Is it better to use hockey tape to cover the butt end of a hockey stick, or alternatives like Buttendz hockey grips? This is an emerging question among hockey players: both types of grips allow better control of the hockey stick and provide more power when passing and shooting, but how do they compare?
Benefits of Buttendz Grips
Buttendz stick grips are made of natural rubber and elastic, offering better control and reducing the chance your hockey stick will slip in your hands. The grip remains easily locked in place, which helps absorb more energy with less effort on the part of the player. This also helps the player better transfer that energy and focused power into a pass or shot. The more strength needed to hold and control the hockey stick, the less power is generated.
When hockey tape loses its grip, the ensuing vibration through the stick handle can impede a player’s control of the puck. The elasticity and thickness of Buttendz grips absorb that vibration, providing greater wrist mobility, so a player can make smoother, tension-free passes and shots.
Also, given Buttendz grips’ natural rubber and elastic material, it’s easy to put one on the stick and adjust it to fit a player’s unique grasp. Buttendz grips stay in one piece and firmly in place on the butt end of the stick, so you can clean and reuse them. Simply use water to loosen the grip from the stick, and then roll it off; once it’s been removed, it snaps right back into its original form, and you can reapply it to any hockey stick.
Benefits of Hockey Tape
Most ice hockey players apply tape to the butt end of the stick as well as the blade for better control of the stick. While pre-formed rubber grips like Buttendz are gaining traction among players, many still swear by tape. It provides a strong grip, which, in addition to providing amplified control, allows better accuracy in passes and shots.
Hockey tape comes in a multitude of types, but grip tape and standard cloth tape are two of the most popular options.
Grip Tape
Also used as surgical tape, this type provides a strong grip on the butt end of the stick. It’s available in different widths, and the gauze-like material means it’s thin and extremely lightweight. This type of material is also breathable, thereby making it more resistant to sweat and moisture, two substances that can wreak havoc on the palms of hockey gloves. Grip tape does stick to itself, but adding a layer of shin guard tape (very lightweight and flexible) on top can help ensure it stays in place and won’t peel off.
Grip tape has been popular for years among NHL players.
Cloth Tape
Similar to grip tape, standard cloth hockey tape provides a strong grip that helps players absorb more energy from a pass, and then transfer that energy via passing and shooting with more power and better accuracy. It’s available in different widths and thicknesses, and it’s lightweight.
A Better Grip Saves Your Hockey Gloves
Hockey gloves are important protective safety equipment for a player, but they see a lot of wear and tear. Hockey tape and Buttendz grips can help keep gloves intact longer, simply by being there.
A plain, clean hockey stick offers little real grip, which can prompt friction between the stick shaft and the gloves; friction eventually wears out your glove palms, leaving holes in them, and likely blisters on your hands. Hockey tape and Buttendz grips provide a defense against friction, extending the life of your gloves. And eliminating or at least dramatically reducing that friction ultimately saves your hands.
The rubber in Buttendz grips stays tacky, so friction is no longer a problem. Your gloves stay in place on the stick, and the glove fabric remains intact much longer. Taping the stick offers similar benefits, but tape doesn’t seem to last as long as the rubber grips. Taping requires a bit more effort (than rubber grips) to mount onto the stick, and you must tape your stick properly for it to be effective.
Many hockey players have used tape on their sticks for years and they swear by it. Providing grip strength and stick protection, hockey tape comes in an array of styles, widths, thicknesses, and materials to suit all types of hockey sticks and players. But alternative options like Buttendz rubber stick grips are gaining traction, and a growing number of players are making the switch. The cost effectiveness, convenience, and longevity of Buttendz grips may finally be making them too appealing to pass up.