TORONTO – Playing hockey is a right of passage for many Canadian kids. And although hockey may be competing with other sports like soccer and basketball, hockey remains an activity boys and girls enjoy playing – that is, if you’re able to pry those electronic gadgets out of their hands. True, there are a lot of distractions today, and the diversity of the population, some of whom have not grown up with a hockey stick in their hands, has impacted the interest in Canada’s pastime. 
And there are other barriers. Hockey Canada and Bauer collaborated on a study in 2014 that identified reasons why parents are not enrolling their kids in hockey:
• Perceived cost
• Perceived time commitment
• Perceived safety
• Hockey is not perceived as fun.
Hockey Canada recognized the need to address these hurdles and has worked hard by introducing its Initiation Program for kids 5- 6 years of age. The goal: to remove barriers, introduce basic skills, gain confidence and, most importantly, make hockey fun to play.
For Guillermo Salazar, it was the fun of the game that he wanted to tackle. As Salazar explains, one day his now business partner, Sean Riely, tried to find a hockey stick for his son. Reily went from one hockey store to another and ended up at an independent store where salespeople advised him that typically the rule is you buy a stick with a flex that’s half your body weight. When he asked to see a 20 flex stick, there weren’t any. So he was left with taking a junior stick and cutting it down to size. But as anyone who plays hockey knows, buying a stick that’s not suited for the size of the player greatly diminishes its usefulness and, therefore, the enjoyment of playing the game.
Reily thought, all hockey players go through a 40-pound stage in their lives. But the stick also had to have the nuances and characteristics needed to fit in a player’s hand. He shared his experience with another friend, semi-pro hockey player Dan Pilling, and a partnership and business emerged. That led to four years of trying to make a stick that they could produce with the properties of a 20 flex. “After a number of prototypes, we found a model that was robust enough to perform the way we wanted it to and was the right weight, and we introduced it to the marketplace,” says Salazar.
So while solving a problem encountered through their own personal experience, Raven Hockey Inc. and Flex Hockey Sticks were created. “When we talk about our target market, we are speaking about including those parents who are new to Canada, new to the game, and who are struggling with choosing the right hockey stick for their kids,” points out Salazar. “I’ve experienced this as I didn’t grow up playing hockey myself, so we thought we needed to change this buying experience.” All of this led to the creation of a stick with a flex of 20-30 to fill the initial gap in the marketplace, and then the 40-50 flex sticks filled the next gap between junior and intermediate.
So what is the rule of flex?
“Hockey players should be using a stick with a flex that equals less than 50% of their body weight. When you consider today’s NHL hockey players weigh between 190-220 lbs, they use a 85-110 flex. So why would kids aged 5-12 weighing 40-100 lbs use a junior stick (50 flex) and then unceremoniously cut 4-8 inches off, making it more like a 60-70-80 flex stick? That doesn’t make sense at all,” points out Salazar.
Instead, the Raven FLEX System sticks were designed specifically for kids with a price point far more approachable than other hockey sticks. “We’ve kept our prices tight so you don’t have that large spread like the other brands, so it’s an easy purchase to go from one size to the next. Ours range from $115 to $135, $149, $159 (Canadian).”
Have these sticks changed the game and experience?
Two years ago, Salazar was watching some kids who were part of the Timbits Initiation Program in Calgary. Salazar recalls a conversation he had with one of the coaches. The coach didn’t know Salazar was behind the Raven Hockey sticks. The coach mentioned there weren’t many kids who wanted to play goalie, because now players fitted with a flex stick that fit their size were able to shoot the puck, top shelf and slap shot in stride and they’re only 5 years old. Those kids were able to demonstrate the characteristics of their favourite player. They learn to shoot properly very early and this creates a lot more offense, which is a lot more fun to watch and, for that 5 year old, to play.
As for the goalies? Even the coach Salazar spoke to feels they may have to start to bring in goalie equipment at the Initation level, because the puck speed has increased almost two to three times at that level in a way it never had before. “I know from my own personal experience — my oldest played Initiation level and nobody could raise the puck on his team, but now we have completely changed that level. We have heard from parents where their player will change to our stick and immediately score 10+ goals in a week, which is exponentially a better experience than being out there struggling.”
The team at Raven Hockey, which includes Salazar, Pilling and Reily, is on a mission to help the game of hockey itself compete. “We help create an incredible experience for all players of the game and are creating devoted and passionate sporting enthusiasts for life,” says Salazar. “There’s ample evidence out there that all sports are declining, as leisure activities shift towards or compete with e-games and other extracurricular activities. We all need to be out there playing team sports. It makes us better able to deal with adversity as an adult, have better social relationships. Team sports are very important to us ,and we channel our passion of team sports into hockey, and we channel our passion for hockey through those players that are below 13 years of age. We thought their experience needed to change, and that’s why we built Raven Sticks.”
To learn more about Raven Hockey Inc. and its Flex sticks visit: ravenhockey.com
You must be logged in to post a comment.