OUR STORY

Our collaboration goes back to February 2015 when Ironwood’s founder, Dan Anderson reached out to Todd Randall (of Sanborn Canoe) to ask if he would experiment with producing a wood hockey stick.

Dan grew up in Minnesota playing hockey through the late 80’s and early 90’s using Christian hockey sticks (made in Minnesota). As an adult, Dan found himself searching for a high-quality wood stick, however the standard of quality established by Christian was no longer available. What was available was mass-produced, inexpensive and lower-quality wooden hockey stick. This initiated Dan’s research into the process of stick making as well as the history of what became of Christian’s equipment after it closed it's doors in the early 2000s. Dan came to recognize that the woodworking skills of hockey stick production were very similar to those used in making canoe paddles; this was his basis when approaching Todd at Sanborn.

Fast forward to today.

Ironwood features a full line of handmade, decorative, historically-inspired sticks. We have also purchased the original Christian Bros. equipment and moved it from Roseau to Sanborn’s facility in Winona. With the help of Christian’s former head of production, Rick Pomplin, this equipment is being installed and will allow us to create the best wood stick for the ice.

Stay tuned for the release of our sticks made for the ice in the coming months…