By the time New Balance -- Warrior Sports’ parent company -- acquired Innovative Hockey in 2005, the Tijuana factory was home to production for one-piece composite sticks and fused sticks.

Zadorov has used Warrior for the last three or four seasons. He does not pull his punches when explaining why he switched from Bauer. “When I was in Chicago, I didn’t like the Bauer sticks.

Cotter has personalized every stick the same way since he started playing hockey. Using white tape, the 24-year-old Golden Knights left wing makes a candy cane design on the shaft.