MJSB: Part 3
October 8, 2008
I throw my Brodeur/Heaton onto the foam and trace away. I use a utility knife to cut out a goalie stick shape from the 3/4″ foam and start Dremeling the be-Jesus out of it. Nasty dust flying all over the little water heater room I’m in. As it turns out, I have something of a talent for this, as the core actually looks like a stick. I even managed a proper curve. So now the hard part; adhering the fiberglass and Kevlar to the core with the resin. Did I mention, I had no experience whatsoever dealing with this medium? One of the tough parts for me was keeping the fabric in place while I slathered the resin all over that fabric like tanning oil on a Hawaiian Tropic babe. Kevlar wisps all over my fingers and now I have to let it dry, so I hang it upside down in that very same little water heater room and try to be patient while it dries.
As it turns out, I’m not very patient and I run down to check it’s progress and it’s still tacky so I make myself wait until morning. I awake like its Christmas for a 6 year old and bolt down to the “pit” (my basement) to check my work. Oh boy! it hardened over night and it wasn’t floppy like my previous failures. However, it was pretty fugly and not quite strong enough for use. Just flexing it would produce cracking noises like ice off a glacier. OK, don’t flex it! So I tap it on the cement floor as a judge of it’s worth. Doesn’t sound too great, but I try it out by playing a little ball hockey against a wall. But because it’s ugly, I make another and try to improve on the appearance.
As it happens, my local rink (Hollydel) was used by the Philadelphia Phantoms for practice. As it also happens, Reggie Lemelin is their goalie coach and he’s accessible. I ask him for a moment of his time to explain what the hell I’m doing and to my surprise, he doesn’t shoo me away like some demented fan. I ask him if he would allow his goalies (Roussel and Little) to test it during practice and he agrees. Now I’m stoked! Just what I needed to press on and not give up. Back to the pit to make my Franken-stick and try as I might, I get just that. Do you know how hard it is to walk into your local rink with a thing that gets people starring like I have a ten pound tumor on my face? Props to Reggie and the goalies for not laughing hysterically, really. He calls one of the two over, explains and hands them my stick (I’m laughing as I type this) Suffice it to say, the goalie was a little perplexed by it, but instinctively uses it as a goalie stick. It didn’t take long for the stick to fail, but it did so in a place I hadn’t expected — the handle. The blade took a few shots and held up fine. The goalie skates to the back door, says nothing and hands it back to me. I gush with thanks for even entertaining me and my project. I count it as a success and come away with a little more knowledge on how NOT to make a goalie stick. I repeat this process a few more times and each time the bloody handle would fail.
The folks at the yacht plant offered me some advice. That’s when the word “mold” came up and now my search turned to finding a mold to make better sticks.
