Aside from witches, mediums, and fortune tellers, hockey players might be right up there as one of the more superstitious bunches of people in the world.
Anyone who’s familiar with the game knows the intensity with which hockey players take even the tiniest routines and superstitions. From which skate they tie first, to what playlist they listen to on the way to the rink, to when they nap before a game, to what they eat before they hit the ice, hockey players take even the tiniest of details EXTREMELY seriously.
If we were to rate the which superstitions that players approach with the most intensity, their tape jobs would probably rank #1 on the list.
Players are surgically meticulous when it comes to taping their twigs, and some people have a little bit more of an interesting method than others. While it’s usually the tape job on the blade that gets the reputation of being worked on to perfection, the knob and grip of the stick are also vital components to a perfect TJ. There’s definitely a classic way of taping a grip that most players go with, and Mark Stone definitely is NOT one of those players.
Tyler Kasch has just reminded us of how crazy Mark Stone’s grip TJ is, and it’s still mind-boggling.
Like, huh?! It looks like an amusement park corn dog!
It also reminded us a lot of Arthur Kaliyev, who debuted a pretty tennis-esque grip when USA won Gold at the World Juniors.
Do these guys even have to hold onto their sticks, or do they just fit in their gloves?
