Oilpatch

Product: Louisville TPS XN10 / Tucker pattern / regular flex / left-handed for $130 CAN!!!! with a warranty too! Blade - Definitely can tell its a prepeg blade. Very stiff. Appears and feels much more durable than my last 2 synergy blades but time will tell. Only thing is that this blade has such a "hot" face that if you are a sloppy stickhandler or just getting used to the stick you might lose the puck sometimes handling the puck in close. The blade has an almost ceramic feel to it, which helps with the feel i think. "B+" Flex - The stick I got is a Reglar, feels pretty similar to easton 100 flex, but maybe a litte whippier. Perfect for my size, weight, and shooting style. I give it an "A" (personal preference) Stickhandling/receiving passes - I am a decent stickhandler, and I find that light weight, balance, and the blade of the stick all make noticible differences in my puckhandling ability. For weight and balance I have yet to see a stick that can hang with the XN10. It is extremely light and the balance makes puckhandling lighting quick. Yet even with the almost nonexistest weight this stick still plays well in the corners, and feel is very good. The only problem i had is adjusting to the reactiveness of the blade face, but I am sure this well get better as I get more used to the stick. Recieving passes is a bit tricky because the blade face is so reactive, but it does about as well as any synergy i have used in this respect. Just practice having soft hands and its not hard to get used to. "B+" Shooting - This is why this stick is not only good, but "FUN" Man does this thing shoot rockets. If you know what you are doing you will scare goalies, shot blockers, and the people sitting pressed up against the glass. The double concave shape, the 11" taper, and the super hot blade face all combine to make for a stick with some serious pow pow. When shooting I can feel the stick add a lot of kick to almost all of my shots (slaps, wrists, and snaps and well i guess its not gonna help your backhand...) - this stick has a lot of spring. While i noticed this to a lesser extent with my synergies as well, to get the same effect with those I had to put a lot more into the shots and my form had to be perfect. Accuracy is also really good with this stick. Makes it easier to pick corners when snapping. Also, this stick has an extremely quick reload time. It will still kick even if you are hacking a rebound in front of the net 3 times in a row. Gotta give it an "A+" for shooting. Passing - This thing is the nicest passing stick i have used. Its easy to thread rockets along the ice through traffic for your teammates. Just make sure you are passing to guys who can take hard crisp passes! "A+" Weight and balance - Like I said, I have never seen anything as light and well balanced as this stick. Plus even with the light weight it still feels like a solid hockey stick not a badminton racket or whiffle stick. "A+" Durability - Its a one piece stick. It will surely break someday and I am prepared to be sad about it. In my hands the shaft feels less durable than my synergies but that could just be me. To be fair, TPS says its supposed to be extremely slash resistant because of some type of new carbon they use in it. Can't really fairly rate this until after I break it though. "B" for how it is holding up so far Feel - great feel of the puck on the stick. Easier to feel the puck then any two-piece or synergy i have used so far. "A" Overall, great stick. If you already know how to shoot this will help you take your game to a higher level. If you are a beginner, a smaller kid, or you have a crappy shot this won't help you that much. Put a mattress up in your garage and take shots instead because it will help far more and cost way less money - I wouldnt bother with OPS yet as you really need to have good technique and a bit of weight to get much out of high-performance one piece sticks. Overall though a winner for TPS. I don't think I will go back to easton even though I liked them a lot. "A"