MISSOULA — Local hockey shops are critical in their hockey communities and in Missoula, Hockey Lacrosse Wolf fills that role.
Before you step out onto the ice, you need the properly fitted equipment.
That’s where local shop Hockey Lacrosse Wolf steps in providing a much needed service to a large passionate community in Missoula.
"Its really nice because you can come in and get the right size and make sure it works. If your not sure you can take it to the rink which is just like 5 blocks away and try it out and then if it doesn’t fit you can take it back and get a different size," said Ruth Crosby/Bantam.
And with a game like hockey or lacrosse the wrong equipment could lead to injuries. Making local shops imperative to the protection of players
"You can even see with a customer that came in this morning that just actually left our store came down from Whitefish. Got his 11 year old kid outfitted in goalie gear and he got that personal service and that expert fitting," said Traver Mcleod, the Hockey Lacrosse Wolf general manager.
Despite Hockey Wolfs importance the pandemic hit their business like many others in our area.
'Come March 12th it hit us pretty hard. Working with the government and being set up for PPE was quite the learning curve," said Mcleod.
But so far support for the Missoula community has kept them going through the pandemic.
"But the local Missoula community helped build put us where we are at today. We still had some people come in as soon as we opened up so that kind of helped us get back on our feet," said Mcleod.
Mcleod said their lacrosse sales took the biggest hit from the pandemic due to the almost completely canceled season but they expect a bounce back come next year.
