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Las Vegas hockey show canceled,
will join with expanded event in St. Paul, Minn.

The Let's Play Hockey and Lacrosse International Expo, which was scheduled for Oct. 8-9 in Las Vegas, has been canceled after 15 years. It will be incorporated into the 25th annual Let's Play Hockey Expo on March 7-8, 2014 in St. Paul, Minn.

Show organizers said several unresolvable scheduling conflicts led to the merger of shows. The St. Paul event (above) is billed as the world's largest consumer hockey trade show.

"We have a great history with the Let's Play Hockey and Lacrosse International Expo in Las Vegas, but it's time to change direction and partner with our extremely successful show in St. Paul," said Expo president Doug Johnson. "This was a decision not made lightly, but a move was suggested by many Expo attendees over the years. We are excited for the future of the new and improved Let's Play Hockey Expo in St. Paul."

The organizers believe a one-show concept will provide a broader opportunity for buyers, manufacturers and consumers to see the latest products in the industry and gauge consumer trends and desires. More than 40,000 people attended last year's show, which attracted 150 companies and had more than 350 exhibitor booths to the St. Paul RiverCentre. The Let's Play Hockey Expo is held in conjunction with the Minnesota boys state high school hockey tournament at the Xcel Energy Center, which is attached to the RiverCentre.

Bauer acquires Combat Sports

 

 

Bauer Performance Sports Ltd. has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire substantially all of the assets of Combat Sports, the maker of composite baseball and softball bats, hockey sticks and lacrosse shafts.

The acquisition will provide Bauer with advanced composite technologies and strong intellectual property to further strengthen its industry-leading research and development capabilities across its platform of high-performing sports equipment.

 

"Combat Sports has a history of success in delivering innovative composite technologies to the sporting goods industry, and we are excited to add their knowledge and expertise to Bauer Performance Sports," said Kevin Davis, President and Chief Executive Officer of Bauer. "In addition to their experience in the ever-evolving composites industry, Combat has had significant success with certain baseball and softball products, and we look forward to building their brand and expanding their portfolio of products in the future."

Bauer plans to explore and combine relevant composite technologies where applicable to strengthen its overall hockey stick and lacrosse offerings under the BAUER and MAVERIK brands. Combat and several of the company's key employees have had a long history of expertise in composite materials, including developing innovative products for NASA, the U.S. Military and several leading manufacturers. By focusing resources in the areas of Combat's success - baseball, softball and a dvanced composite technologies - Bauer expects to strengthen the COMBAT brand and grow its overall portfolio of high-performing products.

"Although it was in bankruptcy, Combat has many key assets that we plan to continue in diamond sports and expand across our platform of ice hockey, roller hockey and lacrosse," said Bauer spokesman Tory Mazzola ot the Ottawa Citizen. "We're excited about this acquisition because Combat allows us to enter new sports in baseball and softball, and provides us with strong intellectual property and advanced composite innovations."

 

The acquisition of Combat will be funded from cash on hand and is expected to be accretive in the first year of operation. Bauer anticipates the acquisition to close in the coming weeks, subject to satisfaction of customary closing conditions and certain other approvals.

"Our expectation is that Canadian-based Combat will remain in its current Ottawa, Ontario and Kent, Washington locations, and we intend to continue manufacturing in Canada," Davis said. "In addition, we fully expect that Combat's previous leadership team and many key employees will be employed by the company after the closing of the transaction."

 

Bauer Performance Sports's brands include Bauer, Mission, Maverik Cascade and Inaria. Combat Sports has been supplying composite and hybrid composite products for both its own brand as well as for high-end brand name companies since 1998 in the baseball/softball bat, hockey stick and lacrosse shaft markets. 

Bauer also announced on March 14 that it is the new official uniform, equipment and apparel provider for the British Columbia Hockey League, which is one of the top junior organizations in North America. Click here to read more about the exclusive three-year partnership starting in the 2013-14 season for approximately 360 BCHL players.
Davis will be participating in the NSGA's 49th Annual Management Conference and 15th Annual Team Dealer Summit on May 5-8 at PGA National Resort and Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Davis will be part of a panel discussion, "Looking at the future of the sporting goods industry," from 10:30 a.m. to noon on Monday, May 6. Brian Shactman of CNBC will moderate the panel discussion.

Recently asked questions to HDA 

Here are a few questions we recently received from HDA members looking to find products:

Q: I am looking for a supplier who does reasonably priced hockey novelty T-shirts. I am not looking for NHL team gear, but T-shirts that might say "Give Blood Play Hockey" or other hockey sayings.

A: Here are three possibilities to check out - Beer League Sportswear (beerleaguesportswear.com), Sauce Hockey (saucehockey.com) and Gong Show Gear (gongshowgear.com).

Q: Do you know where I can buy wholesale NHL car window decals? I have my own printing capabilities, but I don't have a license to reproduce NHL logos.

A: WinCraft (wincraft.com) produces family packages of decals for all 30 NHL teams.

If you need help finding a product for your business, or have any other questions, please contact us and we'll do what we can to help.

Ex-NHL goalie starts lifestyle apparel company 

  

Former NHL goaltender and TV analyst Kevin Weekes started a sports lifestyle apparel company, No 5 Hole, last May. Weekes told Christopher Botta of  Street & Smith's SportsBusiness Journal that he has expanded from two T-shirts that said "I Have No 5 Hole" to a half-dozen shirts, four hoodies, four hockey jerseys and a women's line. Click here to view the No 5 Hole apparel line.

 

Shortened season doesn't hurt

NHL ratings 

Labor strife didn't hurt the viewership interest of the NHL in the United States. Twenty of the 21 teams based in the U.S. saw an increase in ratings through 30 games compared to the 2011-12 season, according to a report in the March 25-31 edition of Street & Smith's SportsBusiness Journal. NBC Sports Network was on pace to set a record for viewers for its NHL games at an average of 448,000 through 27 games. The previous high was an average of 348,000 in the 2010-11 season.

The Pittsburgh Penguins' 11.87 local regional sports network rating is the highest for any team in any sport since the Boston Red Sox' 12.2 in its 2007 World Series season. The rest of the top five NHL regional ratings are the Buffalo Sabres (10.13), Boston Bruins (6.97), Chicago Blackhawks (5.69) and St. Louis Blues (4.64).

Nearly half (44.3 percent) of all traumatic brain injuries among children and teenagers in Canada who needed to be taken to an emergency department are caused by ice hockey, according to researchers from a Toronto hospital. Dr. Michael Cusimano and his team, who claim their study is the first of its kind, gathered and examined data on the causes of sports-related brain injuries among Canadian children. They also identified which preventive measures could be implemented immediately to make children's sports safer.

"Unless we understand how children are getting hurt in sport, we can't develop ways to prevent these serious injuries from happening," Cusimano said. "One would think that we know the reasons why kids are having brain injuries in sports, but until know, it was based mainly on anecdotes."

Sports-related head injuries can have lingering effects on children. Researchers from the University of Oregon found that high school athletes who suffered concussion continued having problems focusing and switching tasks readily amid distractions two months after their injury. In this latest study, the team looked at the records from The Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program, which included information on 13,000 children and teenagers who had sustained a sports-related brain injury between 1990 and 2009.

The authors categorized the young sportspeople's injuries according to their ages, the type of sport they were practicing, when the injury occurred, and what caused it (a blow by another player, an object, etc.). Most of the ice hockey injuries (nearly 70%) affected children 10 or older from being hit itnto the boards or player-to-player contact.

"This shows that body contact is still an area where we need to make major inroads to preventing brain injuries," Cusimano said. "For example, enforcing existing rules and making more effective incentives and disincentives about checking from behind could make huge improvements.

"There is a real opportunity for prevention here. Having educational programs, proper equipment, rules and other incentives that support a culture of safety in sports should be a mandate of parents, coaches, players, sports organizations, schools, sports sponsors, and other groups like governments."

The study was funded by the Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.