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For some, it is an art.

The whole process is a regimented part of the day and daily routine at the rink; it can be a product of who they admired, who they studied on TV, whose posters were draped all over their bedrooms.

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It could be a process ingrained in them since they started skating, since their parents whipped a roll around their stick a couple of times, shoved it into their hands and pushed them on the ice.

The similarities, the differences, the simple or the intricate, each member of the Calgary Flames and their stick-taping habits tell a story.

“I’m very, very boring,” said Matthew Tkachuk. “On the top of my stick, I do five loops around the top. And then just a couple down. Then on the bottom, I go heel to toe and all the way to the toe and scissor it, and put wax on it.

“I’m probably one of the few that doesn’t spend too much time on it.”

Photo by Azin Ghaffari / Azin Ghaffari/Postmedia

Sure. That’s what they all say.

The truth is, the Goldilocks effect applies to many when it comes to taping sticks. And, at hockey’s highest level, it’s understandable players prefer things done a certain way — there’s no time limit for something as important as their stick, their basic tool that makes them millions and millions of dollars each season.