Color of Hockey: 19-year-old launches affordably priced stick company

William Douglas has been writing The Color of Hockey blog since 2012. Douglas joined NHL.com in 2019 and writes about people of color in the sport. Today, he profiles Zechariah Thomas, a 19-year-old defenseman from Oshawa, Ontario, who has founded a hockey stick company.

The epiphany came to Zechariah Thomas in a snap of a hockey stick.

"When I was playing AAA hockey in Oshawa (Ontario), I started seeing a lot of kids breaking sticks," Thomas said. "The parents weren't able to afford it and the kids were almost in tears because they couldn't afford to replace their expensive stick."

Seeing that set the 19-year-old defenseman from Oshawa in motion to design, manufacture and sell high-quality carbon fiber hockey sticks at an affordable price.

The result was Swift Hockey, an online business Thomas formally launched in January that sells sticks for players of all levels. He's priced them between $125-$150 (US), about half the cost of name-brand sticks.

His goal is to ease the stick sticker shock for young and older players and help Swift Hockey claim a slice of a multi-million-dollar industry.

Thomas said he's so committed to making Swift Hockey succeed, he has put his playing career on hold to focus on the business.

Thomas played last season for Caledon of the Ontario Junior Hockey League, Acadie-Bathurst of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and Watertown (New York) of the Federal Professional Hockey League. He skated for Jamaica in the 2021 Amerigol LATAM Cup at the Florida Panthers IceDen.

"I hope this grows into the next biggest hockey brand," he said, "or at least be able to shift the market so the bigger brands maybe lower their prices at the end of the day. But my main goal is for this to become the next biggest company, the next Bauer or the next CCM."

Swift Hockey has sold more than 700 sticks thus far, Thomas said, including supply deals with some minor teams in Oshawa.

The staff of Bowling Green State University's American College Hockey Association Division II men's team is in the process of placing an order with Swift Hockey for a few sticks.

"My captain knew one of the guys at Swift and he sent us a couple of prototypes and the guys really started to like them," Bowling Green coach Drew Harper said, "so we decided that it was worth placing an order."

Getting into the crowded hockey stick business dominated by brands like Bauer, CCM, Warrior and True isn't easy, especially for a small operation.

Retired NHL player Donald Brashear unsuccessfully tried his hand at the low-cost carbon fiber stick market when he launched his Brash 87 brand, backed by $500,000, pitching his product on CBC's "Dragon's Den," Canada's version of "Shark Tank," in 2015.

Thomas said he isn't a stranger to entrepreneurship. He has dabbled in e-commerce, selling hats, shoes and other items online, since he was 13.

He said he had been considering starting a stick company for a while, but when the coronavirus pandemic limited his playing opportunities due to several leagues and rinks shutting down out of an abundance of caution, it gave him ample time to finally develop a business plan.

"I was big in e-commerce and drop-shipping, so I already had a very deep knowledge of where to find products and find suppliers," Thomas said. "So I was able to locate and go through about five suppliers and kind of figure out which one was going to be the most successful for the company."

Thomas found a reliable manufacturer in China that could produce sticks to his specifications; he said he's able to sell them for less because he has a lower mark-up than the major brands.

He then began showcasing prototype sticks, including special ones he had made for Team Jamaica for the LATAM Cup.

"He offered us some sort of stick deal and even made mock-up sticks with Jamaican colors and the flag and whatnot that came out unbelievable," said Teegan Moore, a player representative for the Jamaican program who also served as captain for their LATAM Cup teams.

"The stuff he's doing with Swift is pretty cool to see for a kid his age. Getting into the hockey world with sticks, it's a super-competitive market. But 'Zach,' he's a competitive person and an entrepreneur. We haven't said 'no' or said 'yes' in terms of what a stick deal might look like for Team Jamaica. But I think for him just to put those mock-ups together and even throw out the idea shows you his business mindset as well as his desire to help our team and our organization to grow the game."

Thomas plans on expanding Swift Hockey's product line to include goalie sticks. As the business progresses, he hopes to eventually find time to return to the ice and play with one of his sticks.

"Kind of [stinks] not being able to play, but at least I'm kind of still in the hockey world helping, doing what I think is beneficial for everybody," he said.

Photos: Zechariah Thomas, BC Photography