The NHL is back and that’s welcome news for one local sports company that will be making skate guards and a variety of gear for two NHL franchise’s this season.
Scott Thorne, Owner and Operator of Sports Shack/Fix My Gear has been sharpening skates and fixing hockey gear in St. John’s for 25 years and he never dreamed that one day he’d be making gear for teams playing on the world’s highest stage.
So far this season, Thorne and the crew at Sports Shack/Fix My Gear have made gear for the Colorado Avalanche and New York Islanders.
They first broke on to the NHL scene last year when they made the skate guards for the NHL’s outdoor Stadium Series game between the Avalanche and Los Angeles Kings.
Following the outdoor game, Thorne was gearing up for the Professional Equipment Managers Show, among other things, when the world came to a halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The orders are massive, and Thorne says that’s a huge shot in the arm for the local business.
He says they do toiletry bags, skate guards, bench bags, laundry bags, team accessories and anything else they can to make the equipment manager’s life easier.
Thorne says “not in a million years” would he have ever imagined working for NHL teams.
He says if someone told him even five years ago that they’d be working for NHL teams with sales reps worldwide, he would have never believed it.
When they opened the Sports Shack in 1995 he thought he’d be sharpening skates and doing minor repairs until he was 100, but calls it a dream come true and is delighted that hockey is back.