Every great shot starts with hockey tape.

Hockey tape is a woven cloth tape with a rubber-based adhesive, made for wrapping a hockey stick. On the blade it protects the stick, gives the puck something to grip and softens hard passes. On the handle it builds the knob that keeps the stick in your glove.

The common widths are about 2.5 cm (1 inch) and 3.8 cm (1.5 inch). Most players tape the blade with 2.5 cm tape. The wider tape covers a goalie blade or builds a knob in fewer passes.

Neither plays better; it comes down to preference. Some players believe black tape makes the puck harder for a goalie to pick up, while white tape shows puck marks and how the blade is wearing. In a 2025 NHL.com feature, goalies said they can tell many shooters apart by tape colour. Read the NHL.com feature.

A full blade job with 1 inch tape at about a third overlap takes roughly 3 metres, and closer to 4 metres at a half overlap. A goalie blade takes more. The Tape Lab estimates it for your exact width, overlap and coverage. Open the Tape Lab.

Re-tape when the tape frays, peels at the toe or stays soaked. Many players put fresh tape on before every game so the blade always feels the same; others go several skates between tape jobs.

Wax is optional. Rubbed into cloth tape it keeps water and snow out, so the blade stays lighter and the tape lasts longer. It is most useful on wet ice and outdoor rinks.

Cloth tape is thin and goes on the blade and the knob. Grip tape is thicker and tacky, and goes on the upper shaft so your top hand does not slip.

Both work. Heel to toe is the most common way to learn. The direction changes which way the overlapping edges face, and some players feel that changes how the puck comes off the blade.

In the NHL, a goalie stick must have a knob of white tape (or other approved material) at least half an inch thick at the top of the shaft, under rule 10.2. Players can choose their own tape colours.