Ice Hockey Sticks-Most NHL Hockey Sticks are made in Mexico

Here is quite a bit of interesting Hockey Stick info that I pulled from a USA Today article that was printed in January of 2008. The original article can be found here Hockey sticks South of the Border are the way to go.

Now to the goodies from this article. First and foremost is the table that lists the major hockey stick manufactures, their share of the market for NHL hockey sticks and where they are manufactured.

Company

NHL share

Manufacturing sites

Easton

45.10%

Tijuana, Mexico

Nike/Bauer

15.70%

Composite sticks made in China, wood ones in Canada

RBK/CCM

13.70%

Composites in China; wood in Canada, Finland

Warrior

11.80%

Tijuana

Sher-Wood

2.30%

Composites, high-end wood, goalie sticks in Canada; most wood-stick production being shifted to Eastern Europe

Note: Louisville TPS, Mission and other companies make up the rest of the NHL market

Other interesting facts:

Warrior is owned by the shoemaker New Balance.
Easton, Nike/Bauer and RBK/CMM pay some NHL players to use their hockey sticks, Warrior doesn’t
The perception that composite hockey sticks aren’t as durable as wood hockey sticks is false according to the Ducks equipment manager Chris Aldrich.

The article also states that even though production of composite hockey sticks is more automated now than it was a few years ago, it is still mostly done by hand. If you are interested to see how Composite Hockey Sticks are made, you can check out this video Composite Hockey Sticks: How Its Made [Video].