Sherwood to outsource wood stick production

Sherwood-Drolet, manufacturer of the classic PMP 5030 wood stick, has announced it will cease producing its wood products in Quebec and instead outsource manufacturing to countries like China. Watch out for the lead paint, kids.

While wood sticks are still used by a fair number of youth and adult rec players (though those numbers are diminishing), they've virtually disappeared from the pro ranks. A recent survey by The Hockey News had only 17 players - under 3% - using lumber.

The players, if you're curious, are Adrian Aucoin, Patrice Breisbois, Pavol Demitra, Joe DiPenta, Roman Hamrlik, Bobby Holik, Sami Kapanen, Georges Laraque, Ladislav Nagy, Markus Naslund, Yanic Perreault, Martin Rucisnsky, Jason Spezza, Paul Stasny, Jozef Stumpel, David Vyborny, and Josef Vasicek.

The company says they will continue to make custom wood sticks for pro players in its Quebec factory, but the common man is out of luck. So go to your local pro shop and buy up your favorite Sherwood twig while they're still made of ash wood and proudly stamped "Fabrique au Canada".