Nike Bauer
Encyclopedia
Bauer Performance Sports Ltd. (renamed Nike Bauer during 1995–2008) is one of the leading manufacturers of ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 equipment
Ice hockey equipment
In ice hockey, players use specialized equipment both to facilitate the play of the game and for protection as this is a sport where injuries are common, therefore, all players are encouraged to protect their bodies from bruises and severe fractures...

, 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.
Cooper Canada Ltd.
Cooper Canada Ltd. was a sporting goods and fine leather goods manufacturer based in Toronto, Canada. In its heyday, the 1960s through to the 1980s, the company was Canada's leading producer of leather baseball gloves and protective ice hockey equipment...


History of Bauer innovation

In 1927, the Bauer family, owners of Western Shoe Company, established the Bauer company as it is known today in Kitchener, Ontario
Kitchener, Ontario
The City of Kitchener is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada. It was the Town of Berlin from 1854 until 1912 and the City of Berlin from 1912 until 1916. The city had a population of 204,668 in the Canada 2006 Census...

.

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
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
Dartmouth founded in 1750, is a community and planning area of the Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia. Located on the eastern shore of Halifax Harbour, Dartmouth has been nicknamed the City of Lakes after the large number of lakes located in the city.On April 1, 1996, the provincial...

, Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...

. This innovation was originally marketed under the trade name "Bauer Supreme".

The arrival of the George Tackaberry boot, made by CCM
CCM (The Hockey Company)
CCM, formerly an initialism for Canada Cycle & Motor Co. Ltd., is a sporting goods brand. The brand is held by two separate entities both maintaining the CCM trademark, one manufacturing ice hockey equipment and the other, CCM manufacturing bicycles.-History:CCM was founded in 1899 after the...

 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.

The Bauer name returned to prominence after the company undertook a pioneering step of paying superstar Bobby Hull
Bobby Hull
Robert Marvin "Bobby" Hull, OC is a former Canadian ice hockey player. He is regarded as one of the greatest ice hockey players of all time and perhaps the greatest left winger to ever play the game. Hull was famous for his blonde hair, blinding skating speed, and having the hardest shot, earning...

 to endorse their skates. This move, and the introduction soon after of the TUUK chassis, ushered in a new era for the company.

The current National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...

 rule banning the use of fancy skates was introduced on September 24, 1927. At the time, this effectively outlawed all skates other than tube skates. The plastic/rubber stopper seen on the heel of later tube skates was developed by CCM in 1960 following an injury to the Montreal Canadiens
Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ...

' Maurice "Rocket" Richard in the 1958–59 season. It was made mandatory by the NHL in 1964.

Then in the early 1970s, Jim Roberts, also of the Canadiens, began wearing the now famous TUUK blade. High-profile teammates Guy Lafleur
Guy Lafleur
Guy Damien "The Flower" / "Le Démon Blond" Lafleur, OC, CQ is a former Canadian professional ice hockey player who is widely regarded as one of the most naturally gifted and popular players ever to play professional ice hockey...

, Steve Shutt
Steve Shutt
Stephen John Shutt is a former Canadian ice hockey player. He was an integral part of the Montreal Canadiens team that won five Stanley Cups in 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979.-Early years:...

, and Jacques Lemaire
Jacques Lemaire
Jacques Gerard Lemaire is a former ice hockey forward for the Montreal Canadiens and a long-time coach, most notably with the New Jersey Devils and the Minnesota Wild.-Playing career:...

 soon followed. The success of this blade chassis was such that by 1995, the various Canstar skate brands (Micron, Bauer, etc.) had a 70% NHL market share while their TUUK and ICM holders combined for a 95% share. (Note: Bauer no longer offers the ICM holder on player skates, although it is still offered with goalie skates, in addition to the TUUK cowling.)

In 1994, Bauer began producing the perforated TUUK chassis, which is the piece of equipment that connects the steel blade to the actual boot of the skate. This revolutionized the sport of hockey because it allowed skates to be made lighter, as well as more durable. Their current flagship skate is called the Bauer Supreme TotalOne. This new skate boot utilizes a non epoxy-based material that reportedly weighs 35-45% less than its predecessor, the Supreme One95 (a skate that only weighed 750 grams in a size 8). This low weight was achieved without the use of perforated runners. This skate is worn by players, including Mike Fisher, Eric Cole
Eric Cole
Major-General Eric Stuart Cole, CB, CBE was a senior British Army officer and telecommunications expert. He saw active service in the Second World War, with his most important contribution being the planning of communications for the invasion of Normandy...

 and Milan Lučić
Milan Lucic
Milan Lucic is a Canadian professional ice hockey left winger of Serbian origin currently playing for the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League . He played major junior with the Vancouver Giants in the Western Hockey League for three seasons and captured a Memorial Cup, while being named...

. An average of five players per NHL team wear Nike Bauer Vapor Skates. MSRP at launch was $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

860, but the average street price is presently about $450. The newer Supreme One100 is about $599. 3D anaformable ALIVE composite upper quarter package is a main upgrade of the One95's.

Nike era

In 1994, Canstar, the parent company of Bauer, became a wholly owned subsidiary of Nike
Nike, Inc.
Nike, Inc. is a major publicly traded sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States. The company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, which is part of the Portland metropolitan area...

. In 2006, beginning with the release of the Nike Bauer Supreme One90, the company's products were rebranded as Nike Bauer. This was the first time Nike had ever used a partner brand name o product. Nike has since divested itself of Bauer, the Nike Bauer name and logo has been discontinued and the company reverted back to being known as just Bauer.

Company history

The company was sold to investors Roustan, Inc. and Kohlberg & Co., on February 21, 2008. The company is once again known as Bauer Hockey, though the Nike Bauer trademark was used until mid-2009.

On September 25, 2008, Bauer announced the purchase of rival Mission
Mission Hockey
Mission is a company that makes roller hockey and formerly ice hockey equipment.Mission once produced ice hockey equipment as well. It merged with Itech in 2004, becoming Mission-Itech....

-Itech. Mission and Itech gear was rebranded as Bauer beginning in 2009.

Timeline:
1927 Bauer family of Kitchener starts company.
1933 Company develops the first skate with the blade attached to boot.
1950s Bauer becomes a division of shoe giant Greb Industries.
1974 Warrington Products, controlled by Bronfman family, buys Greb.
1975 Company launches the TUUK blade holder.
1981 Ski and skate boot entrepreneur Icaro Olivieri merges his company with Warrington.
1988 Olivieri and investment group executes leveraged buyout of struggling Warrington and renames it Canstar Sports. Firm focuses on hockey equipment.
1992 Hockey star Eric Lindros joins Bauer team.
1995 Nike buys Canstar, Bauer’s parent company, for $430 million.
1997 Bauer introduces the lightweight VAPOR skate and a better helmet with dual density foam.
2005 Company develops the VAPOR XXX one piece stick.
2008 Quebec-based Roustan Inc. and U.S.-based private equity firm Kohlberg & Co. purchase Nike’s Bauer assets for $200 million.
2010 Bauer buys Maverik Lacrosse.
2011 Company announces plan to become a public company with a listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

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