hoosing Sticks and Shafts That Meet Your Needs
There are two pieces of gear that can greatly affect your abilities on the rink: Skates and Stick. Your pants or shoulder pads won’t help you score more goals, but your stick sure can. That’s why it is important to look at your options carefully when choosing. Here is the broad view on sticks:
Traditional Wood Sticks
Wood sticks tend to give the player an excellent "feel" for the puck and deliver the player excellent performance at a great price.
Hybrid Wood Sticks
Hybrids combine the price and feel of a wood stick with the performance of a composite blade. This type of stick is the perfect choice for the person wanting better performance but not wanting to spend $100 on a stick.
Composite Shafts
Composite shafts can be excellent or terrible depending upon the construction of the shaft. Better shafts are lighter than wood sticks, have a tuned flex (the flex can be moved up or down the shaft and fine tuned for total flexibility), and are more consistent than wood sticks. Low end composite shafts are heavier than wood sticks and have very little feel.
Composite One Piece Sticks
One Piece Composites were once the domain of the NHL. Now this technology has leaked down to the rest of us. With a One Piece, you get the best possible puck feel, a tuned shaft, and the ultimate in light weight. There are really only two downsides:
1) Price
2) You need to have settled on a curve you like before purchasing since the blades are not interchangeable.
Consider these factors when choosing a stick or shaft:
Flex:
Flex in a shaft is one of the most important choices you will make when choosing a new stick. A very stiff rating is not always better. In fact, most players actually shoot better with a flexier stick. Why? Think of it like a bow and arrow. If you are not strong (or skilled) enough to bend the bow very much, the arrow will not fly very far or fast. With a hockey stick, the ability of the player to utilize the flex in the stick to a very large degree determines how much the stick can "assist" the players shot.
Shape:
There are factors to consider with regards to the shape of a shaft:
1) Flex Distribution: When a shaft is tapered to a narrower cross section, the stick is encouraged to flex more in that area. By putting the taper toward the bottom, the KickPoint is lowered. A lower kickpoint equals more accuracy.
2) Grip: A standard handle style is a rectangular shape with relatively square corners. A radius handle has rounded corners for a smaller, thinner grip. Your handle choice will be in large part a personal preference.
Material:
Composite shafts can |