My son plays and I've coached off and on, I blame the parents for the most part. It's so competitive and the extra hour of training or the few grams lighter a stick is, they have disposable income and just buy them everything. It's absurd.
They spend $300 on a stick that the kid's not strong enough to flex, and it's so light, but they wrap layers of hockey tape to make it heavy again. And most kids aren't even good hockey players. They just want the coolest things.
It's a status thing more than anything. And kids, as early as 8-9 years old, know the good sticks/brands, what the pros use, they want the same things.
I explain all this crap to my son all the time, the marketing/branding, how pros use stuff because they get it for free, how much they make from this stuff, how it doesn't make you better and why it doesn't. For me, it's less about the money and more about him understanding the manipulation around him - because that will be around forever. See: Garth Snow - "we're always looking to improve the team"