As many hockey players and hockey parents, will know, one small point of weakness can mean the loss of the most important tool a hockey player has during a game — their stick.
What if, instead of replacing a damaged or weak stick, there was a two-minute quick fix that could save a player hundreds of dollars?
That’s just what Halifax entrepreneur Ryan Wolfe has aimed to create with his new hockey stick repair system, Twig-Aid.
“Twig-Aid is designed to stop families from buying expensive hockey sticks because they’re so expensive these days, so it’ll give you a little more life out of your hockey stick,” Wolfe said in an interview with Global News Morning.
Twig-Aid is designed for composite sticks, which most players use today. Composite sticks are made up of thousands of composite fibres bound together to create a lightweight, flexible and powerful stick.
Its only downfall is that any point of weakness, any hack in the stick, can mean a quick snap and a ruined stick.
“A lot of technology is going into these sticks and the performance benefits are evident, but the problem is nothing is going into durability, and they’re just so fragile just bust so quickly,” Wolfe said.
A lower-end composite hockey stick can range anywhere from $60 to $110, with higher end ones costing players upwards of $300.
How does it work?
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In a demonstration on Global News Morning, Wolfe cut a small chip out of a composite stick, simulating a crack or fracture that would expose the inside fibres to moisture, fluctuating heat and cold, making it weak.
His fix involves filling the crack, hole or snag with the patented Metal-Ice Powder.
Next, the powder gets covered with the quick-drying Twig Sauce glue, then a touch more Metal-Ice Powder.
Finally, sand it down.
The small snag has now become the strongest part of the stick, Wolfe claims.
A Twig-Aid kit, which comes with the powder, Twig Sauce and sand paper, can be used for anywhere from five to 10 small repairs to a hockey stick — so about half a season, Wolfe estimates.
Wolfe added that Twig-Aid is also useful for repairing the heel or toe of a hockey stick blade.
The product won’t do anything to help a crack in your more traditional wooden hockey stick, though.
For now, Wolfe wants to focus on selling in Atlantic Canada, so he’s selling his produce from his website.
WATCH: Halifax Entrepreneur Ryan Wolfe talks Twig-Aid on Global News Morning.
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