On Sun, 9 Mar 1997, Bryan Hanssen wrote:
 
> While at the BU-Northeastern game last night, my wife asked,"Why do
> players tape their sticks?" I really didn't know the reason why. My
> father once told me that the forwards and defensemen tape their sticks
> with black tape to disguise the puck from the opposition while puck
> handling, and goalies use white tape to disguise the ice from shooters.
> Seems logical. Yet some goalies use black tape, while forwards and
> defensemen use white, which blows my fathers theory. Anybody have an
> answer to my wife's question and know why players use either black or
> white tape?
 
Since no one else has come forward, I'll take a guess.  The tape has two
main purposes: to create friction to facilitate stickhandling, and to
cushion the impact to make it easier to receive a pass.  Black was
originally the only color of friction tape available, and may serve to
conceal the puck a bit; white may make the stick harder to follow, or
maybe it just looks cool.
 
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