Sticks?

 I think from now on I'm just going to keep this blog mostly centered around sports, cars, photography and technology. Mainly because there safe ground and something I love. I've given up, I can't try to please  everybody with my blog. It's something I've come to realize based on the fact I find myself not enjoying my own blog.

Today just happens to be a hockey day for me. OK well I guess it's a Hockey day for you, since it's always a hockey day for me. It's my national sport will technically national winter sports since lacrosse is the summer sport. Hockey just so happens to be a year round sport due to various forms of play( I refuse to consider field hockey!). They'll tell you your skates are the most important thing and I'll tell you it's the Stick! The stick is the most important in hockey because it's consistent through out it's variations. In certain types of ice hockey the stick will be over ridden in importance.
Ice hockey- Skates
Roller Hockey- inline skates
The stick remains a priority throughout.

A lot of people truthfully have no idea how to go about getting a hockey stick. It's one thing to just buy any plastic stick if it's for a four year old who'll be playing around in the yard. It gets quite a bit more technical with age.


Do you need a lefty or a righty
At the start of your stick choosing journey..getting the stick meant for the correct on the proper side. Sounds easy enough right? You happen to be right handed so naturally you'll need a right handed stick. NOPE and there are several hockey players who make this mistake. Go to any ice rink and you'll note there are far to many " Righties" players using right handed sticks. With studies pitching a statistic of 70-90% of the world's population being dominant right handed individuals. That fact about the ice rink seems like it fits. Problem is hockey sticks are named on with there curves. Which evidently throws many people off. It's not all that noticeable if you do pick a stick meant for the opposite side. Because it'll feel comfortable most of the time. But your game actually suffers a little. In hockey the bottom hand on your stick is the driving force, while your upper hand controls how accurate your shot is. Because of the way the sticks are named a lot of competitive hockey players and the backyard players are using the wrong stick. A right handed person should be using a stick who's blade curves left( Lefty stick) and a left handed player should be using a stick with a right blade curve.

A simple way to figure out weather a stick is a lefty or a righty. Put the top of the shaft flat on the ground and have the blade so it's pointing away from you. Whatever side the inward curve faces will give you the answer.

What style of Hockey will it be used for and your physical strength and size?
These are two things that should be considered in choosing a hockey stick. If your past the age of 9 it's a good rule of thumb to forget about plastic sticks even for backyard hockey players.
Hockey sticks can become very expensive and your wanting to invest wisely. I'm going to break this down into two sections. Backyard Hockey ( basic road hockey) and Competitive Hockey( Ice, Roller and Ball).

Backyard Hockey- It's not the NHL and when your playing with your buddies the size of your stick just needs to be comfortable for you. It's a good idea to keep it between your nose and shoulders and use whatever feels best. Personally I want to say keep it between chin and maybe your mid point upwards on your chest. It's backyard hockey and there is no need for professional model sticks designed for high level players. It's safe to just consider cheaper composite sticks and graphite sticks and wooden sticks. If stronger your are physically you'd most likely wont a solid stick. If the stick feels thin to you...it probably is.

Competitve Hockey- Competitive Hockey presents the technically sides. If you know you'll be playing a forward position you generally should  play with a stick on the shorter end of the spectrum. It definitely with controlling the pucks and generally a forward will take a wrist shot before a slap shot. A great example of a great forward shots would be Sidney Crosby who plays center. However it should be comfortable as well.

Defensive players should probably go with sticks on the longer side to increase their ability to poke check a puck properly and recover. The longer length will actually help with putting power behind a slap shot. Since almost all goals scored by defensive players are slap shots from behind the blue line.  A great example of defensive shooting would be Canadian Hockey Player Shea Weber. But the stick shouldn't be to long. I've seen guys 5'9 playing with defensive sticks that are almost to long for Mario Lemieux and he's like 6'3. However the stick should be comfortable.

Regardless of position one should take in the physical size and strength and often age of the player. Young kids playing ice hockey in general can get by just fine on cheep sticks. at the level of novice and atom.  Skating is the key component being taught along with passing. So paying 80$ for a nice Easton Synergy playing stick isn't the smartest the move. That don't need it and frankly they don't have the motor skills or strength or training to get the full effect of any pro model stick. Depending on the competitive level of play you might opt for more expensive sticks. High Tier hockey players tend to play Composite and sometimes graphite sticks in opposition of wooden sticks.
Generally younger players need a more flexible stick were older players play firmer sticks.

Beyond these it really comes down to preferences and what works for you. Some might prefer a curved toe on there blade or a square toe. ( Toe: The very end of your Blade) some prefer two part sticks where the blade and shaft are fused together while other play single shafted models where shaft and blade are one.. The hardest thing to do is buy a hockey stick for someone else ( Who isn't present when your shopping) or buying a stick online you have no experience with.

One thing I recommend if your going to order online is going to the store and trying the stick out before hand. Test it out in the store for flexibility and feel take a puck or ball off the shelf and stick handle a bit. Don't be afraid to do this since most stores that deal heavily in Hockey expect that to happen and you won't get in trouble. Providing your doing it in a respectful manner and not knocking things off shelves.
Then taking the make and model of the stick along with measurement and ordering according to that.
One store that's great for this is " Pro Hockey Life" they have it set up so you can demo the sticks and actually fire off shots. It's actually really cool!

Personally when I'm playing my secondary position as defence my preference stick is a Joe Sakic model Easton Ultra Lite from 2002 in a 2 part stick. It's wooden with a rounded toe and I've babied it to death. It's sized at an Intermediate instead of senior since I bought it at the age of 12 or 13 and I've never had to replace the blade or shaft.

My Sticks Yellow- Ball and Road Hockey, Grey is for Ice Hockey

For street and ball hockey I use a the Koho MVP66 Jager model which Is on the extreme end of the short spectrum. I'm a forward in ball hockey and the curve on the Jager allows me to get a nice lift on wrist shots as well as put a curve on the ball. For the 17$ I spent on this stick it's bloody amazing. I've managed to bust 8 or 9 different composite sticks.

Thats really all I have to say about sticks, in the future I'll do a segment on goalie sticks. Generally most people who take up hockey on the ice at least start as skaters and usually choose net a year or two later. Not all the time but usually.

Keep in mind how expensive a stick is and who's pro model it is. The stick doesn't make the player or the talent. It's the determination and practice that make the talent and build the skill and the player so there able to get the niceties of a more advanced stick. If a player lacks those in the ends he's just slapping the puck around and hoping for a Weber or a Crosby to happen.