Certain players do very simple tape jobs, just wrapping the middle portion of the blade. Look at old pictures of hockey from the 60's and 50's, and you'll rarely see the entire blade taped. These days though, a mummified version of a hockey stick is very popular through out the game. That means all parts of the blade are taped, even the rounded edges. This is how I tape up my sticks, and I'll show you how to do the same.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. First, you'll need a few things. As you can see here, I have a few items: a hockey stick (duh), tape, a magazine (any paper will do), and finally scissors.
Let's start off with the stick I cut recently. You'll notice that since this is a composite stick, it's actually hollow on the inside. I like to put a little piece of tape on the top to cover this up. It just help create some grip if I hold the top, and also so nothing gets inside.
Now that's done, let begin taping up the butt end of the stick. The tape on this will will provide better grip for our top hand. We'll also put a knob at the end to make it easier to know where the stick ends, and make it harder to slip through the glove. Many players choose to just wrap tape around the butt end to make the knob, but there's a better way which uses less tape, and therefore less money.
Simply take some pages out of the magazine, fold them up to a width you like. Place one end of the folded paper on the stick and tape it there, then wrap the remaining paper around the stick so it's nice and tight, then tape the other end to the stick so it's completely wrapping it. That makes a nice knob, and uses little tape.
Once that's done, you can start applying tape to the top part of the stick and move downwards. You're moving down in a swirl or spiral pattern, similar to a candy cane, except overlappying on each twist for full coverage. Try to have each layer cover about half-way over the previous layer. The finished product will looks like this (bear in mind I use a very very thin knob on my stick).
Next is the blade of the stick. As I mentioned a big benefit of tape is to protect it from wear. The part of the blade which has the most wear is the bottom. In order to provide really good protection while saving on tape, I like to cut a strip of tape which is just long enough to cover the bottom. This will provide an extra layer of tape specifically for this section.
Once that's done, let's begin with the rest of the blade. I always start off from the heel section, just about where it begins to curve. Like you did with the butt end, use a spiral pattern with each layer overlapping the previous layer.
Now when you come to the rounded end of the blade, you'll notice you have some extra tape stick out. As you get to this section, simply pinch the excess tape coming off the blade flat. This will allow you to cut it off once fully wrapped. Here's a look at the blade completely taped up with the excess tape pinched.
All you have to do is take your scissors and cut around the edges to get rid of that excess tape.
The blade is complete...almost. You're all set if you want to be just a regular player, but I prefer a little style and flash. I always put a two tone setup of tape on my sticks. This is the same way Youngblood taped up his stick in the movie with the same name. It helps you see where on the stick you have the puck, but really is just all flash and show. Also allows you to match colors of your team. My favorite team is the Rangers, so here it is in Rangers red and blue.
There we go, we're all done and stylin'. Some guys like to tape up an area for their lower hand, but I'm not one of those people. Be prepared to have to unwrap this when the tape eventually rips from game use. That process is less finesse, and more brutal ripping. For now though, let's get outside and take some shots!
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