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kyleo29

composite sticks in cold weather

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Hey anyone use their high end sticks on the pond in really cold conditions? Wondering if that makes them stiff and brittle. I usually bring my 5030 outdoors

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ive been playing all my life on outdoors rinks and i always bring my top of the line sticks, and never had a problem although i dont take slapshots. if i wanna do a shooting/one-timing slapshots sessions, i bring a stick that i no longer use in games cause yeah, its if cold its probably more fragile (but i do that indoors too though...i just never use my main stick when im alone practicing my shooting)....as far as just playing shinny outdoors, never had a problem with my expensive sticks and i play in pretty cold conditions here in Montreal (despite global warming) ...anywhere from 0 to -25 C ..(for you yanks its from 32 to -13 farenheits).

playing pond hockey with a nice twig is really one of life's greatest pleasure...i love it. i love outdoors actually more than indoor hockey for many reasons, so i would never bring a cheap twig.....whats really funny actually and im not joking is that i save my top sticks for outdoors, and i bring something else to play indoor ..lol.. i dont know if anybody else does that....i just love outdoors man!

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Personally I think the cold makes a big difference. Last year I had a bunch of APX2 SE model sticks. The things were tanks. I've never been one to snap sticks, I generally just break blades when a stick finally does go. Last year I was playing on a moderately cold night, about 10°F. I caught a pass and noticed the stick felt a little strange, I made a pass about 5 Seconds later and the stick exploded. Just below where my hand was broke completely off of the upper half of the shaft. That was the only stick I broke in half all year. It could have been cracked or just a weak spot but I don't think either of those were the case.

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Personally I think the cold makes a big difference. Last year I had a bunch of APX2 SE model sticks. The things were tanks. I've never been one to snap sticks, I generally just break blades when a stick finally does go. Last year I was playing on a moderately cold night, about 10°F. I caught a pass and noticed the stick felt a little strange, I made a pass about 5 Seconds later and the stick exploded. Just below where my hand was broke completely off of the upper half of the shaft. That was the only stick I broke in half all year. It could have been cracked or just a weak spot but I don't think either of those were the case.

That area where it breaks seems to be the weak spot on APX2's. I've known multiple people that have gone through numerous APX2's and they've always broken there. Obviously everyone has different experience with sticks but that it always the spot I hear about on that model.

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I honestly did not know the answer to this, so I went on google and looked.

I'm not sure what type of carbon fiber matrix they use in top end sticks these days, but the common consensus amongst the studies was that carbon fiber mainly gets stiffer as the temperature goes down. However, temperature didn't seem to have much effect on the tensile strength, so odds are unless you are in some extremely cold conditions (or extremely hot) temperature won't make a huge difference. Stick might end up feeling a bit more stiff or you lose a bit of puck feel, but it doesn't seem like playing pond hockey will cause your stick to blow up.

I'd link the studies I read but for whatever reason the filters here at work don't place nice with this website.

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Just an interesting observation, I find that sticks are so much easier to load up on outdoor rinks because the ice surface is rougher, and hard shots come effortlessly.

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