Do you think people tape the top hand of their stick more out of tradition than need.

[Beflar 55]

Now that most sticks come with grip.  Why do we still tape the top hand?  How is tape better than the grip texture that comes with the stick?  Tradition from wood stick days?

Backstory:  Broke my stick mid game, had to rush a tape job for the knob of backup stick.  I added tape so that my hand didnt slip off and wouldn't hurt anybody, other than that I left the rest bare.  It felt better, way better.  Do people know about this?  Lol

[flip12 743]

I see more and more players just taping a knob at the tip without any wrap traveling down the shaft towards the blade. People seem to be catching on to the effectiveness of the grip coating already on the shaft.

I think it’s a matter of time until blade tape becomes obsolete as well. Pastrnak has already said he tapes his stick more out of habit than need, or something like that.

[asgoodasdead 78]

i hate grip sticks and buy matte, but i use a rather small amount of tape up top. i play with a guy that doesn't tape the top of his sticks, but he wore a giant hole through his palm super quickly

[VegasHockey 1284]

Grip on sticks works great until your gloves become soaked with sweat, it then it has less effectiveness, while tape provides a rough texture to aid in friction. 

I personally use very little tape. I like keeping the stick feeling light and also like direct contact and feedback from the stick without a dampening layer. I personally love using a very small amount of this stuff. 

https://www.bladetape.com/product/griptape-black/

That being said, I don't think it's nearly as necessary as it was previously so it's more of of habit than anything.

Younger players seem to be using less tape or other alternatives such as rubber butt ends and such. 

[BenBreeg 497]

I have large hands, I at least need a little build up at the end or else I would probably lose my stick occasionally.

[VegasHockey 1284]

43 minutes ago, BenBreeg said:

I have large hands, I at least need a little build up at the end or else I would probably lose my stick occasionally.

Yep. This also seems the case with people with big mitts. 

[puckstopper 16]

Personally i think after a certain period of time you just get into the habit of taping your stick the same way and do it without thought.  It took one of my teammates asking why i was bothering putting all that effort into taping up a handle that already had grip on it before I rethought my process.   Now I just go with a simple 3/16" knob of stick tape at half width and everything else is just naked.   As was mentioned above the feel is way better and my tape time has been cut in half.

[Leif 161]

I use the rubber grips on both my sticks, dead easy. Sadly someone ripped one presumably with a skate blade, but it should hold. I suppose they are expensive compared to tape but it’s still a minor expense.

[flip12 743]

2 hours ago, BenBreeg said:

I have large hands, I at least need a little build up at the end or else I would probably lose my stick occasionally.

An expensive but consistent solution would be composite plugs molded to the desired shape, similar to the end plugs Ryan Smyth had made. Snap a stick and you could extract the plug and just transfer it to your new one.

This would work for additive or subtractive shapes, like Petr Sykora’s grip. The finish of the part could achieve the desired tack and texture, given the right mix.

These are uneducated guesses. There are people on this board with composite manufacturing knowledge that could shed more light on this perspective...maybe it’s cost prohibitive? It’s easily a huge space given the permutations of form and finish.

[BenBreeg 497]

My brother had a Dan Quinn Titan pro stock years ago.  It had the handle shaved down.  I can’t imagine the prep time for each stick.

[caveman27 208]

I usually put an old skate lace underneath the tape and create a spiral ribbed tape surface. 

[puckstopper 16]

1 hour ago, BenBreeg said:

My brother had a Dan Quinn Titan pro stock years ago.  It had the handle shaved down.  I can’t imagine the prep time for each stick.

I used to do this back in the day.  With a good sharp wood file it only added about 5 minutes to my prep time.   Compared to how long I used to spend taping each stick the time investment was minimal.

 

edit:  minimal for a player buying a new stick every other month or so.  For a pro... that's a different ball of wax.

[ParabolicActivity 48]

I don't understand using anything thicker than tape. I would never know where the puck is on my stick. I use one layer of tape with as little overlap as possible.

[puckpilot 316]

I find having a large knob on the top helps me get more leverage when flexing the stick, and more control for stickhandling. I used to have nothing there, but went to a knob. Found I like it way better.  

[marka 526]

Howdy,

I used the thin Pro/Kane Tacki-Mac grips pretty quickly after I started 4 years ago up until about 4 months ago.  In April i had a TFCC tear in my wrist on my top hand and it took the entire summer to heal.  When I came back, I tried a much larger knob (triangular shape made with 10 wraps of 1.5", 20 wraps of 1", and 10 wraps of 1/2").  It helped a LOT with the wrist pain I was still experiencing.  I assume because it kept my hand more open / otherwise changed the geometry / forces on my wrist.

I inadvertently tested if it was working once by mistakenly only using 10 wraps at the 1" stage vs. 20.  Even just that minor difference was noticeable after a period or so, with more wrist pain than usual.

Mark

[flip12 743]

7 hours ago, ParabolicActivity said:

I don't understand using anything thicker than tape. I would never know where the puck is on my stick. I use one layer of tape with as little overlap as possible.

I used to feel the same way. I realized though that what I was really tuning was the stick balance. If the stick isn’t at risk of becoming top heavy, a thick grip can feel quite nice. The sticks I’ve acquired over the years tend to be blade heavy for my taste. A 40g Big Butt Tacki Mac can totally fix a stick that’s unbalanced for me. 

[DaveyG 0]

22 hours ago, SkateWorksPNW said:

I personally use very little tape. I like keeping the stick feeling light and also like direct contact and feedback from the stick without a dampening layer. I personally love using a very small amount of this stuff. 

https://www.bladetape.com/product/griptape-black/

Is this similar to LizardSkin grips?

[VegasHockey 1284]

10 hours ago, DaveyG said:

Is this similar to LizardSkin grips?

lts way cheaper, you get 3 in a pack for less than a Lizard Skinz, and actually has a good texture to it. 

[krisdrum 233]

16 hours ago, SkateWorksPNW said:

lts way cheaper, you get 3 in a pack for less than a Lizard Skinz, and actually has a good texture to it. 

Looks good, just ordered a pack.  Worth a shot. 

[218hockey 50]

On 1/4/2020 at 7:52 AM, flip12 said:

 

I think it’s a matter of time until blade tape becomes obsolete as well. Pastrnak has already said he tapes his stick more out of habit than need, or something like that.

For some people. Especially NHL guys.

Not for a junior player who's on the ice 5 times a week with the same $200 stick his parents bought. I don't want it to get all chipped up. We tape often.

[flip12 743]

6 minutes ago, 218hockey said:

For some people. Especially NHL guys.

Not for a junior player who's on the ice 5 times a week with the same $200 stick his parents bought. I don't want it to get all chipped up. We tape often.

I think I’m just looking a few generations of sticks ahead. It would probably be a thing in the pros first, but eventually trickle down. I see the texture application as a protective as well as a performance layer, which could be touched up as needed.

 I’m thinking about 10-15 years from now, not this year or the next.

[VegasHockey 1284]

14 minutes ago, flip12 said:

I think I’m just looking a few generations of sticks ahead. It would probably be a thing in the pros first, but eventually trickle down. I see the texture application as a protective as well as a performance layer, which could be touched up as needed.

 I’m thinking about 10-15 years from now, not this year or the next.

I would be surprised if within the next 10 years tape has not been entirely replaced by something else, a coating or some other item that can be applied. I honestly had thought that Polar Fibre was going to be the solution to all of this..... 

[Giltis 117]

Growing up, I thought it would be something like a spray that you could peel off once damaged, like those spray on gloves, but more durable.

I guess we have PlastiDip sort of.

[VegasHockey 1284]

6 minutes ago, Giltis said:

Growing up, I thought it would be something like a spray that you could peel off once damaged, like those spray on gloves, but more durable.

I guess we have PlastiDip sort of.

The main issue is making something durable that also doesn't add too much weight or affect the feel. Hence why I though it would be Polar Fibre. 

[z1ggy 81]

1 hour ago, SkateWorksPNW said:

I would be surprised if within the next 10 years tape has not been entirely replaced by something else, a coating or some other item that can be applied. I honestly had thought that Polar Fibre was going to be the solution to all of this..... 

Isn't there that one small company that makes the mega gritty blade that also has holes in it? I thought I saw howtohockey/hockeytutorial or some other youtube channel testing these out. No tape was needed.

I use lizard skins on my butt end though. Honestly I'd be willing to try just a tape knob on top so my hand isn't constantly slipping off but the traditionalist in me keeps on putting tape or other things there to hold on to...Maybe if I manage to finally snag a 2N pro or 4D pro I'll rock the knob job.