Prototype #1 was back in 1996 and came about as a mountain bike inner tube. Even in its most basic form it worked. There were several raised ribs which mimicked the overlapping traditional cloth tape. With my very first use, I had better feel, grip and no snow and ice buildup. After working and spending a considerable amount of time and money to overcome all potential failures I could imagine - from bottom edge wear, to skate cuts and stick-on-stick clashes - I arrived at a very viable product that I casually called BladeRunner.

I rushed off to meet with the intellectual property lawyers and patent agents immediately. Unfortunately for me, a cricket bat invention from 1896 showed the exact same idea! Without a patent, I simply felt I could not head into the market.  I shelved my idea for ten years, revisiting it only a few times, but something told me not to shred my files.

Fast forward to February of 2006. At that time, I was playing a decent brand of pickup hockey with a group of fairly competitive guys but everyone was bobbling passes that day. Later, in the dressing room, we were analyzing what went wrong. It turned out that we were trying the new one-piece sticks. Ten years before, my BladeRunner was a shock absorber! Had the advent of the one-piece stick now made it viable?

I dug out my old files and decided to go back to work on my original idea. Through friends and much serendipity, I educated myself about all that there is to know with rubber and tape. Many of the guys on my hockey team willingly became my guinea pigs as I tried different prototypes. After much effor, I eventually arrived at the peel-and-stick formula used on BladeTape.

After 4 complete years of business, we are widely distributed now in over 35 countries and are fast becoming the brand leader in the alternative tape marketplace and the number one product used in inline hockey.  No one can compete with our superior grip, ease of application, super lightweight, and tremendous feel on today's new stick technology.  It took ten years plus for the new sticks to take full traction in the market place.  BladeTape is the tape of the future, quite frankly, it is the evolution of hockey tape.  We have sold over half a million units in 4 years, used by NHL and Euro Elite League Pros and other players of all ages and abilities.  

BladeTape - What are YOU playing with?