Bauer Hockey

Bauer Hockey (renamed Nike Bauer from 2005 to 2009) is one of the leading manufacturers of ice hockey equipment, fitness and recreational skates and apparel. Bauer produces helmets, gloves, sticks, skates, shin guards, pants, shoulder pads, elbow pads, as well as goalie equipment. Bauer primarily developed and manufactured hockey skates prior to 1990, when it acquired the hockey assets of Cooper Canada Ltd. Bauer operates as a unit of Performance Sports Group Ltd. of Exeter, New Hampshire.

History

In 1927, the Freibauer family, owners of Western Shoe Company, established the Bauer company as it is known today in Kitchener, Ontario.

Bauer was the first hockey company to begin producing hockey skates in which the blade was permanently secured to the boot. The boot was made by Bauer and the skate blade by the now-defunct Starr Manufacturing Company in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. This innovation was originally marketed under the trade name "Bauer Supreme".

The arrival of the George Tackaberry boot, made by CCM under the "Tacks" trademark (the Tackaberry name having been acquired by CCM in 1937) saw a shift in the balance of power. The Tackaberry boot with CCM Pro-Lite blade would be worn by all NHL scoring champions from 1939 through 1969. The "Tacks" series of CCM skates would later be retired by Reebok in 2006.