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60PlusWinger

Anyone here have to go UP in stick flex?

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I’m 5’9 190lbs and I’ve used anything from 75-102 Flex. I don’t cut much off my sticks, maybe an inch off of Bauer retail length (even if it’s not a Bauer stick I’ll match it to that height). I’ve been in 75 Flex P28 for about a year but I’ve noticed my shots aren’t as hard. I recently picked up a new Trigger2 PMT and found the same thing. I went with a lower flex for easier loading but am finding the shots aren’t coming off as hot as 85/87. Anyone else here find they had to go UP in Flex because dropping hurt their shooting?

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I'm 5'9" 150 and I've been going down in flex, from 90 -> 85 -> 80 -> 75.

Since you're heavier, you might benefit in going up because you might just be overloading the whippier stick. Sounds like 85/87 is your sweet spot.

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I feel like I’m a strong shooter, I play B league men’s league in Boston but dropped in Flex to help with off camber and uncomfortable shots and am starting to think maybe quality vs quantity is a better approach.

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I'm 6' 190lbs and use 85/87 flex, cut about 1".  I don't lean heavily into shots and generate all my power with my wrists.  I tried going down to a 77 flex, thinking it would help, but it was like playing with a wet noodle.  Shot power was about the same, but release time was noticeably worse and passing suffered as well.

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6'2, 215 lbs/ Forward

I have been all over the place in flex- from 102, down to 75, and likely going to be settling in at either 85 or 95 (in CCM Tacks line). Same issues as everyone is saying- lower flex is nice to rip off quick wrist flick only type shots, without loading. However, I am better off with a stiffer stick, in terms of quicker release/ harder shots, if I have time to load it. 85-95 should be my sweet spot. If I played D, then I'd want a stiffer stick (95-100 or so); but I am definitely not a D.

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I've been playing a 75 flex pm9 and clones for 10 years. Before that, it was 85 flex pm9s. The occasional 88 clone makes its way in. 90% of those are mid-kick variations.  

Personally, consistency really helps me, rather than changing flex and curve and length and sticks every two weeks. 

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How many threads have you started about getting a stronger shot from X stick?  Seriously?  You're chasing that last 10% and it's likely causing more problems than results.

That being said, sticks lose their "pop" over time.  So any stick you've had for a year isn't going to shoot as hard as it did when it was new.  And yes, going lower in flex will help with load, but hurt with power.  I was talking with a Bauer rep at the Expo a few years ago and discussing flex and power.  He suggested I try going up in flex with the 1N because the new fibers caused easier loading.  So I'd be able to load a stiffer stick, and gain the benefit of a harder shot from that.  He was correct.  My shot noticeably improved going from 77 to 87.  You should be using the stiffest flex that you can load on all shots, optimizing for your style of play.  It's unlikely that you'll be able to get the same performance on all shots since different flex profiles work better for different things.  I feel like this is what you're chasing, and it just isn't possible.  You're changing one attribute, be it flex, curve, profile, brand, model, etc, to gain an edge on one thing and it's causing you to lose performance somewhere else.  Then you try and change again to get back what you lost, and so on.  I don't know what your hard on is for being Steve Stamkos and having this superhuman shot.  You play B league.  No one cares how hard your shot is.  Get what works best for how you mostly play and what you need and just go with it.

I'm not trying to be a jerk.  But it's constant threads asking the same questions all focused around this fixation of having the hardest shot ever recorded.

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6'2" 210ish and I use 75 flex low kick toe curve. My shots aren't the hardest but I release them quickly which works for where and how I play. I get a heavier shot with a stiffer flex and more modest curve but I can't load and release as fast so it's a trade-off.

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I find flex plays like a time window for me, the stiffer the flex, the smaller the window to load the stick, but the firmer the kick. I've had success with 75 and 100 flex shafts. 100 just kind of works for me naturally, without thinking about it. 85 and 110, I usually load at the wrong moment and have to take more time in the setup to load and release to get it closer to synchronized. 75's such a forgiving loading window that I can load early, middle, or late in the motion and still get a nice kick.

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Clearly there is a limit to where dropping down in flex ceases to be beneficial. A lot of this is personal taste. So while we can tell you that 110 is too stiff and 40 is too flexible, we can only give you personal anecdotes and tell you try different flexes, which clearly you have done. You do seem to be chasing that last little sliver of performance. I don't think it's worth the hassle, and as a previous posted points out, may not be possible. It's adult B league hockey, just have fun.

And not to throw another variable in the mix, but your stick sounds a little on the tall side.

 

Edit: Neely rules

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I went down as far as a 65. I'm 5'9, 240lbs if that even matters.

Primarily it was to make up for my lack of ability to flex a senior stick, and I don't know how to take slapshots so I figured something that will give me whip with no effort might be beneficial. It was however quite detrimental to my game in other ways. It was hard to take hard passes cleanly, for example.

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I'm 5'5 175 and use junior sticks. I have sticks listed as flexes from 40, 45, and 50, and way too many sticks. I find that stiffness varies from brand to brand, so I don't tend rely on a primary stick. What I do to try and optimize my performance is be the goof that brings 4 sticks to the game. I will switch sticks depending on the type of game, how I feel, and how I'm playing. Right now I bring a Tacks 2.0 50 flex, a QRL 50 flex, a Ek365 45 flex, and a T120 45 flex, to my games.

The Tacks is the firmer stick with stiffest blade, so I use that when it's a more grinding game and there's more stick work and digging involved. The QRL and EK365 are for when it's a skating game, and I need to get shots off quicker or if I'm just feeling weak that night. In addition the QRL tends to have a little bit better puck feel vs the Ek365, so depending on how my hands are doing that night, I'll use one or the other. The T120, I use for games in between, it's a firmer stick than the QRL and Ek365, but is a 45 flex, so I can snap them off faster than the Tacks 2.0. 

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I am 5'10", 150 lbs, and I was using 65 flex intermediates for a while. I had a pretty hard shot, but it lacked accuracy. Everything else in my game sucked. Stickhandling, passing, deflections. It was a pain in the butt trying to catch hard passes, since the puck would bounce off my whippy stick. I went up to an 85 flex, and it made a world of difference. I still have a hard shot and quick release, I'm much more accurate, I catch hard passes with ease, the list goes on.

I think for a beginner, the take your weight divided by two = flex is a helpful starting point. But honestly, go get a couple cheap sticks in various flexes (used $50 sticks on eBay), and do some testing in a stick and puck session. I did that with a 65, 75, and 85 flex over three different skates, and that's how I discovered I needed an 85.

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I think shooting technique and ability to adjust plays a more important role than flex x, curve y, brand/model/kick point z. For myself, I've noticed the biggest changes to shot power came from changing stick length. I've had mixed results just changing flex. 

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35 minutes ago, SCATMAN said:

I think shooting technique and ability to adjust plays a more important role than flex x, curve y, brand/model/kick point z. For myself, I've noticed the biggest changes to shot power came from changing stick length. I've had mixed results just changing flex. 

Just out of curiosity, what is the length you use? I play D and use a longer stick but keep circling back thinking I should go shorter.

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9 hours ago, six501 said:

Just out of curiosity, what is the length you use? I play D and use a longer stick but keep circling back thinking I should go shorter.

I'm 6'1 and with that in mind I'm trying out retail height Bauer sticks at the moment (65" measured standing up against a wall resting on the toe), they come to about an inch below my chin when on skates. I've had varied results using 68", 66.5", 65" and 63.5" lengths. After recently going from 68" to 65" I feel my shots are better overall with a shorter stick (power/release/control).

Davideo mentioned it before, OP's stick probably sits somewhere between the tip of and halfway up his nose when on skates - That's a long stick!

 

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5' 11" - 210 lbs.

I played mainly center for the competitive portion of hockey "career" and at the beginning of me joining men's league after college. When I played forward, I like using the shorter, whippier sticks. Now, I've been playing D and usually like high flex (number) and uncut retail sticks.They seem to last longer for me. At SummerJam 9, I got to use the QRL in 75 flex. Loved the whip but know it would break on me in month or two haha.

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5'9 170lbs and i use 67 flex intermediate sticks i cut down to the top of my upper lip when barefoot. used 100 flex senior sticks i'd cut at the top of my nose forever til about 2 years ago. since i started using shorter whippier sticks, my shooting, stickhandling, passing have all gotten better and my sticks don't break as easily. also after the blade goes "dead" the stick is still usable thanks to the whip. with 100 flex once the blade pop left the stick was garbage

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I'm 6'1 about 215lbs and I recently went all the way down to a 75 Flex. But depending on the stick brand, I have varying results.

For instance the Easton Synergy 750GX and CCM RBZ 360 at 75 Flex are good for me. However, prior to those two sticks I used Easton Synergy HTX at 100 Flex and the RBZ 260 at 85 Flex. The old Easton HTX's would loosen up after a few games but the RBZ was stiff until the day it broke. But from your post, it sounds like the 85(or 87 in Bauer) is probably your sweet spot. 

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