Articles in Hockey Equipment

from Anthony Gharib of ESPN,

Many years ago, moos and oinks filled this bright red barn.

Set in the countryside of Sweden in Sävsjö, it served as an integral part of a farm owned by Swedish artist David Gunnarsson's grandfather. Now, the barn is the dedicated area where Gunnarsson paints the masks of some of the NHL's top goaltenders.

He's set up over a thousand square feet for his painting supplies. Airbrushes and paint dominate spaces where cows and pigs once roamed. He made it clear that there aren't any animals around while he paints.

"Well, sometimes our dog will come and visit," Gunnarsson said.

For the past 27 years, Gunnarsson has played a key role in evolving goalie masks from featureless Jason Voorhees styles into canvases of everything from glow-in-the-dark art to Lego Batman.

His eye-popping and creative designs are unique to the sport of hockey....

Through the years, Gunnarsson has painted for top NHL goalies such as Henrik Lundqvist and Dominik Hasek. In the 2014 Olympic gold-medal match, he designed the masks worn by both goalies: Sweden's Lundqvist and Canada's Carey Price. He also recently designed a mask honoring Lundqvist's induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

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from Jesse Granger of The Athletic,

Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy sat on a metal folding chair outside of the locker room in December 2021, ahead of a practice in Ottawa, trying on a prototype pair of Bauer’s newest skates.

He strapped on the futuristic footwear, which looks more like a ski boot than a hockey skate, clipping buckles rather than tying laces, as his teammates came strolling off the team bus. They stared at Vasilevskiy’s feet as they passed him on the long, brick hallway inside Canadian Tire Centre.

“What are those?!”

“Are those ski boots?”

“Are you kidding me, Vasi?”

Vasilevskiy smiled through the taunts, excited to test out his new gear on the ice. When practice began, the differences were immediately apparent. He felt more athletic when pushing side to side in the butterfly, able to load more weight onto his skate blade when digging in for each push.

The new-look skate, the Bauer Konekt, has won over a lot of NHL goalies in the past year and a half, with 14 goalies currently wearing them in games.

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from Adam Proteau of The Hockey News,

Stick-making factories have been around for the better part of two centuries in Canada. Roustan Hockey's is 175 years in the making. What follows is a short version of this lengthy history that appeared in The Hockey News Money and Power 2023 magazine issue and a full version.

When you discuss the genesis of the hockey stick industry, you have to start in Ayr, Ont. Situated south and west, respectively, of the larger cities of Kitchener and Cambridge, the small town originated in 1824 with an initial population of 230 people. Ayr originally was a trio of settlements and virtually all of its initial settlers were Scottish tradesmen, farmers and artisans.

By 1847, the company known today as Roustan Hockey (full disclosure: Roustan Hockey is owned by the owner and publisher of The Hockey News, W. Graeme Roustan) began as the Ayr Machinery Works, a division of the John Watson Manufacturing Company. It made farm implements including mowing, threshing and reaping tools, as well as plow handles, straw cutters, reapers and stoves. But in 1882, the company was purchased by The Hilborn Company. As fate would have it, new owner William Hilborn was a fan of the flourishing sport of hockey.

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