So you bought a brand new twig and after a few games you decide it’s time for a fresh tape job. Good call. As you rip off the old tape you notice the underside of your stick is all pitted and chipped.
These marks come from a combination of legal stick lifts and stick checks that you received during faceoffs and battling in the dirty areas near the blue paint. They also come from some of those slashes you were passing around, the ref may not have seen it, but your stick is telling a different story.
Bad news first, you aren’t fixing them and they will shorten the life of your stick. The good news is that you can add some protection back. Also in the future you can do this to prevent your brand new stick from looking like the surface of the moon after a few games.
Take a small strip of clear tape, 6-12 inches, and apply it long ways to the underside of the lower shaft.
I like to stop just after it turns down to the heel so I can secure it under the cloth blade tape. This really locks the clear tape into place, but you don’t have to go that low. As you can see the damage tends to start higher up the shaft so you can start before the heel if you prefer.
I like clear tape because the more rubbery material seems to provide better protection. It’s a nice bonus that you can barely see it once it’s on too.
That being said you can use cloth tape if that’s all you’ve got, it’s still better than nothing. In fact it might be a better option to use cloth of you are a center and want to add some grip to help you with face offs
Running low on clear tape? Get some Prime Shipped straight to your door using the link below
Renfrew Clear Polyflex Shin Sock Hockey Tape, 3 Rolls (1″ x 25m)
Try this out the next time you tape your stick and save yourself from chipped heels
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