Roustan Hockey and Wayne Gretzky team up to Make Hockey Affordable

[LadyStanley]

Nice.

Responding to one difficulty in starting to play hockey.

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[Yukon Joe]

I love me some Wayne Gretzky, but...

It's a three pack of wooden sticks for $99 (US). A single wooden stick costs around $30 to begin with (Canadian), and a little kid doesn't need multiple sticks.

I had this debate in The Rink board - a composite stick for that age starts at about $60 (rather than $30), but you'd much rather have the composite stick due to weight and flex.

 

[S E P H]

Nobody is going to buy it if it's wood except very new beginners to the sport or ones playing street hockey/ball. I see 6-10-year-old kids already having one-piece composite sticks by True, Bauer, or CCM.

 

[Yukon Joe]

Nobody is going to buy it if it's wood except very new beginners to the sport or ones playing street hockey/ball. I see 6-10-year-old kids already having one-piece composite sticks by True, Bauer, or CCM.

When you're absolutely new to the sport, like 4-6 years old, your very first stick should be wooden with a flat blade.

Once it's time for a new stick (probably in a year) then get a cheap composite stick (I would say curved, but I don't think you can buy a flat composite stick).

 

[bossram]

Yeah, wood sticks are already cheap. This isn't "improving affordability". Once you get to a point in hockey where you generally know what you're doing, you'll want a better quality stick.

 

[daver]

Good for Wayne to help make things affordable for the parents who lost money on sports gambling.

If one was cynical, you could say he wants to help parents free up some cash to put on that juicy, can't miss Raiders/Bears line this weekend.

 

[LadyStanley]

The blade is obviously wood. But is the stick part?

 

[tarheelhockey]

Good to see someone at least making an effort.

The senior sticks are 3 for $109. That’s a pretty good deal for people getting into the sport. $350 could outfit a whole Learn To Play team with sticks (well, a 9 person team… but that’s fine for LTP).

The big question of course is quality. $30 wood sticks exist but are pretty much garbage. If this is a reasonably usable stick with the Gretzky name on it, that makes a bit of difference in people’s willingness to use it.

 

[BraveCanadian]

Yeah I think a lot of how good a deal this is depends on the stick quality, but I do think learning with wood is great.

I still think wood gives better feedback when handling or receiving a pass. Maybe I’m just old.

At least having the Gretzky name involved brings the issue of cost some attention - it is a huge problem.

 

[Bixby Snyder]

Good to see someone at least making an effort.

The senior sticks are 3 for $109. That’s a pretty good deal for people getting into the sport. $350 could outfit a whole Learn To Play team with sticks (well, a 9 person team… but that’s fine for LTP).

The big question of course is quality. $30 wood sticks exist but are pretty much garbage. If this is a reasonably usable stick with the Gretzky name on it, that makes a bit of difference in people’s willingness to use it.

The effort of getting paid to allow some company to use your name.

 

[tarheelhockey]

The effort of getting paid to allow some company to use your name.

He could’ve put his name on some name-brand $300 stick and raked in a lot more cash.

Instead he’s putting his name on an off-brand $30 stick.

That’s a deliberate choice that shows leadership in thinking about the greater state of the game rather than his own wallet.

 

[Bixby Snyder]

He could’ve put his name on some name-brand $300 stick and raked in a lot more cash.

Instead he’s putting his name on an off-brand $30 stick.

That’s a deliberate choice that shows leadership in thinking about the greater state of the game rather than his own wallet.

All Gretzky has done since retiring is make money of his name and he is entitled to do that but to make it sound like signing with a smaller company is somehow doing anything beneficial for the game or "making hockey more affordable" is bullshit.

 

[tarheelhockey]

All Gretzky has done since retiring is make money of his name and he is entitled to do that but to make it sound like signing with a smaller company is somehow doing anything beneficial for the game or "making hockey more affordable" is bullshit.

It’s literally taking less money than possible in order to make sticks more affordable. Not sure what your problem is tbh.

 

[Bixby Snyder]

Not sure what your problem is tbh.

well, maybe I'm just being a jerk.