Mikita’s Magic Wand
"I got started on the curved stick by accident. One day in practice my blade cracked up the middle. I bent it into a curve to break it but it wouldn't give. So I fooled around, playing with it. Now I can't use a straight stick anymore. I tried Lou Angotti's the other day. Every shot I took at the net went in the corner." This was Stan Mikita describing how he came to use a curved blade, from an article by Al Stewart in Maple Leaf Gardens Official Hockey Magazine from a game between Toronto and Chicago, April 18, 1967. One assumes that his sticks came from the factory with the wicked curve already included, but there was still many modifications needed to be done. Following, are some fantastic photos of Mikita and Assistant Trainer, Don "Sockeye" Uren customizing the sticks of one of hockey's all-time greats. Mikita explains how the trainer works the end of the stick, " 'Sock' sort of rounds the top of the sticks for me before I tape the...