How To Tape Your Stick For Better Puck Control And Stickhandling 

I’m coaching a U10 travel team. And, I’ve seen my players applying wax to their sticks for 15 min.. And, they have played multiple games/practices with the tape shredding off of their sticks. Your video is very helpful in addressing those two issues. And, I do appreciate that you address youth hockey specifically because there are some very key elements that need to be covered. I look forward to your future videos.

I tape my stick blade up the shaft as to save it from all the hacking & slashing that occurs in my league. Also I like to run a single strip along the base of the blade, front to back, to provide a little cushion for receiving passes & to extend the wear/tear of usage (just my personal preference as a beer leaguer). Great video, thanks for sharing.

Bedard puts a longer sock on his stick because of how long his stick is. His stick is to his eyebrows with skates on so his stick is toe up a bit more than anyone else so the puck contacts deeper in the heel while he’s stick handling. I assume where you stop taping depends on how long your stick is.

Your video about skates and how they should fit etc...BIG help. I'm all ears w this channel now.

Most sticks come with a grippy coating on it that is better than tape so I just tape over the plug and put a small knob of tape. I can't speak to lizard grips or anything else, but this is the grippiest thing I've tried. In my opinion this also enhances the "feel" of the puck compared to the dullness of tape. I call it the Rene knob after my teammate because I haven't seen anyone else try it or even ask about it so I'm pretty sure he invented it.

Great video, I'm changing the way I tape my kids sticks tonight! I would love to hear your opinion on how long sticks should be for a youth player. I always cut them around the chin but found that my players are having a hard time staying low so the stick seems too short. We got a new stick and I cut it at his nose but now his stick handling has suffered....maybe the new tape job will help!

Im a Goalie. I can tell you, personally i dont ever notice the difference when the puck is on black or white tape of a players stick! Thats a myth. 😂

(nice video, great pace to the delivery of info, kept it moving the whole time) as an inline/roller player first, i've always had very minimal tape. I don't puckhandle with the bottom edge of the blade (which slows it down as well), or the top edge, so just a strip works well. (Single strip is better with tapes that aren't howies or renfrew, those have horrible glue. Rather than rubbing a puck on the tape, the back end of a screwdriver to get some heat and pressure in there and 'melt/force' the glue onto the stick and into the tape a bit more as well. Wax also helps 'seal' the edges of the tape together, which also helps with the bad glues of howies/renfrew). But truth be told, the tape benefit is minimal to non-existant for 99% of game situations, it's helpful in michigans or whatever... which, is not part of my wheelhouse. So many euro kids coming through, especially in czech just don't use any tape at all. I might prefer the 'twist' method for the top knob, it's easy to tailor the knob width(length?) to the right size. Anyway, one thing I'd say is that weight at the butt end isn't as big a deal as at the blade end. I like a minimal butt end, not even a full hand's width - with modern grip sticks I just want to feel the end of the stick, I don't need extra grip - but even a monster end isn't such a problem as heavy blades since there is very little movement of the stick at that end. Any additional weight at the blade end is magnified by the length from the fulcrum. (This is more of a comment for new people/viewers/readers learning, or who are setting up their kid's sticks. Buy the right flex stick, cut it to the proper size, use minimum tape, let the stick user learn with the best chance of success and gear that works for them now, rather than gear theyll grow into and won't fit them till 10 years from now) tip: if your kids are playing multiple times a day, and their gloves get wet/moist and they're losing grip... rather than needing to candy cane tape the shaft, through a $5 travel hairdryer in their bag, mine has lasted me over years, logged enough flight miles to go around the world a bunch of times, dry gloves, dry shins/elbows, and none of that awful "wet sloppy gear" feel.

This is exactly how I’ve always taped mine and my kids sticks, great vid…

Enjoying all the tips and insights. Thank you for sharing! Hopefully there's something in your library for improving my snapshots. 😄 As for my 50" 60 lb mite, she was using a 30 flex for the past month or so but went back to a 20 since she preferred shooting with it instead for the majority of her season. Do you think going down to a 10 would be counterproductive? Her sticks are chopped to lips on skates. I forget how much that is exactly.

It's funny how things change. When I played in college (NCAA D1) and growing up, the buttendz things were a joke. Over the years though I've slowly grown on them, and playing with generally only pro stock gloves, I'm finding that the palms on my gloves now last a lot longer and I have a better grip on the stick. I think the key was finding a grip that minimiced my old tape job on top of the stick.

Thanks a lot for sharing your experience .i definitely gonna improve my taping work for my kids.

I love lizard skins. I find half of a 99cm roll is the perfect length for me to get a glove +1". Works great as I can swap the tape and reuse the knob cover and bottom wrap.

I too tape a thin width knob but that's all I use there. I don't see a point of taping a handle. With the amazing tech of the manufacturer's grip, why cover it with tape?

I have found if I tape from heal to toe the snow builds up less in the tape creases. Taping from toe to heal seem to increase the snow in the creases

As a beer league goalie, I’ve never noticed, or cared, what color tape is on a stick that’s chucking a puck my way.

Great info! Thanks for sharing.

why have any grip tape at all? composite stick handles aren't slippery, the material feels like it has a lot of friction already, especially when grabbing it with a hockey glove. i've never experienced slipperyness/lack-of-grip on the bottom hand, which doesn't have any grip tape. i don't think grip tape is necessary or solving any actual problems, i think it's just tradition from the wooden stick era i'm also not really convinced that tape on the blade is that beneficial. so many blades now come with rough texturing that is enough for puckhandling and getting spin on shots. the blade itself feels like it has a higher coefficient of static&kinetic friction than howies hockey tape (which feels pretty smooth, really, especially after it gets wet). this just feels like tradition from the smooth wooden stick era as well why not just go completely tapeless?

Hockey is by far the best sport for individuality. So much different gear to wear and use, nothing comes even close. great video though, thx.

Thoughts on the grip tape stuff coming out for the blade or sticks with a grit surface on the blade? Have you tried any yet?

Really would enjoy how you calculate the change in flex of stick if you cut it.....and how you decide depending on age and weight what a kids flex range should be! Thanks for info on wax.

Bros yappin

It totally makes sense

heel to toe because that way the overlap isn't collecting ice when you skate : )

Hey @SwansonX7Hockey I can't seem to find the video you referenced a couple times about how to choose the correct stick for your kids. Do you have a link? My son is a mite, he's about 4ft tall and 46lbs and he's using a warrior with 20 flex because that was the lowest flex I could find, I wasn't aware of 10 flex but I did have to cut some off of it and now I'm concerned it might be too stiff of a stick for him. I know the rule of thumb is ~50% of their weight for the flex. Should I get him a 10 flex or just roll with the 20 flex?

While every game might be optimal, I doubt most of us benefits from the extra performance vs the waste It generates. High performance hockey programs, and pro … maybe. But all kids, most teenagers and most adults are probably ok with extending their tape job to “noticeable wear”… nb if game depends a lot on how “tough” the games are on the stick blade. Just my 2 cents…

with a synthetic stick why even bother to tape it ? seems like they would surface it like tape .. also why white tape ? ... black tape would hide the puck better to fool a goalie ...

If my Tovi stick doesn't make me a Beer League legend, I'll come back to this video 😅

So basically he saying that you aint Patrick Kane chill with that

i have an extension that’s heavy

Great video, how would you rate Howies tape wax?

As a beer league goalie, I’ve never noticed, or cared, what color tape is on a stick that’s chucking a puck my way.

different channel to most but i like whats being done here

Great video thanks man! Do a stick length video !!