctoring it in various ways.  And, within that short video, I’ll explain a simple way to measure a stick that takes into account the player’s unique stance, his or her body build, and the lie of his or her stick.

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Oh, in closing, I hope I’ve inspired others to ask me questions.  I love fielding them, and helping someone always makes me feel kinda good.