Canada's last hockey stick factory survives in face of tariff threats, globalization

BRANTFORD, Ontario (AP) — Wearing protective gloves and earplugs, a worker feeds lengths of wood into a machine that makes an ear-splitting whine as it automatically cuts a groove into the end of each piece.

Nearby, stacks of wooden wedges wait to be slotted into those grooves to form the beginnings of a hockey stick. Further down the Roustan Hockey production line, other workers are busy shaping, trimming, sanding, painting and screen printing as they turn lumber into a Canadian national symbol.

It's a typical day on the job for the 15 workers at Canada's last major hockey stick factory, 60 miles (100 kilometres) southwest of Toronto.

The operation has origins that date back to the 1800s and has survived decades of trade globalization to hang on as the last North American commercial ma