If you are new to playing ice hockey choosing a good hockey stick can be a surprising challenge. One of the key questions you will need to answer is whether to go with a wood hockey stick or a composite hockey stick. Even though there are almost no players using wood hockey sticks in the NHL, choosing a wood hockey stick for a recreational hockey player can be a great choice.
The advantages of the newer composite sticks are many. The sticks are lighter, they are more consistent from stick to stick and they have been engineered to provide player with a quicker shot. The quicker shot comes from the lower kick points in composite sticks. The kick point is the play on the hockey shaft where the stick bends when your stick the puck. With wood shafts the bend tends to be where you place your lower hand. This causes a larger and slower loading and release cycle. Low kick point composite sticks place the bend point at the bottom of the shaft near the blade. This provides a shorter loading and release cycle and the net result is a quicker shot.
The disadvantages of composite sticks are their feel and their (perceived) durability and cost. There is a commonly held belief that a wood stick telegraphs the sense of the puck on the stick better than a composite stick does. This difference in feel between wood and composite is getting smaller all of the time, to the point that you should try both and make your own decision. It is also believed by many that composite sticks break more frequently than wood sticks do. Many NHL teams have conducted their own research on this and they have found that the sticks break at the same frequency. The thing that does happen is that the wood sticks would feel like they were beginning to give out so players would get a new one before the break was obvious during game play. With composite sticks, they players can't tell if one is about to break and so they tend to break in a very dramatic fashion during games.
Wood sticks usually run on third to one quarter of the cost of most composite hockey sticks. If you break multiple sticks in a season, this could make a big difference in your buying decision. Beginning players are well advised to purchase a wood stick for their very first hockey stick. Once they start to acquire the basics of stick handling they can evaluate an upgrade purchase that is tailored to their style of play. Going this route has the advantage of a well matched stick to the play plus the wood stick becomes a backup stick to take to games in case the main stick breaks.
Once you chose between a wood hockey stick or a composite there are a couple of other key elements that go into getting you the perfect stick. The first is stick length. You hockey stick should come up to your chin when you are in skates and the stick is held vertically in front of you with the blade on the ice. Depending on how tall you are you will want one of 4 standard sticks sizes (youth, junior, intermediate and senior). You will need to cut one of these sticks down to the right size for you. Next is the blade of the stick. You will need to get a right or left handed blade based upon how you shoot and a curve that matched your style of play. The last element you need to determine is the flex of the stick. You don't want a flex that is too stiff or too limp because it wil be hard to handle the puck at either extreme.
In the end it all comes to personal choice. You need to try out a large variety of sticks to find the one that is best suited to your skills and your budget. As your skills and experience improve over time you "perfect" hockey stick will evolve as well. - 15343
The advantages of the newer composite sticks are many. The sticks are lighter, they are more consistent from stick to stick and they have been engineered to provide player with a quicker shot. The quicker shot comes from the lower kick points in composite sticks. The kick point is the play on the hockey shaft where the stick bends when your stick the puck. With wood shafts the bend tends to be where you place your lower hand. This causes a larger and slower loading and release cycle. Low kick point composite sticks place the bend point at the bottom of the shaft near the blade. This provides a shorter loading and release cycle and the net result is a quicker shot.
The disadvantages of composite sticks are their feel and their (perceived) durability and cost. There is a commonly held belief that a wood stick telegraphs the sense of the puck on the stick better than a composite stick does. This difference in feel between wood and composite is getting smaller all of the time, to the point that you should try both and make your own decision. It is also believed by many that composite sticks break more frequently than wood sticks do. Many NHL teams have conducted their own research on this and they have found that the sticks break at the same frequency. The thing that does happen is that the wood sticks would feel like they were beginning to give out so players would get a new one before the break was obvious during game play. With composite sticks, they players can't tell if one is about to break and so they tend to break in a very dramatic fashion during games.
Wood sticks usually run on third to one quarter of the cost of most composite hockey sticks. If you break multiple sticks in a season, this could make a big difference in your buying decision. Beginning players are well advised to purchase a wood stick for their very first hockey stick. Once they start to acquire the basics of stick handling they can evaluate an upgrade purchase that is tailored to their style of play. Going this route has the advantage of a well matched stick to the play plus the wood stick becomes a backup stick to take to games in case the main stick breaks.
Once you chose between a wood hockey stick or a composite there are a couple of other key elements that go into getting you the perfect stick. The first is stick length. You hockey stick should come up to your chin when you are in skates and the stick is held vertically in front of you with the blade on the ice. Depending on how tall you are you will want one of 4 standard sticks sizes (youth, junior, intermediate and senior). You will need to cut one of these sticks down to the right size for you. Next is the blade of the stick. You will need to get a right or left handed blade based upon how you shoot and a curve that matched your style of play. The last element you need to determine is the flex of the stick. You don't want a flex that is too stiff or too limp because it wil be hard to handle the puck at either extreme.
In the end it all comes to personal choice. You need to try out a large variety of sticks to find the one that is best suited to your skills and your budget. As your skills and experience improve over time you "perfect" hockey stick will evolve as well. - 15343
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Hockey Sticks are one of the most important pieces of ice hockey equipment and choosing the right one can make a huge difference in your game. We have a lot more useful information at Hockey Stick Expert about composite hockey sticks and more.
