Welcome to Wood Stick Wednesday! For our first post in this ongoing series, we take a look at wooden sticks made by Thompson & Sons Lacrosse Company. There will be a lot more wooden stick talk on Wednesdays moving forward, and we’ll be talking about lots of different stick makers over the course of the year!
Thompson & Sons is run by Mike Thompson out of Akwesasne and he does the carving of the sticks. As a player, Thompson has played in the NLL, for the Iroquois Nationals (most recently at the 2015 WILC), and has two Mann Cups to his name from his time with the Peterborough Lakers. Mike also makes an incredible wooden lacrosse stick!
I saw my first stick from Thompson at the Iroquois Nationals open tryouts this past year. You could immediately tell that it was a nice stick, and that Mike was putting a lot of time into each one. Mike said he had a couple on the rack then, so he would have more ready soon. I told him I was interested and Mike agreed to sell me a couple sticks.
When the two sticks I ordered (one field, one box) arrived, I knew immediately that I’d made the right call in ordering them. They were perfect! I only get to keep one of them (the other goes to Ben Kaminow), but just holding them both was nice enough.
Thompson & Sons Wooden Lacrosse Sticks
Both sticks have a thicker, more rectangular lower end to the shaft. As you get higher on the shaft, it narrows, and becomes more rounded. The wood on both sticks has also been sanded down to a perfectly smooth level, and the light yellow coloration of the wood really shows nicely, as does the grain patterning. The heads of both sticks are also thicker than the shafts, and this not only gives the sticks a good weight and feel, but it also creates an almost offset quality to the sticks.
Both scoops are rounded, and about as far from “flat” as you can get, and both scoops follow the grain perfectly. The balance is also exceptional to both sticks, and a thicker end to the “crook” helps with this. The pockets are all black leather and crosslace numbers, and the stringing is impeccable. The field stick has an open channel down the middle, while the box stick is a standard traditional pocket. I love how Thompson anchors the bottom of the leathers with a short piece of shooting string on both sticks. It’s an awesome touch!
Thompson has a great stamp mark, and he signs the inside of his sticks with his name and a #66, which he wears out on the floor. On the outside of the stick, Thompson has gone with an old school black ink branding, which states the maker name and point of origin. It gives the stick an old Etienne-Martin feel to it, and I’m a big fan.
While the sticks only came with two shooting strings (one thick lace and one cotton shooter), I added two more cotton shooters in, using the same style as Mike Thompson.
Thompson & Sons Lacrosse Company wooden sticks are the real deal. Mike carves and strings a beautiful stick, and for anyone who is a serious collector or wooden stick enthusiast, a Thompson & Sons wooden lacrosse stick is a must have. I’ve seen a lot of good lacrosse sticks over the years, but these are truly great. Welcome to the wooden stick game, Mike Thompson, you’re a player already!
For more on what Thompson & Sons could offer you (sticks, refurbishing, stringing, and more!), check out their website, which is pretty, informative, and excellent!
