The BladeTape Story

How it all began...this is my story of “co-invention”. Eleven years ago while playing hockey in the West End Community Centre here in Vancouver, I was lamenting to my teammates about taping my hockey stick. There just had to be a better way! That is when my quest officially started.

How I arrived at a mountain bike inner tube, I cannot actually recall, but that was prototype number one. Even in its most rudimentary form it worked. There were several raised ribs on it which mimicked the ribs created by overlapping traditional cloth hockey tape. I was excited after my very first use. I had better feel, better grip and no frozen snow and ice buildup. I worked hard and spent a considerable amount of money to overcome all the associated failures you can imagine - from bottom edge wear and tear, to skate cuts and stick-on-stick clashes - eventually arriving at a very viable product that I casually called the Bladerunner.

I rushed off to meet with the intellectual property lawyers at the law firm where my sister was employed. They were intrigued and put me in touch with a patent agent. The patent agent researched everything of a similar nature, and found that a patent existing from 1896 related to cricket bats showed the exact same idea! A slip-fit rubber condom for the purposes of grip, protection etc. What I had invented was thus not patentable, not fully "one inventive step" beyond this prior art. I had reached a dead end as I was unwilling to venture into the market without the protection of a patent.

Although disappointed at least I was more knowledgeable about the "mine field" of patent law.

I pretty much 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. I was making a pass - one of those Craig Janney specials - which saucered over one guy’s stick and onto the intended stick of our aptly-named most gifted player... but the “Rocket “ could not pick up the pass. Later, in the dressing room, we were analyzing what went wrong because Rocket has great hands and would not normally miss such a soft pass. It turned out that he was playing with one of the new one-piece sticks. The “red light” went on in my brain and the Bladerunner came rushing back in! You see, ten years before, my slip-fit rubber tube was a shock absorber! Had the advent of the one-piece stick now made it viable?

I dug out my old files, talked things over with my wife and since she was so encouraging, I decided to go back to work on my original idea. Through friends and much serendipity, I educated myself about laser cutters, the properties of various thicknesses of rubber and various fastening methods including PSA's. Many of the guys on my hockey team willingly became my guinea pigs as I tried different prototypes. Their feedback was a tremendous help and I eventually arrived at the peel-and-stick formula used on BladeTape as we now know it.

By May of 2006 I was ready to contact my patent agent and try again to patent the latest prototype-Gripskin as I now referred to it. He did remember me and was surprised that I was still chasing this dream. He was impressed with the new product and thought I had a better chance this time, but cautioned me that he would have to check all the latest developments in this field. Not a week later we had a meeting and my agent gave me the devastating news that another inventor had beaten me to the finish line. Everything I had was already patented.

Once I overcame my disappointment, I decided to contact my nemesis. Initially, I just wanted to talk to him as one "mad inventor" to another to compare notes and see why I had never found this product in the marketplace and did it really exist? I “Googled” him on the Internet and called him in Pennsylvania. He turned out to be a really successful inventor with a great track record in thermoplastics and patents in general. He had much bigger fish to fry and had lost interest in the hockey tape invention since 10 years ago-it was as much about changing the culture of the game as it was trying to push an alternate with nothing but wood sticks in the marketplace. He and I both agreed that the "one piece composite hockey stick was what NOW made this invention make much more sense. He is a very nice man and after a long informative conversation, sharing our thoughts, he told me that the patent and business were for sale and he thought I would be the person ideally suited to take it and run with it. One of his relatives, one of the descendants of that famous chocolate family in PA, had been running the business with limited success... but he too had other business interests and a family that took most of his time. Although he had some success he felt it needed someone who was prepared to push it harder. I flew down to PA in early June and within another month the deal was done and I was the outright owner of the patents and all the custom machinery. Everything was packed up and moved to Canada and that's when "BladeTape" became a reality.

We are now approaching the end of our first year of business and just finishing our first seven months of actual sales ( this ends June 30 2007). It has been an exciting ride so far, and I think fate played its part when I made that phone call to Pennsylvania-refusing to let the dream die. I could just have let everything go and I am so glad I didn’t ( on most days). Might best be described by that phrase we’ve all heard from our parents at some point and that all successful people actually live by -it’s called “sticking to it”(no pun intended). I have and we will....Sorry if that sounds somwhat "korny"-it is...so I'll rewrite sometime soon.

I have relied on family and long time friends-some of whom are involved in the Company, dedicated partners-one of which is none other than Stanley Cup winning General Manager Brian Burke of the Anaheim Ducks-everything this guy touches is successful, in case you haven’t noticed. And we're now pleased to announce Willie Mitchell of the Vancouver Canucks is our NHL Product Endorsement and Spokesperson for 2007-08. Thanks Willie for those spectacular goal line saves against Dallas! "When the games on the line...What are you Playing with?"

Look for more exciting products from Blade Pro Products Inc. as we grow and learn the game...that’s the “sports marketing game”, hockey we feel we kinda know now-the other is much, much harder! Thanks to all that have helped achieve the successes we’ve had so far. No names are required-you know who you are...and so do I.