There are a few essential items that you need to play hockey.
You’ll need skates, protective pads, a hockey puck, and a hockey stick.
A hockey stick is responsible for knocking the puck around.
Buying a hockey stick usually means you’re going to be spending a good amount of money.
Considering it’s a relatively simple piece of equipment, you may wonder why hockey sticks are expensive.
Why Are Hockey Sticks So Expensive? (10 Reasons)
Beginner hockey sticks can cost around $50, but if you want to get into something more high-end, you can expect to pay around $200.
Professional hockey stocks can cost around $2,000.
Certain factors like the material of the hockey stick, its labor costs, and its ability to improve your performance all make certain hockey sticks more expensive.
Let’s look at these factors in more detail.
1. Carbon Fiber
Long gone are the days when makers of hockey sticks just used wood in their production.
Wooden hockey sticks are often too fragile for a game as aggressive as hockey.
That’s why professionals use hockey sticks that contain at least some carbon fiber.
Carbon fiber is an extremely strong material.
While it is still breakable, it takes a lot more force and power to do so.
The problem with carbon fiber is that it’s also expensive to make.
Part of the reason carbon fiber is expensive to make is that it contains different materials.
Carbon fiber isn’t a material in itself.
It’s a product of different materials.
In particular, it’s a combination of polyacrylonitrile, rayon, and pitch.
As such, before a manufacturer can even start producing hockey sticks made of carbon fiber, they need to either make or buy the carbon fiber in the first place.
If they’re making carbon fiber, then they need to pay for all three of those materials.
If any of those materials is expensive, then it’s going to raise the production cost of carbon fiber.
If they’re buying carbon fiber from someone else, then they’re still paying for those production costs and markup prices.
Depending on how much carbon fiber their particular hockey sticks use, the company could end up spending a good amount of money on each product.
To offset their costs, they sell their hockey sticks at higher prices.
Hockey sticks are expensive because some contain carbon fiber.
2. Fiberglass
Another common material used in the production of hockey sticks is fiberglass.
Because fiberglass is weaker than carbon fiber, some manufacturers use it sparingly.
Others will make the entire stick out of it, but they’ll put a cheaper price tag on it.
Fiberglass does make a hockey stick more expensive than standard plastic or a wooden hockey stick, however.
That’s because it’s also a composite material.
It requires several materials to make.
Those materials include:
- Sand
- Silica
- Limestone
- Fluorspar
- Kaolin clay
- Coleman
- Dolomite
- Other minerals
That’s a large number of materials to make one composite material.
If any of those materials end up becoming expensive, then fiberglass is also going to become expensive.
That’s because the manufacturer has to offset the cost that they ended up with due to that expensive material.
It also takes considerable energy to produce fiberglass.
Once the manufacturer has all the materials they need, they have to light up large furnaces.
In particular, they use a process called pultrusion to make fiberglass.
All the materials get melted together inside the furnace.
Then the composite material cools and goes through a mold to create the type of product that the manufacturer makes.
The two most common products are fiberglass yarn and a fiberglass sheet or blanket.
That material is then shipped to other companies, like hockey stick manufacturers, who use it to make their own products.
As such, the hockey stick manufacturer ends up covering the cost of production of the fiberglass and a markup percentage.
They then add their production costs to turn the fiberglass and other materials into a hockey stick.
That results in a relatively expensive product.
To cover the cost, the manufacturer sells it at a high price.
3. Kevlar
You’ll find that the most expensive hockey sticks tend to have Kevlar in them.
Premium hockeys sticks might have a bit of Kevlar here and there in the stock.
Professional hockey sticks might have the entire stick made out of Kevlar.
Kevlar makes hockey sticks expensive for a few reasons.
The first is that Kevlar is expensive to make.
Makers use a few different materials in its production since it’s a composite material.
Like with fiberglass and carbon fiber, if one of those materials ends up becoming expensive, then Kevlar, itself, is also going to be expensive.
There are a few qualities of Kevlar that also make it ideal use for in the hockey ring.
For one, it’s water-resistant.
If exposed to water, the Kevlar won’t degrade or break off.
This is important because although hockey is played on ice, the ice can start to melt with time.
If the hockey stick gets bits of ice on it, it will melt into water and stick to the hockey stick.
Kevlar ensures that the stick can remain strong despite its exposure to water.
Another aspect that makes it ideal is its ability to withstand hot temperatures.
This is important for a few reasons.
Hockey players use their sticks to hit the puck along the ice.
Their impacts are usually quite hard.
That generates heat.
A poor-quality hockey stick might start to degrade when exposed to that heat over and over again.
Kevlar doesn’t.
That means it’s also ideal for playing roller hockey.
Field hockey usually includes rollerblades and a parking lot.
Since it can get quite hot, the Kevlar does a great job of withstanding the heat.
Finally, Kevlar is expensive because of the use of sulfuric acid.
It’s a toxic solution that can cause serious health problems if one is exposed to it.
Because of this, manufacturers have to spend a good amount of money on protective gear and measures.
Since producing Kevlar is expensive, any hockey stick that contains Kevlar in it is also going to be expensive.
4. Performance
Hockey sticks are also expensive based on their performance.
The ability of the hockey stick to perform well is crucial to a player’s success.
Even if the player has tons of skills, their performance can still get impacted by a hockey stick.
If the hockey stick is well-made, then it might enhance their performance or, at the very least, won’t hinder it.
A hockey stick that isn’t well-made will likely hinder the player’s performance.
That’s because the player is essentially fighting the stick.
Certain companies have a reputation for producing high-quality hockey sticks.
They’re able to charge high prices on them because players know that those sticks are able to offer great performance.
They don’t have to worry that the stick might break during the match, for example.
They don’t have to worry about the blade twisting when they hit the puck hard and become almost impossible to use afterward.
Nor do they have to worry about the blade becoming too soft or forming a dent.
They know that the stick will do what they need it to do.
High-performing hockey sticks are more expensive than poor-performing hockey sticks.
5. Quality Testing
Another factor that makes hockey sticks expensive is that manufacturing companies spend a lot of money and time on quality testing.
There’s a good amount of competition among sports equipment producers.
To keep people buying their products, those companies have to come up with better technology that puts their equipment ahead of others.
To ensure their equipment is up to par, the company performs extensive quality testing.
This makes hockey sticks expensive for a few reasons.
The first is that it delays how fast the company can start selling the product.
The longer they test a product without selling it, the deeper in debt they dig.
Another reason is that the quality tests may determine that the product is a dud.
They may have wasted a good amount of money on materials to make a prototype that isn’t to their standards.
As such, they have to start from scratch.
Releasing a product that isn’t to the company’s standards can impact its reputation.
Since reputation is important among sports equipment manufacturers, few are willing to risk it.
That means quality testing plays an important role in their production processes.
It adds to the cost of production which ends up becoming an expensive price tag on the hockey stick.
6. Modified Shaft Dimensions
It’s rare to find a hockey stick that actually fits you perfectly.
Most manufacturers who sell cheap hockey sticks end up producing a few in different sizes.
They approach the problem with a “one size fits all” solution.
The problem with that is that it can be difficult to play the game when your hockey stick is too tall or too short.
It can interfere with your ability to swing with power.
As such, some hockey players will choose to buy a hockey stick that has a modified shaft.
This sometimes means they’re able to adjust it.
The shaft might have different sections that you can extend or shorten depending on your needs.
This makes the hockey stick expensive because it requires a bit more production on the manufacturer’s behalf.
It’s more parts and more time in the factory.
It’s also more convenient for the player, so that adds to the price tag as well.
Other companies will make customized hockey sticks for players.
They’ll ask for your measurements, then make a stick that fits your size perfectly.
They essentially modify their shaft dimensions to make a hockey stick just for you.
This makes hockey sticks expensive because you’re essentially buying a customized stick.
Custom products are more expensive because the manufacturer isn’t producing them in large quantities in a factory.
They’re solely working on a stick for you.
Since production and labor costs are higher for customized sticks, you can expect to pay a more expensive price.
Hockey sticks are expensive when they come with modified shafts.
7. Enhanced Blades
Back in the day, every hockey stick mostly had the same shape.
Not a lot of thought went into the different parts.
That changed when hockey became a more competitive sport.
Teams and managers were looking for a way to give their players an edge over the competition.
That meant hockey stick manufacturers started producing different types of sticks.
Some attention went to the shaft and some attention went to the blade.
The blade is the part of the stick that hits the puck.
Because it’s primarily responsible for sending the puck in the direction that the player wants to hit it, it’s one of the most important parts of the hockey stick.
As such, a lot of manufacturers spend a good amount of money investing in their blades.
Some try different textures to get a grip on the puck.
Others experiment with the angle or thickness of the blade to make it more lightweight to give a better impact or swing.
The more work that goes into the blade, the better it’s going to perform.
However, that also means the hockey stick becomes more expensive.
8. Endorsements
Hockey sticks are also expensive because many manufacturers end up signing celebrities and famous hockey players to endorse their brands.
When a hockey player endorses a stick, it usually means that the manufacturer is going to have increased sales.
Fans trust their favorite players.
If the player says that the hockey stick is good and it’s what they use, then the fans are going to buy the same stick to get the same sort of results.
It’s a great way to market your equipment.
However, hiring a player or celebrity endorsement doesn’t come cheap.
Other brands are also trying to get that player or celebrity to endorse their product instead.
As such, the company will have to offer a sizable check as well as a few other benefits.
Because it can cut into its profits, the company then has to ensure its prices are high enough to cover the cost.
The simple fact that the products have the player’s endorsement also means they’re able to have more expensive prices.
9. Labor Costs
Another big factor that plays into the cost of a hockey stick is labor costs.
It takes a lot of work to make a hockey stick.
It may seem like a simple product, but there’s both a science and an art to it.
While some parts of the hockey stick might get produced via a factory, many elements of it actually get handmade.
Since it requires human workers, it becomes more expensive to make.
Those workers need wages.
Since they’re working on premium hockey sticks, they’re also likely experienced and skilled.
Those types of workers don’t come cheap either.
As such, labor costs are quite high.
Hockey sticks are expensive because manufacturers have to cover labor costs with high prices.
10. Durability
A final factor that plays into the price of a hockey stick is its durability.
Besides having great accuracy, there is nothing more important to a hockey stick than its durability.
No one wants to be mid-swing only to have their stick break on them.
Because of this, manufacturers spend a lot of time and money to ensure their sticks are durable.
This durability also means that players are less likely to buy new ones any time soon.
That also factors into the pricing strategy.
Conclusion
Hockey sticks are a vital part of playing hockey.
Due to endorsements, the quality of the build, and the other factors listed above, buying a hockey stick can become expensive.
