Ice Hockey Stick Types & Lengths

Series Summary

Hockey has one of the worst violent reputations in sports. Those who know the game understand the place fighting has in the sport, but other types of violence do not. It keeps things on the ice from getting out of hand in a chippy game. Legendary agitators like Esa Tikkanen, Tony Granato and more recently Jarkko Ruutu all know what they should do on the ice, but they don't do it with their sticks. Hockey sticks can be dangerous at the speeds these athletes fly around the ice at. They'll be the first to tell you, you have to know how to handle a hockey stick. Not being able to could serious hurt someone and end their playing career. Do you idolize Wayne Gretzky? You can't be the great one unless you are great with an ice hockey stick. Learn all about handling ice hockey sticks properly from an experienced hockey coach. Find out about types and lengths, taping, gripping, handling, passing, poke checking and holding ice hockey sticks. Glide down the ice on offense and defense like an pro!

Video Transcript

"Hi, today we're going to show how to hold a stick properly. Before even holding the stick, you have to realize that there's many different kinds of sticks out there, but some of the more common kinds are a traditional wooden stick, an aluminum shaft, this one happens to have a separate blade, so it's a two piece stick; and then the one I'm using right now is a one piece graphite stick. It's more of a personal preference, but with today's technology, a lot of people have been using the graphite one piece sticks. First thing you want to do is you want to make sure you get the, the right level, the right length of the stick. So, most common is when you're on your skates, the top of the stick should be about at your chin. If you're standing on your feet, it should be at about your nose. And that's, that's how you pretty much get an average length. Also, depending on what position you play, if you're a forward, they tend to have the stick length a little bit shorter, where as defensemen tend to have their stick length a little bit longer, but like I said, it's more of a personal preference."