The World’s Largest Hockey Stick and Puck currently reside in front of the Island Savings Centre and the Cowichan Arena in Duncan, B.C. But maybe not for much longer. The stick has reached the end of its “serviceable life.”
Although ongoing maintenance has been performed on the stick over the years, the wood has deteriorated. The stick’s condition was assessed by the Cowichan Valley Regional District (CVRD) in 2022, and results indicated that due to the natural decay, the structure should be replaced within the next three years. This prompted the CVRD to conduct a recent public engagement survey on the stick’s future and possible replacement. It showed that the majority of residents aren’t keen to keep the artifact.
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“The survey was specifically designed to receive community feedback and determine whether there was a willingness to replace the hockey stick,” says Kris Schumacher, the manager of communications and engagement at the CVRD. “In the course of that survey we also heard a willingness to repurpose the stick from a number of respondents, and a variety of interesting ideas.”
Nearly 3,300 residents voiced their opinion on the stick. Significant findings in the survey included that 55.8 per cent of respondents stated that the monument is not important to the Cowichan region; 67.7 per cent said that it’s not important to maintain the world record for the hockey stick and puck; and 71.3 per cent said they don’t support its replacement.
The piece was originally commissioned by the Government of Canada as part of the Expo ’86 World’s Fair Exposition in Vancouver. It’s 40 times life size and is 205 feet long. The shaft and blade are made with steel reinforced Douglas Fir glulam beams, and it weighs 62,000 lbs. It set its Guinness World Record for “largest hockey stick” in September 1986.
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According to the CVRD, the cost to replace it with a like-for-like hockey stick and puck on the existing metal support structure is between $1,500,000 and $2,000,000, if replacement was to occur over the next couple of years. (But those costs are more than likely outdated, considering the rising costs of construction and inflation.)
Schumacher indicates that there’s no plan to replace the stick with anything else. With the completion of the survey, Schumacher says, as per the approved recommendation, the CVRD will “launch an expression of interest process in early 2024 to formally receive proposals on how the stick may be repurposed following its decommission.”
So—as of now—once it’s taken out of the game for good, the hockey stick’s fate is undetermined.
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