Hockey Tape Safety Notes for Parents

Taping a stick is low-risk work, but kids are involved, blades are sharp, and some “fixes” with tape make gear less safe. These notes cover the common situations.

Cutting tape

When you need to cut tape:

• Kids: give them scissors with rounded tips, or do the cutting for them.
• Utility knives: adults only. Cut away from your body, keep your other hand behind the blade, and retract or cover the blade as soon as you finish.
• Cutting a stick to length: also an adult job. Hold or clamp the stick firmly and keep your free hand clear. See youth and junior stick sizes.
• In the bag: keep scissors or knives in a closed pouch, not loose among the gear.

Cover the end of the shaft

This is a safety rule in both of the main North American rulebooks.

• Hockey Canada Rule 3.3(d): the end of the shaft of every stick must be covered to protect against injury. A hollow shaft also needs a protective cap.
• USA Hockey Rule 301(a): the end of a hollow shaft must be fully covered.

Cutting a composite stick removes the factory end cap. Put a cap or plug back in, then tape over it. Check it every time you retape. See knob size for small hands.

Never tape over a crack

Tape does not make a cracked stick safe.

• Hockey Canada, in its advice to parents, says any piece of equipment that is cracked or structurally unsound should be replaced immediately, and that gear should be inspected often so breaks are caught early.
• Hockey Canada Rule 3.2 defines a broken stick as one the referee considers unfit for normal play. A player must drop all the pieces right away, and a goalie may not keep playing with a broken stick of any kind.
• Bladetech Hockey says structural cracks need careful assessment and that even professionally repaired sticks should be treated as practice-only.

If you find a crack while retaping, stop and set the stick aside.

Tape and stickers on helmets

Kids like to decorate helmets. Be careful what goes on them and where.

• Hockey Canada’s parents’ advice says that painting a helmet or removing its CSA sticker means it is no longer CSA certified, and advises against applying stickers because some adhesives can harm the helmet.
• The CSA, in a 2010 letter to Hockey Canada, said the CSA certification label is the only certification sticker to check for play under Hockey Canada.
• HockeyMonkey’s helmet guide says never to remove, cover or alter the HECC label in the US, and that a missing label means the helmet loses certification. It quotes USA Hockey Rule 304(d): a helmet or facemask altered except as permitted is illegal equipment.

The safe approach: no tape or stickers on the helmet shell, and never anything over a certification label.

Tape on other gear

• Shin pads and socks: clear tape or sock tape holds socks and pads in place. Do not wrap so tightly that it pinches. See clear vs sock tape.
• Cracked protective gear: the Hockey Canada advice above applies to pads, masks and cages too. Do not tape a cracked shell back together. Replace it.
• Removing tape: see removing tape residue for safe ways to clean up.

A quick checklist before the season

1. Every stick has a covered, capped end.
2. No cracks in any blade, shaft or paddle.
3. Helmet labels are visible and uncovered.
4. Scissors are in a pouch.
5. A spare stick is in the bag. John Shorey’s equipment notes, published by Hockey Calgary, advise bringing two sticks in case one breaks.