The latest round of U.S. tariffs includes hockey sticks among a number of Canadian products facing tariffs of up to 50%. For a Canadian hockey business with a large customer base in the United States, that creates a new set of challenges and a lot of uncertainty.

At HockeyStickMan, we've spent the past several years building our business across North America. The U.S. has become an important part of what we do, so we certainly aren't taking these changes lightly.

At the same time, one thing we've learned throughout this process is that uncertainty creates an opportunity to rethink where and how we do business.

Taking HockeyStickMan Beyond North America

One of the biggest takeaways for us is that we can't rely on a single market forever.

We've already been looking at ways to expand HockeyStickMan internationally, and we're putting even more focus on that now. One market we're particularly excited about is Germany and the broader European hockey market.

Germany is already one of our fastest-growing markets outside North America. We currently sell thousands of sticks there each year, and that number continues to grow. We're also working toward making the HockeyStickMan experience more accessible to German customers, including plans for a dedicated German-language website.

Interestingly, that expansion came full circle this week.

HockeyStickMan Featured in Germany

We were recently contacted by Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (F.A.Z.), one of Germany's leading newspapers, to discuss how Canadian businesses are dealing with the latest tariff situation.

The resulting article, "Neue Zölle von Trump: Kanadas Unternehmen geben sich kämpferisch" ("New Tariffs From Trump: Canadian Companies Are Putting Up a Fight"), was published on August 26 and featured HockeyStickMan founder and CEO Joey Walsh discussing the impact of the tariffs and the importance of expanding beyond the U.S. market.

The article also highlighted our growing presence in Germany and our plans to continue building HockeyStickMan internationally.

Read the original article in F.A.Z.

For a hockey company that started on a small family farm in Ontario, being featured in one of Germany's most respected newspapers is something we're pretty proud of.

We're Still Here, and We're Still Growing

Trade disputes are something none of us can control. What we can control is how we respond.

We'll continue serving our customers in the U.S., Canada and around the world, while investing in new markets and finding ways to make HockeyStickMan accessible to more hockey players globally.

The hockey world is bigger than any one country.

And we're excited about what's next.

From Ontario to the world. 🏒

This post references reporting by Anna Sophie Kühne of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (F.A.Z.), originally published August 26, 2026. We thank F.A.Z. for featuring HockeyStickMan and Joey Walsh in its coverage of the Canada-U.S. trade dispute.