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 handle. About the best reason I can give for doing this is that it feels better to me when I grip it...I've got used to a large handle at the top of my stick, sort of like a pool cue...I smooth the square corners off the shaft with the rasp." As seen above, Mikita's stick certainly does resemble a pool cue.
Next, Mikita talks about the lie, or overall angle of his stick to blade. Most commonly, players nowadays use between a 5 and a 6 lie on their sticks. The higher the lie, the steeper the angle of the shaft when the blade is flat on the ice.  Mikita's sticks came in at 7 and a half, and after modification they could play up to a 10 lie. 
"After I'm finished putting a bevel on the heel and toe, the blade is rockered so that I have from a 5 right up to a 10, depending on how I hold it, close to my feet or out away from my body."
"I tape my sticks from toe to heel (most players tape from heel to toe) because the ridges in the tape work against the puck when you shoot, imparting extra spin. Sometimes this will make it drop or curve, but  I can't control it. The black tape is sticky on both sides. I put a little powder on it to nullify this stickiness so that the puck doesn't stick to it."
Above is a great shot of the curve of the famous "Banana Blade". There was so much work done on the sticks that they tended to break easier, "I use on the average of three sticks a game, but one game this year I think I used nine. Shaving them so thin weakens them and face-offs are hard on them. If I go to draw the puck one way and the guy against me goes the other it often cracks the toe of my blade." 
Whatever Mikita did to his sticks, it definitely worked. This 1966/67 season, he would garner his first of two consecutive Hart Trophy's as NHL MVP. He also set a career high with 97 points, leading the league for the third time. His 1467 career points still sit 17th overall in NHL history.
 

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