Essay About Creation Of The Curved Hockey Stick And Stan Mikita

The Creation of the Curved Hockey Stick
The curved hockey stick was perhaps one of the most critical inventions to the modern history of
the National Hockey League and other leagues in the world.
It begins
with the hockey stick being invented around the 1880’s. At the time, all sticks
were made of wood and there were no such things as ‘special’ sticks, however,
at the end of the 1930’s, laminated sticks appeared, and finally the curved
stick. The actual first inventor of the curved hockey stick is not known,
perhaps a myth, but it has been credited to Stan Mikita with the Chicago
Blackhawks and Andy Bathgate with the New York Rangers during that time. The
stories/myths follow: Stan Mikita and teammate Bobby Hull were taking a few
extra shots in the old Chicago Stadium after team practice in the 1970’s. The
creation was perhaps accidental, as Mikita was taking a shot; he cracked his
wooden stick, creating a curved to it. After, he angrily fired a shot towards
the net and amusingly gave the shot more power and it shot in a weird direction
that unexpectedly made the stick work. Perhaps, this is the most accepted
theory by many on who invented the curved stick.
The second myth is
from Andy Bathgate. While growing up in Winnipeg, he and his brother, Frank
often curve their sticks. A quote from Bathgate in The Stick by Bruce Dowbiggin stated, “Wed get them wet
and give them a nice bend. It helped us raise the puck.” He used it all the time, up to his junior