Here’s a story that’s both funny and sad.  When I was a kid, (I think I was around Pee-Wee age), there was a guy on my church league team who was by far the weakest on the team.  A bit of a loner too outside of hockey.  Anyway, he shows up early in the season with a stick that Zdeno Chara would have had to take a few inches off the top of, and this kid is no Chara.   Our coach is just flummoxed.  What do you say to this as a coach?

Anyway, the coach finally collects himself and says to the kid as nicely as he can, “Your stick is too long, you need to cut the shaft down” or words to that effect.   The kid says “I can’t.  It’s my dad’s stick.”