The Company

How did Olympia Composites begin? How long has the company been around?

Background: The company was born out of a need for more protective gear, something to withstand the rigors of highly competitive play. Here in Minnesota you can’t swing a hockey stick without hitting a former NHL or college player in the men’s leagues. I was concerned about the risk of stepping out in the nets and sustaining a serious injury. Like so many other goalies of my era, I was battered with injuries throughout my career and learned to modify my gear as a matter of survival. A number of injuries early in my college days hastened the end of my career. Despite the improvements in gear since those days, there exists an even greater danger today; the game is faster now, with bigger players and improved technology, with a low profile goaltending style that raises the level of risk for severe injury for goalies every time they step on the ice.

The name Olympia was derived from a combination of things; I wanted the broadest appeal to customers around the globe where Olympic hockey is played, and further. In this country people associate many things with this venue; it is a purer form of competition than we see in the NHL, less commercialized. It is a source of national pride, and an important connection to the heritage of the sport, which resonates really well with fans. In my own experience I had many connections to Olympic hockey that I valued and wanted to preserve. I also wanted to project a classic professional image for the brand, no-nonsense.

I played youth hockey in Minnesota, one of the hockey incubators where many of our US Olympians got their start. I spent a few summers with Warren Strelow (1980 Olympic Hockey Goalie Coach) in goalie camp, attended the Olympic Training Development Center in Michigan, played in the USHL with the St Paul Vulcans under Kevin Hartzell and Mike Guentzel, practiced with the Minnesota North Stars under Herb Brooks (1980 Olympic Gold Medal Hockey Coach), and continued college hockey at West Point under Rob Riley (son of Jack Riley, 1960 Olympic Gold Medal Hockey Coach), although I spent a lot of time on the bench.

Company: The company began after I had already spent a few years working with composites, studying the designs of the vintage masks, and learning the materials, techniques, and artistry necessary to produce top quality gear. By that time, I had started a job at a steel construction company that built oil refineries, ethanol plants, and worked other heavy industrial projects. I was the safety officer, logistician, finance analyst, and accounting guy, whatever they needed me to do. The boss sensed I needed more to do and encouraged me to learn the trades out in the 10,000 sqft shop at lunch and in the evenings. Being passionate about hockey I started making cages for my own use with the material, equipment, and highly skilled labor at hand.  Over time I established important connections with the steel salesmen and tradesmen, and I identified resources I would needed in certain specialties. The craft took off from there.

How many people actively are working there?

We keep a very lean core of experts in certain trades on hand and scale it up or down depending on seasonal and fluctuating demand. Only about a dozen people at most are involved in our operation at the busiest times, but usually much fewer. We have a steady year round demand for the classic products and custom gear, and occasionally we get larger orders. Many well-known manufacturers and subcontractors have contacted us about producing gear under their brand. Many franchises have also expressed an interest in our company supplying their stores. At some point in the future we might consider expanding but for now smaller is better.

There are several reasons I prefer to keep the operation small: First, this is a private business funded through sales revenue - no banks, venture capitalists, or outside firms sponsoring us which limits our working capital and prevents us from growing any faster. Second, it is better for us to stay small until we understand more about operating in a highly consolidated and competitive industry. Safer to learn and make our mistakes on a smaller scale. Third, the nature of a custom shop is to keep things streamlined and stay focused on quality and service. This instills discipline to do things right during the early stages of growth. We are content to take a small bite out of a thin piece of a very large pie.

Helmet/Masks
Why did you choose the old SK-2000 replicas?  Is this where the company started?

I asked for product recommendations and people placed orders. Then I had to figure out how to make them. After dozens of mistakes we figured it out, opting for stronger materials, better foam, and a higher quality finish. I knew they would be popular as I played with this model for many years and I knew there were legions of other goalies that loved the design, but needed something more protective.

Benefits of the Cooper style over the now more-traditional style masks? I would call the Cooper a traditional design since it was so widely used for so many years. A helmet is better for battle. It fits better than a mask, it stays on your head while you’re sprawling and defending your space in today’s physical game.  The full face cage makes it better to see, breath, keep cool, and communicate with your teammates. Those are pretty good benefits. The plastic helmet designs got lost in the modernization of masks when no one knew how to create one with better materials. I’m not sure why they didn’t follow later, but my theory is hockey companies are more about marketing and mass production now – it’s easier to produce modern masks quickly and cover them with flashy paint schemes.

Offer any other models? We make everything to order. We’re making three helmet models right now and may add a few designs if demand broadens. We have received requests for several player styles such as those Butch Goring and Wayne Gretzy wore, but my focus for now is goaltenders. We are designing our own model which may be available later this year.

 
What are the masks and helmets made of?

We use a special high impact epoxy resin, fiberglass, carbon fiber, kevlar, and elbow grease. All are hand laid, some inside a mould, and some over a plug that has been sculpted from a cast of the client’s head.

How long does each helmet/mask take?

A vintage style mask custom fit for a client takes a minimum 40 cumulative hours; casting, sculpting, filing, and painting can be very time intensive. If anyone tells you they can do it faster than that they’re using preformed moulds or they’re broke and desperate for business. The helmets and masks have fewer steps, but we take more time on the finishing. Preparing and painting is a much more involved process than most people are aware of. This has been another interesting area for me learn with the chemicals and techniques used in preparing the surfaces for priming, sealing, basecoating, and clearcoating.

How many masks do you make at a time?

One at a time. We don’t have any production line with machines that punch these out by the dozens like the YouTube videos. This is old school artisanship; me at a workbench with hand tools. If we have a larger order we may paint them together to save time.

Any differences in the interior padding compared to competitors?

The most common foam on the market for decades was vinyl nitrile, the beige foam that yellows, hardens, and eventually cracks (filling the shelves of used hockey gear stores around the world). I can’t think of any worse qualities for the protective liner around your head. This was one of the first aspects I thought could be improved upon. While I was developing my product I learned a lot about the foam industry; manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, and the fabricators who make finished products. I was fortunate enough to be taken in by a former hockey player who ran a local foam company and we went through a multitude of options; materials, densities, thickness, combinations, until we settled on a dual density closed cell EVA foam. I needed something that could absorb the blunt impact of contact and the shock of hard shots while being soft enough for a comfortable fit. Contact sports equipment companies have a fairly rigid concept of shell and liner that should be challenged given the history of traumatic brain injury and concussions inherent with modern gear. To this end, we have some innovative ideas we’re field testing over the next year that may change the approach of this design.

What kind of testing has been done on the masks? Any certifications?
To be clear, our gear is not certified by HECC (US), CSA (Canada), or CE (Europe). This was one of the first issues I wrestled with as a custom builder. After we standardized production and fulfilled the insurance requirement, we took a close look at whether this was the right time to submit our products for testing and pay their fees. For the variety of products we fabricate the requirement to submit each make, model, and size mask or cage was prohibitively costly. There were too many barriers to entry and risks to survival to compete in the mass market in the short term. I should add that our patented process to relieve the stress and harden the steel is supervised by lab technicians and metallurgists. If I encounter problems I talk directly with the steel mill, supplier, and metallurgists to determine the source of problems.

This decision to forego certification has two consequences for us; we are separated from the biggest sector of the market, and we risk the perception of poor quality. But despite having no certification, orders often exceed capacity in our market segment, and the power of customer testimonies has overridden the reputation for safety that only certification could previously provide for 30 years. For now we choose to stay out of the mass market where certification is the price of entry and instead focus on a smaller market with our premium products. I respect the effort to ensure consumer safety through certification, and some day when the time comes to make our entry into the larger market with a limited line of gear we will pursue this.

What is the average price of a cage?

I can usually tell if we’ll make a sale if the customer’s first concern is price. Let me say our prices are much, much higher than anyone else’s, yet our total cost of ownership is lower. You’ll replace your gear and pay more in the end when you go with a mass produced alternative. I encourage you to shop for the best deal you can find, but just remember after the chrome has rusted away, and the welds have cracked, and the wires have bent into your mask, you’ll be at the end of a long line of players and parents looking for a replacement. My inbox is full of messages and photos from around the world attesting to this problem.

I don’t blame anyone for the price question, really. After all, the industry has a lot of money at stake shaping consumer behavior and priorities. This is the only way people know how to compare. Almost no one is aware of the difference between stainless and carbon steel, much less a premium hardened stainless. More importantly, the TIG welding and spot welding techniques result in vastly different levels of safety. It isn’t practical or profitable for sports marketing companies to mass produce the safest cage. They aren’t set up to do so.

Until the market understands more about the difference in manufacturing methods and safety, it would be pointless for me to have a discussion about price. I am acutely aware of the market’s price points and it’s incredible what you’re paying for their branding, since the cost of manufacturing and quality is so low on these items. Others manufacturers have benefitted from our high prices by marking up their prices correspondingly.

Cages
Do you make the cages in-house?

We are the house where others come for cages. Starting with no background or guidance, we developed our own methods in isolation and eventually mastered the process, even creating custom tools to solve problems unique to bending and shaping steel. I feel a strong connection to the success of the cages because so much time went into discovering our own techniques of making these by hand.

In the beginning, when order volume was low I had one person helping me. I drew up blueprints, prepped the pieces, and worked with a welder to assemble and finish welds. As orders grew and it became apparent we’d need more help I trained a few others, but couldn’t communicate my concepts well enough to hand over the assembly without supervision. It was difficult to maintain quality control with the symmetry since they didn’t understand the product like a player would. So I slowly assumed the duties of a welder over a few years and came to understand more about the product and welding than the others I was hoping to have do this for me. Eventually, I took over the lead on the design and the entire assembly, and hand off the finish welds to my team of certified welders when it is ready. This has resulted in a very uniform process of preparation, assembly, finishing, and standardization that can be scaled up for larger orders that come in from time to time.

Recently, interest in the cage has spiked and demand has shifted to cage modifications for masks that have no compatible design. This work requires much tighter tolerances given the unique contouring and mounting hole placement. Again, it would be hard for me to hand this off to someone else and know that it’s going to be perfect so I am the primary fabricator for everything.

Right now we do not intend to mass produce with the spot welding machines, although our core competencies in the areas of design and assembly could be applied quite easily to this effort. I have made safety and quality a priority for the company which would be more difficult to achieve with the manufacturing methods others are using.

Are the cages only for your helmets/masks or do you offer cages for other models?

We make every kind of cage for every kind of mask and helmet. This is making us stronger every day. By studying and reproducing upgrades on everyone’s designs we are learning more and learning faster than by solely designing from scratch (maybe I should ask for a subsidy from the manufactures I’m keeping in business by refurbishing their masks). Another benefit is that we have been able to create solid improvements, modifications, and adaptations to designs for dissimilar masks. We have our own designs and fully intend to introduce them when the time is right.

What are the advantages of your cages over some of your competitors?

Thank you for the slow wrist shot from the blue line.  I believe we make the finest cages anywhere for these reasons:

Strength of materials:
- Many manufacturers use carbon steel which is weaker than regular stainless
- We use a premium stainless steel that is twice as strong as regular stainless
- We use a heavier gage wire than many others too
 
Strength of welding procedure:
- We use a superior TIG welding method that heats the wire red hot and fills molten metal in and is protected from oxidation with a bath of Argon gas until it cools, producing a continuous material throughout that won't crack or rust.

- 99% of manufacturers use spot welding because it's cheap, quick, and looks neater/cleaner. It merely sticks the surfaces together.
 
Strength in treatment:
- We offer a patented process that will relieve the stress inherent in a product welded together under tension. there is also some loss of strength in heating the materials that we try to recapture at the molecular level as it realigns during this process.
- We offer an additional treatment that will strengthen some specialty metals in our strongest cages. this treatment is not suitable for most stainless steels, but results in about 8.5 times strength improvement over competitors’ cages
 
Corrosion resistance:
- Our premium steel was created for use in highly corrosive industrial petroleum and chemical environments.

- If you look closely at any used namebrand cage you'll see rusted, broken welds, corrosion under the horizontal bars around the mouth and nose, and areas that have been dented or cracked paint because they are using cheap materials.
- We powdercoat our cages for aesthetics, but it's not necessary for rust protection. Powdercoat is 8 times harder than paint, and resists cracking like the vintage cages that were dipped in plasticote.

Vintages
How did you get started making the vintage masks?

I always wanted one as a kid. It’s part of the reason I started playing goalie. I learned to make my own and the interest spread as others saw them. There’s a widespread following of the vintage masks and their role in the evolution of gear in the game. Hockey, more than any other sport, is closely tied to its heritage, as seen in the throwback jerseys, pond hockey tournaments, and televised outdoor NHL games each winter.

Are you aware of anyone still playing in them?

There are a lot of guys around the US and Canada that still wear them in men’s league. I’ve been wearing one for years. I wouldn’t wear one if it wasn’t custom fit to my face. The carbon/kevlar makes a sturdy mask, but you need to be careful who’s playing because it invites sharpshooting from the comedian on every team.

Are they replicas of old masks or new designs?

Most of mine are replicas of old masks, sculpted by hand from a mould of a client’s face. Some clients request special paint designs and colors on classic designs. There were a handful of masters who built the originals back in the day; names like Higgins, Harrison, Homuth, Britt, O’neal, Wright, Nagel, and Cossette in our area. There are companies today that will reproduce these from moulds quickly and for less money. Personally, I found that making each one from scratch was an invaluable way to develop my skills, to learn more about the designs, and to pay homage to the sport. There are a lot of nuances to the designs that I would have never seen otherwise, same as the cages. The lessons learned in the initial stages can be directly applied to the future development of our products.

Other
How does someone go about ordering a mask?

I’m very responsive to customer contact through our website. After I understand what the client wants we start the process and communicate about the progress with email and photos to ensure the mask meets or exceeds their expectations. This has been a very effective way to serve a broad geographical area; in the last year I’ve made gear for clients in Australia, Japan, Russia, The UK, Germany, Sweden, Finland, The Netherlands, all over Canada, and here in the US as well as other places. Goaltenders are intensely interested in their gear and form tight communities around a handful of sites that share information about this subject. Most of my business is word of mouth, and I’m thankful for every sale.

Who are some of your biggest clients?
Every client is important to me and each mask or cage is made as if it were being used at the highest level of competition. Some of my clients have achieved more success on the ice than others. I try not to let this influence me. Some names I may not recognize until someone brings it to my attention after the fact. While I am very proud to have produced gear for some very prominent players across the NHL, I would prefer to let our reputation for quality among the leading equipment managers stand as the greatest achievement. I don’t seek anyone’s endorsement, and as quickly as the goaltender community discovers gear on their own I don’t need to.

Do you offer other goalie equipment?  Hockey Equipment?  Non-hockey related?
Our focus right now is on the most critical component to safety with headgear. We have designs on other items that we will eventually turn our attention to when the time is right. Product development is very time intensive and costly. It can’t be rushed for the sake of throwing something out there. There are a lot of great products on the market, but until we can offer a major improvement we will take our time to get it right. We have a chest/arm protector in field testing and are refining other accessories.

Anything you’d like to share on the new sled line?

Last spring the Women’s’ US National Sled Hockey Team approached me about building frames and buckets. After studying the existing designs, speaking to the athletes, and watch them play I thought I could improve the products. We’re hoping to make this product line a collaboration with a local foundation.