In watching HNIC this past weekend, they showed a clip of Ovechkin taping his stick before a shootout. I barked at the TV “he’s using my technique!”

So clearly watching Ovie tape his stick in a similar fashion means I must have seen someone do this in the past. I don’t recall and honestly thought I had come up with it myself. Let’s just assume I stole it from Ovie! Regardless of patents and copyrights, I figured I’d share how I tape my stick all the way to the toe of the stick.

First, tape your stick as you normally would. In my case I’m going heel to toe. When you reach the end of your stick and the stick starts to curve into the toe shape, stop pulling the tape tightly. Instead, start to lay the tape down. Don’t worry about how big and ugly and how much tape you use. The only key is that you don’t want any creases, which you’ll get if you’re pulling it tight.

Now you should have a tab of tape at the end of your stick. Now fold that tape back and forth to flattened and seal the tape to the stick as best you can.

Now get a pair of sharp scissors, as Ovie apparently uses, or a utility knife which is how I roll. Trim the excess tape off. Don’t worry about trimming it too tight as the tape ideally remains sealed together…like a nice pizza pocket!

That’s basically it. I rub all the tape using a puck to seal it all together well, including around the end where there’s likely some fringe left from your pizza pocket.

Personally I also wax it using cheap tealight candles but I’m not sure there’s any point to that except to give me another pre-game ritual. If you do wax, I usually squeeze the blade and run my hands down the blade after. This warms the wax and spreads it out. (hmm..wonder what SEO will do with those last two sentences?)

The final product!