Hockey Sticks: with so many choices, where do I start?

The Bottom Line Finding the right stick is a personal choice. Understanding the options makes the decision a little less daunting.

The Basics
Sticks today come in a number of materials that in themselves can be overwhelming. These range from wooden shafts with ABS plastic blades, to traditional wood and fiberglass to full Kevlar. Prices can vary by a factor of ten, with a very simple stick costing around $15 and top end exotics being over $150.

There are other options as well. Two-piece sticks have been around for a while. The blade and shaft, sold separately, are hot-glued together. The term one-piece stick used to simply refer to a wooden stick, but now refers to the expensive, featherweight, composite jobs that would make NASA proud.

Sticks have come along way from the days when Christian Brothers introduced a fiberglass sock on a wooden stick to make it stronger. Today’s stick market has as much variety as the grocery store’s breakfast isle. While the overall selection of a stick is as much a matter of personal taste as cereal and breakfast bars, this article aims at helping you narrow that decision down and will look at:

1. Wooden Sticks
2. Two-piece sticks and blades
3. One-piece composite sticks
4. Picking out a pattern or curve
5. Selecting the proper flex and length 6. Taping and Waxing

The Wooden Stick
The wooden stick has been around since the inception of hockey. Despite the many improvements in this most basic piece of hockey gear, there are still quite a few NHL pros that prefer wood sticks.

What would make a pro player (who goes through three wooden sticks a week) prefer wood to the composite materials? Simple, the one thing that technology hasn’t improved is the feel. Even the best stick handlers will mention that the feel of a composite stick isn’t quite as nice as that of good old wood. If you cannot catch a pass, or stickhandle through the defense, there isn’t much point in being able to shoot an extra ten miles per hour.

The negative of a wood stick is simply durability. Even if you are like me and rarely break a stick, they will wear out. Shooting the puck hard requires flexing the shaft and getting a good pop, almost like a bow releasing an arrow. As you use wooden sticks, the spring that you need in releasing a shot gets weaker. Often this will take only a few hours of ice time to become noticeable.

Wooden sticks come in almost as many varieties as other sticks combined. The most basic is a standard solid wood with fiberglass reinforcement only at the blade or an ABS plastic blade (always pick ABS for outdoor play). A little better than these would be the laminates, which use layers of wood – similar to plywood – in the handle and blade. The blade in a laminate has fiberglass reinforcement. A step up from this would entail a fiberglass-reinforced shaft. At the top of all wooden stick types is the aircraft, or hollow core shaft, a shaft built from smaller strips of wood, that actually leaves hollow spaces in the core. The aircraft style shaft is the lightest wooden stick available and is always reinforced with fiberglass.

Wooden sticks are the only smart way to go for beginning players. A composite material stick is simply not going to benefit them in any way. Further, it will take some experimentation to find the proper curve for a new player, why experiment at $100 a stick?

Younger children, with the exception of a very few elite level players will also find little or no benefit from the more expensive one-piece and two-piece sticks. Parents, you can save your money for something better than your child’s bragging rights at practice. Unless a child is regularly breaking sticks in normal play, they should be using a wooden stick.

 Two-piece Shafts and Blades
The two-piece stick has been around for quite a few years now. Originally making its debut in the medium of aluminum, the two-piece shaft is now available exclusively in synthetic materials. Carbon Fiber and Kevlar are the choices of the manufactures.

The advantages in a two-piece stick are lighter weight, more consistent performance and durability. Space age materials and a hollow core make most two-piece sticks a great deal lighter than their traditional counterparts are. The type of a blade selected can change the weight somewhat, but it will almost always weigh less than a wooden stick. This of course translates into slightly quicker stick handling for the player.

A composite shaft can last for years. It is less prone to the stresses and inconsistencies that a wooden shaft is. The pop in a composite shaft will fade slightly over time, but what takes weeks in a wooden stick takes up to a year to occur in composite shafts. These materials will break from time to time just like any other stick, but most shafts come with a 30-day warranty, wooden sticks have none.

The downside to buying a two-piece is the cost. Even an inexpensive shaft and blade will cost twice what the most expensive wooden stick goes for. Realistically, the cheapest quality shaft on the market will cost about $50 and a low-end blade for it about $20. More likely you will spend over $100 and up to $170. However, since the largest numbers of breakages in sticks occur at the blade, the two-piece is an attractive option after the initial investment.

The type of blade selected will determine much of the durability in a two-piece. Reinforced wooden blades are among least expensive. These will give a good feel for the puck, but generally last the average player a few months at the most. ABS blades, similarly priced to wood, will work for ice hockey but are best suited for inline. ABS is the only type of blade recommended for outdoor use. It will wear down without delaminating. Composite blades are the most durable and expensive. They run the gambit from lightweight foam core blades with carbon fiber shells, to full Kevlar and carbon fiber construction. This type of blade can last for years.

Two-piece shafts and blades are generally interchangeable between brands. Junior and Senior are the two basic blade sizes that fit the shafts (intermediate shafts use Senior blades). The exception is the short hosel blades such as the Louisville R2 and the Easton Synthesis. These blades fit a narrower, longer shaft and come in intermediate sizes as well.

The Modern One Piece Sticks
The one-piece stick has only been around a few years now. Easton’s very popular Synergy started the craze and remains the most popular choice today. The one-piece is the lightest of the three basic choices available, and widely considered the top performer as well.

A one-piece stick will have a very nice, almost weightless feel to it when even the casual player picks it up. The one-piece is made of carbon fiber or Kevlar. Most have hollow cores although a few have foam centers to add to durability and at least one has a wooden aircraft style core.

Like a two-piece, the one piece is a very durable, high performance choice. The one-piece will give most players many months of quality play. There is little argument that a good player will notice a more powerful shot with a one-piece stick. The benefit to a less developed shooter will be negligible. If you don’t have a good shot to start with, there is no stick that can change that.

When the blade breaks in a one-piece it is not always a simple matter of replacing it as it is in a two-piece. Depending upon the brand and style of stick, replacing a blade might be impossible. At the very least, it will change the characteristics of the stick.

When putting a blade in a one-piece stick the broken end gets cut off. In many one-piece sticks this will become the new top of the stick as a blade will not fit in this tapered end. Flipping the stick changes the flex dynamics of the shaft. Unlike wood, one-piece sticks do not flex at a consistent rate throughout the shaft. An advantage of space age construction is the ability to put flex zones closer to the blade. This is one factor that allows players to increase their shot power with this style of stick. Flipping the shaft changes this putting the flex zones at the top.

Formerly, Easton made a narrow shaft blade called the T-blade that fit in the tapered end of most one-piece sticks. The T-Blade was discontinued after 2002. The new synthesis blades with a similar fit have a much shorter hosel. This creates problems where the player will have to use a longer butt end on their stick increasing the likelihood of breakage and once again changing the flex dynamics of the shaft.

So the biggest downside to the one-piece stick is that it is the most expensive option. Not only is the initial investment higher, but in order to keep that same high level of performance, players will need to buy a new stick every time they break one.

Players often complain about the feel of one-piece sticks. The blades are generally the heaviest part of these sticks and take away from the feel of the puck. Some of the newer sticks on the market have addressed this issue. Easton’s Si-core has a silicone core in the blade to add feel, Graf’s Goldline and Laser have foam cores that have a similar effect. CCM’s Vector has such outstanding balance that it also helps with this factor.

Selecting the Right Pattern
The pattern, or curve, of a stick or blade is the most personalized part of buying a stick. I can only help you to understand the differences here. The rest is as subjective as what kind of bagel you prefer (I had to stay with the breakfast theme).

Patterns used to be a lot easier to understand as they were labeled by their descriptors: curve, loft and lie. All but a couple brands have completely done away with this system in the age of corporate sponsorship deciding to use player names instead to differentiate patterns. Does this mean that picking a curve is a simple as deciding to using a Sakic pattern since you like the way he plays? Unfortunately it might not.

The most important factor in the selection is the lie. This term describes the angle of the blade to the shaft. If this angle is wrong, the blade will not sit flat on the ice and will cause undue difficulty in stick handling and shooting. If possible, look for a stick with skates on. Many shops will also have a box to stand on that simulates the height of skates. Make sure that your stick is flat when you are at skate level and in a playing stance. If you have a stick or blade that you are confident is the proper lie, it is always a good idea to bring it for comparison when you are looking for a new one.

The loft is just like a golf club. The more open the face of the blade, the easier it should be to get your shot airborne. If you find your shots going six feet over the goalie’s head, it’s time to look for a blade with less loft.

The curve is described as one of three types: heel, mid and toe. This is the place that most of the curve in a blade is concentrated. Which of these you chose will be as much personal preference as anything you buy in hockey. Even given these three basic curves there are as many different choices as you could possibly imagine. Changing curves will affect your shot and is something to experiment with before settling in on that expensive one-piece stick.

The type of toe on the blade comes in two basic varieties: round or square. Forwards generally prefer a round toe. Good stick handlers benefit from the ability to use a quick toe drag with a twist of the hands. Defensemen generally use a square-toed blade. These blades are usually longer and provide a better surface for blocking shots and keeping the puck from exiting the attack zone.

Very young children will be best suited with a straight blade stick. Most youth sticks come with a minimal curve at most, but I would stay away from even these. Oftentimes children this young haven’t even determined if they will play left or right-handed. A curve will only impair this decision. It offer no assistance to players this young regardless.

Size and Flex of the Stick
Players have recently begun to accept a common misconception that the easier a stick is to flex, the harder their shot will be. One and two-piece sticks will have a flex rating, often designated by a number. The notion that a more flexible stick yields harder shots is completely wrong.

Again think of the shaft as a bow. The stiffer a bow is, the more velocity it can send an arrow. The same is true for sticks. I suspect the source of this misconception is made from a nearly valid point. Obviously if the bow is so stiff that it cannot be pulled back, the arrow will not travel far. The same is true with sticks. Players should use the stiffest shaft that they can flex for top performance.

Any player over 150 pounds should be using a senior stick. In Easton terminology, this would be at least 85 flex. Players 175 and up should be using a 100 flex, over 200 a 110. These numbers are minimums. If a player has a good shot or above average strength for his or her size, they should think about going to a stiffer stick.

Women and younger advanced players might benefit from an intermediate stick. These are close to the same size as a senior stick, but have lighter flex and sometimes a slightly smaller girth.

With children the girth of the stick is generally a major factor. Make sure that the shaft is a comfortable diameter for their hands whether choosing a junior or a youth stick. The girth will often vary a bit between models and brands. Most children will not be as affected by lie as seniors since they are growing and the lie they need is continually changing. However, make sure they are not too tall for the lie to start with as it will only get worse.

Stick length for adults is generally between the chin and lips when standing the stick straight up. For growing players, the top of the nose is a good place to cut the stick. This should get them through a season. When playing, the top hand should cover the end of the shaft. I have heard rare cases of penalties given for having a stick too long. This can be determined by a longer than standard shaft length, but in a couple cases it was because too much of the shaft was above the player’s top hand. As odd as this penalty might sound, this creates a safety issue for players who might get butt ended by such sticks.

When cutting a one or two-piece stick, the butt-end should be cut as small as possible before cutting the composite portion of the stick. It can even be cut flush and later retrieved by driving a screw into it. This method ensures that as much of the stick is left intact, preserving the flex rate and dynamics and leaving room for growth if needed. Butt ends are required for safety and the lack of one can result in penalties in most leagues.

Taping and Waxing
The blade of the stick should always be taped except for in line hockey on concrete or asphalt. Many players use friction tape, or regular cloth tape will work. Friction tape is sticky on both sides and helps players catch passes.

When taping the blade you should always tape from heel to toe. This creates flaps that open as the puck strikes the blade. These pockets slow the puck down and help to keep it from sliding off. They also provide spin when shooting.

Wax should be used on all wood and fiberglass style blades. Waxing the tape will keep the water out of the blade and make it last a good deal longer. Wax on most composite blades will not make a difference in blade life.

Some leagues will allow only black or white tape on blades although it comes in a plethora of colors. I personally prefer black as it hides the puck a little better. If people don’t see you have the puck, it makes life a little easier.

The top of the shaft should be taped as well. Most players will put a small butt-end knob on their stick and several inches of tape below that. This helps you know exactly where your hand is on the stick and keeps you from dropping it.

That’s About it
Hopefully, I’ve given you enough information to make selecting your next stick a little easier. There is an unbelievable selection out there waiting for you, but it isn’t as daunting as it might seem with a little bit of background. Eventually it will become almost as simple as the decision of Cheerios over Wheaties.

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