Hills

$799 now...

They live! Nice.

Sherwood Rekker EK60 85 Flex P26 Stastny Stick History: Sherwood 9950 Wood Coffey, Bauer Supreme (Sport Chek SMU) Kane, Sherwood T70 Stastny, Winwell GX8, Easton RS Parise, Warrior AK27 , Warrior DT1LT Pavelski, Warrior DT1ST Grandlund, Verbero PM44, Sherwood Rekker EK60 PP26 Stick Info: Height: uncut Weight: 387 Grams Grip: No Shaft: Matte Length: 59 inches Usage: 6 Months Personal Details: Male, 6'3", 210lbs, 26 years old. Adult B-level. About me: I played hockey my life as a goalie and about 4 years ago I decided I wanted more ice time and that I wanted to skate out as a player. I had no idea what kind of stick I liked as well as what curve I liked and what flex, this was all new to me and my shot was terrible to begin with as expected. Since then I have obviously gotten better and stronger but I am still figuring out what curve/length/flex that I prefer. Review Details: I have used this stick for about 5 months as my primary stick. I started out using it with its stock length, and then added a plug to attempt to get the stick to my prefered length. I have then taken the plug out as I was having more difficulties with it in than with dealing with the shorter length. Preface: I got this stick for free so I would do a review on it and give feedback back to Sherwood. This stick isn’t my ideal stick in terms of length and curve. I like heel curves more than toes but there wasn’t a real good heel curve option for this stick. Since I am playing forward now more often than defense I figured I’d try out the toe curve. Grip: I am not a huge fan of grip sticks so I opted out for the non-grip version of the Rekker EK60. The shaft is made of a nice matte finish paint that feels great in my hands. I like the matte better than glossy sticks since I feel the matte gives better grip and just doesn’t feel as slippery while not being overbearing in grip. I feel this is a pretty standard matte stick and the only style of grip I have enjoyed more is the Warrior Velvet grip. 9/10 Aesthetics: I think Sherwood does a really good job with their sticks, from the T90 to T120, retro wooden Rekker EK15 to the newest EK60 Sherwood does a good job of using colours as accents as well as showing the “exposed” weave in certain places on the stick. I feel like the orange, black, white and grey colour scheme works really well and is never too gaudy or loud. The small graphene molecule design on the lower part of the shaft is a nice nod to the new material Sherwood is using there. While the design is good and works well over all price points it still isn’t my favourite looking stick (the Easton Mako) but I have absolutely no complains here. 9/10 Blade/Curve: Like I said earlier I like heel curves and there wasn’t an option for one when picking this stick so the toe curve I have on this doesn’t exactly work perfectly for me. The blade in this Sherwood feels extremely firm and since the day I got it has not gotten softer or felt like it has started to break down. This was a bit of a change from what I am used to but I learned to really like the firm feeling blade as it is great for feeling exactly where the puck lands on a hard pass and I have never felt a pass that a puck bounced off of the blade when I believe I should’ve been able to corral it. Blade flex seems pretty non existent so shooting is extremely consistent in regards to the blade. With the toe curve I had to adapt my passing and how I play defense since I found saucer passing to be more difficult and low shots from the point creeping up too high making it harder for deflections and rebounds on goalies with active hands. Because of the toe curve and stick length I have had a bit of a challenging time reaching for pucks and losing pucks off the toe. I am used to flatter blades and toe curves make the blade slightly shorter I find I am losing more pucks off the toe while stick handling. Since I enjoy the blade stiffness so much I will look for this when purchasing future sticks and the only negative I have about the stiffness is you can feel a bit more vibration on shots and passes.. Curve: 6/10, Blade: 9/10 Stick Handling: I am more of a defensive player and will admit to having a set of concrete hands. With that said this stick has created a learning curve for me when I used it and switched from the longer and flatter bladed Warrior DT1LT. I found that I’d lose the puck off the toe pretty frequently as I’d expect a flatter blade to be there, I also had a lot of problems reaching to stop pucks along the boards and found pucks would squeeze under the curved toe. With that said the extreme light weight of this stick makes stick handling easier and makes my hands feel faster than with heavier sticks. The firm blade helps with knowing where the puck is on the blade. The balance of this stick is very good in the sense that you can feel where the blade is at all times, unlike the Verbero stick I reviewed where it felt like you were playing with just a shaft and no blade at all. With the Sherwood you always know where the blade is and there is never that feeling of detachment. My only negatives with the stick handling are because of a curve that isn’t suited to my liking. 8.5/10 Shooting: I was extremely excited to try this stick out since I REALLY like the Rekker EK15 during my short time using a demo stick (that was brand new). When I used the Rekker EK15 I found that my shots were not as explosive as other sticks by the shot placement and shot consistency was amazing. While my Warrior sticks are 100 flex I used an 85 flex EK15 and they felt pretty similar in terms of flex, so I went with a 85 flex for the EK60. I feel that the flex in the EK60 plays stiffer than it did in the EK15 and in order for me to really get whip on the stick I have to REALLY lean into the shot. I decided to add an extension into this stick to try and help my issue with losing pucks off of the toe and get my prefered reach back, but in doing so the flex of the stick was completely thrown off balance. The stick became much whippier (obviously, adding length does that) but with the extension the flex point of the stick got completely misaligned with where my lower hand placement is. Whenever I’d go for a shot (snap, slap, and wrist) my lower hand would feel like it was pushing against a solid non flexing stick. Lower down the shaft the stick would flex but my hands felt that they had very little to do with it and I felt like I had absolutely no control of the shot and how the stick flexed. I tried the extension for over 2 months until I was sick of flubbing shots. If I didn’t have a shot lined up perfectly I would really “flub” the shot where it would weakly flip end over end in the air and often miss the target by a wide margin. Since I took the extension out my shooting has been much more consistent. I feel that this stick has a very small sweet spot when it comes to really getting off a good shot. If my hands are in the perfect spot and my weight doesn’t go onto the stick in the perfect shot I end up with a mediocre attempt that won’t blast by a goalie because of the quick release, but the shot is accurate. When I really get a hold of a shot with this stick you can tell it is explosive, but my problem is how difficult it is for me to get that explosive shot off. My normal shot with this stick is still considerably better than the Verbero stick I reviewed earlier, but the normal shot with this stick is considerably softer and slower than when I use a Warrior DT1LT/ST. In golf there are “player” clubs and “game improvement” clubs, the “player” clubs give the best performance but you have to be an excellent player to get that performance while the “game improvement” clubs allow regular players like me get a good shot off more frequently. This stick feels like a “players” stick where my Warriors feel more like “game improvement” sticks, and for me the difference is that with the Sherwood 2-4/10 shots become dangerous while the Warriors it is more of 7-9/10 shots are dangerous. I feel this stick has a high ceiling of shooting potential but takes much more effort in getting a good shot off where my Warriors I can get a good release no matter my stance and hand positions. 7/10. Passing: If this stick had a heel curve that I prefer it would easily be the best stick I have ever used for passing. With the firm blade and firm shaft I can make short and long passes with ease without having to worry about a long hard pass becoming a shot (something that would happen occasionally with the aggressively kicking Warrior DT1LT). When I had the extension in the stick I did have the issue with the stick flexing too much on long passes, but I cannot blame the stick on that issue when it was because of the extension I put in it. The firm blade is absolutely phenomenal for passing for both giving and receiving. 9.5/10 Durability: Sherwood advertises this stick to use Graphene in the shaft for increased durability. I really don’t know how much Graphene they actually use but can happily say this stick performs remarkably similar to how it performed the very first time on the ice. There are paint chips like normal but the toe is still in great shape and the blade has blocked shots and been stepped on by the only damage is aesthetics. Durability for this stick has been remarkably good. 10/10 Feel: Since the Rekker EK15 Sherwood has advertised the Rekker line as being the lightest sticks on the market, and they are in fact ridiculously light. Unlike other super light sticks I have used the balance of the EK60 is fantastic. The shaft feels extremely light but I can still tell that the stick has a blade, and at the same time the blade doesn’t feel like an anchor. The stiff blade means I can feel the puck on the stick at all times, with a blade that deadens puck feel you sometimes don’t feel the puck when stick handling but that is never an issue with the EK60. 10/10 Closing: This stick is still my go to stick (since I am getting more and more used to the length and I feel that it is a good valued stick. Sherwood lists this stick at $200 vs $270 for other brands top of the line sticks, to be that feels like a perfect price point for what this stick offers. I rarely got the explosive shot performance that I got from other top end sticks but it is considerably better than anything I have tried before it that are close to this price range. While it doesn’t have the shot power or explosiveness of my Warrior or RS it has stayed firm and has not lost its feel like both the Warrior and RS did. With the lightweight, high shoot ceiling and durability I feel this stick is a great value and a good option for someone who doesn’t want to pay top stick prices. I wish Sherwood would make more curves available and offer different shaft lengths as if I was stick shopping those would be a deal killer for me, but if their offerings fit your play style I would absolutely recommend this stick to someone. Overall Score: 8.5/10 Blade has been well used but has never lost the stiff feeling and doesn't feel like it is breaking down. The heel has damage, but nothing out of the ordinary and it isn't falling apart and doesn't have pieces chipping off. More of the heel. More use at the bottom of the blade. Dents on the hosel and lots of use, but it still plays like it did the first day I got it. Blade sustained a crack from what I think was a skate. Everything underneath seems fine and it has had this for a few months with no ill affects. Toe is worn as well, but holding up better than any stick I had before it (Warrior DT1Lt was good at this too). The paint is chipped heavily from use. But it doesn't flake off easy. Close up of the paint.

I had a team tell me they wanted me to try out for them. I laughed at them and said have fun with someone else. My team beat them regularly after that. You should do the same.

Makes sense. I guess that is the downside to custom orders... having to wait for them.

Why did you get a new glove?

Dangler fixes this ;)

Teammate got a pretty good one of me.

The girl friend (she is breezie on the site) and I played in a tournament this weekend and since it was the 10th anniversary of it they gave us free photos! The first picture shows why I love 11ks so much.

Gloves look great, really interested in their custom options.

$40-60 is cheaper than buying an entirely new glove to try it.

Is there a reason I missed for their being no 15"?

There is a simple solution for people like this, ban them. I don't understand why leagues won't do it. It is easy enough for the refs to know who these players are and to not start the game with them.

Rinks here are public, and the leagues rent out the time. The rink won't really do anything or have any say in the matter. The league doesn't care, and they have lost about 20 teams to a new league forming up. If we withhold payment we simply lose our games. The only thing that would make a difference would be getting a lawyer involved and the players this has happened to do not want to do that, if this happened to me a couple of this video and others would have been handed over to the police and a lawyer as well as being sent out to any hockey blog or news site I could think of. But remember this is a hockey setting, so doing anything besides letting it happen on the ice is the "pussy" way out.

I agree 1000%. But the player didn't want to go forward with it. This crap is the reason my girl friend and I won't play in it anymore. As a goalie I don't have to really worry about this stuff happening to me. There is only 1 other league in this area with the talent level close to this and it is much better run and the hockey is faster and cleaner. 99% of the teams in this league would get absolutely destroyed in the other one, and until they make another lower division we can't really go anywhere else.

I've shown video to the league in other situations, where a ridiculous team that we and other teams complained about sucker punched a girl. Later that season the same team broke my teammates leg in 3 places when 2 guys hit him after the whistle from different directions. Leagues response: "sue us"

It wasn't, he was in considerable pain and couldn't really put any weight on his leg right after. Also, this is what the same player did the last time we played them. Now I understand doing something with the cross check, but this is to a complete bystander, and he was also throwing body checks all game in a no-contact league. https://youtu.be/GkTAktvBdqk?t=2m46s

This garbage has no place in hockey let alone a recreation league. This is the second time this player has attacked one of mine and both times he went after someone who didn't do anything. He was high sticked (by accident by a not very good player) when he was tying up another players stick it rode up his arms into his face, then he goes full lumberjack mode. End result is being kicked out of this game... he'll be back next time. Players like this is why my girl friend and I had to leave a league where we actually fit in skill wise to one of a much lower level (which still has it's issues). Adults need to grow up. https://youtu.be/qgYp-bmXXPw?t=2m57s

Or adults in general.

Try and see if Simmons can make a smaller boot for you? If you are fitting a 34 with as loose bootstrap that is what you want.

You're issue is that you have to deal with terrible LHS in Niagara. I am glad you found Hockey Supremacy like I did.

For the amount you pay on the skates I do not think it is asking to much to have better fit and finish (that tendon guard foam looks like someone just cut out a piece of foam and glued it on there) and to be made to your specifications when they say they can. The double eyelet is interesting to say the least.

Even in higher leagues you can still get no defense. I totally understand your pain... backdoor passes you are completely screwed as seen here:

Personal Details Male 6'3” 210 lbs Forward/Defence B-D level hockey Shin Pad History: Fury 17inch Graf 700 17inch Easton Eq50 16inch Easton RS 17inch CCM Ultra Tacks 17inch STX Stallion 16inch Initial Impressions: I was ridiculously excited and happy when I pulled these shins out of the box and slide them on for the first time. The fit and finish of these as well as the materials used give the impression of a really high end and innovative pair of shin pads. The plastics STX uses feel solid and have a very nice look aesthetically. The foams used on the outer calf protection feel futuristic and really high end. The velcro used has shorter hooks so it doesn’t catch on materials as easy but it still holds onto the attachment points really well. I like the outer knee foam flap showing the size and what leg the shin goes on (it is a nice aesthetic touch). I really like the idea of the Kevlar sleeve built into the shin for added protection (I always wear Kevlar socks when I play anyways, having more of it on me is always a bonus). I was disappointed that the shins only came in 16 inch fashion as I found 17 inch is the best fit for me (see my Tacks review). Fit: Right away these Stallion pads are at a disadvantage since they aren’t as long as I like and I feel they leave part of my skate exposed. The kevlar sleeve keeps your leg set in a certain area but the outer calf protection doesn’t really hold your leg in like the CCM Ultra Tacks do. The knee in the Stallions is also pretty shallow and I found that when putting these on they always seemed to flare outwards and didn’t sit straight on my leg. I found I could fix this a little bit but putting the sleeve on my leg first and then velcroing in the knee part very precisely to try and keep the pad to sit completely straight. When playing I felt these pads shift and start facing outwards and not straight on my leg, which I would attempt to remedy by hitting on the outside knee with my gloves to straighten them out. The 360 strap does a good job of tightening the knee area of the shins and like the Ultra Tacks Lock Strap resulted in me not having to worry about taping my socks anymore. I felt the calf strap didn’t have enough velcro (it doesn’t go onto the front of the face, and is not flush with the face so if you have extra strap for tightening it sits off of the shin and gets caught up on socks) so I couldn’t get this part as tight as I wanted. 6/10 Protection: These Stallion shin pads started off great with the Kevlar calf wrap built into the shins and thus I had high expectations for these. The first shot I took to the front of these shins I could feel a relatively weak shot but it didn’t really hurt… and then I took a hard wrist shot and had to get off the ice because of the pain that was on my lower leg. I hoped this result was just an unlucky hit but any shot that hit the lower plastic resulted in pain. I took a snapshot (not a ridiculously hard one either) which left a mark on the pad and a soft spot on the bone in my shin, which still hurt immensely over a month later. For a few weeks after this shot even while wearing the CCM Ultra Tacks shins any time a puck or stick hit near where I got hit in the Stallions pain shot through my leg. Unlike the STX Surgeons there isn’t a second layer of foam padding on the front of the pad, and only a small amount of foam separates your shin from the outer plastic. Not only is the front of the shin extremely disappointing the back of the legs are also left very exposed. On the outside of your leg there is a thicker foam that does a decent job of protection but it doesn’t cover nearly enough of the back of your leg. The inside protection is basically just a high end feeling nylon with no padding or protection at all. Every time a puck would slip through my legs while on a 1-on-1 I could feel the puck hit the inside of my leg and it felt like it was hitting my bare leg, pucks deflection off (not direct hits) felt worse than head on shots from previous shins I have worn. I stopped wearing these shins since I felt unsafe and wondered if they were actually defective… 3/10 Comfort: While these shin pads never really sat straight on my leg I never had any issues with comfort (besides the pain from whenever a puck hit them). There isn’t a tonne of padding in these so they aren’t super soft but they also do not have any pressure points or felt uncomfortable in anyway. 8/10 Mobility: These are pretty slim and mobile shin. 10/10 Weight: With the lack of protection and padding on the inside of the shin I figured these shins would weigh in at much less than the CCM Ultra Tacks. With that said these are not very heavy at all and it would never affect performance. 8/10 Durability: I am not sure how the wrap around strap will last as the velcro takes a lot of effort to pull apart and I almost feel like I am pulling the material apart. With that said I can’t see these shins breaking down in anyway but since I shelved these pretty quickly I can’t really rate the durability. N/A Intangibles: The Kevlar sleeve is a brilliant idea… but it is also REALLY annoying to get on and off especially with my setup which is where I put my shin pads last and over my skates. I wish the Kevlar sleeve had a magnet attach point that would all act like those magnetic screen doors. This would allow you to undo the sleeve and put the shins on like a normal pair of shin pads. The materials and design of these shins is really well done. The materials all feel really high end and the design is very aesthetically pleasing. I live the wrap around strap and the futuristic velcro on the calf wrap feels extremely high end and made of quality. One of my issues with these shin pads is that they are labeled as the “POWER FIT: Targeted zones of protection provide increased coverage to the power player” and yet these are considerably skinnier and and have less padding on the inside compared to the Surgeons that are labeled as the “PRECISION FIT: Designed with a sleeker fit profile to minimize weight and bulk.” 7/10 Conclusion: These shin pads have so much potential. The materials used and the Kevlar sleeve show great ideas that unfortunately just fall absolutely flat. This is the most disappointed piece of hockey equipment I have ever had. The horrible protection issues I have had with these mean I can’t recommend them at all and I won’t wear them again for fear of more unnecessary pain. 3/10 Comparison in sizes in inches: 17, 14, 16, 16 Comparison in sizes in inches: 17, 14, 16, 16 Looking down at my least favourite shins (Stx Stallion) and most favourite (CCM Ultra Tacks) The 360 strap works well but CCM's non-elastic Lock Strap works better to hold the shins in place. Lots of velcro for customization for liner placement, but it is not deep enough to really hold your knee well. Pureform foam as liner is nice and feels high quality. Thigh protection here is the best I have seen on a pair of shin pads. Knee liner needs a donut or deeper knee placement to keep the knee part of the shin pad in place. Inner leg padding seems useless. Kevlar sleeve is a great idea but a pain to put the shins on depending on your dressing order. Pureform foam feels high end but needs to be thicker here as getting hit with pucks here was uncomfortable. Shin pad had a nice aesthetics design, getting hit up high here resulted in no pain or issues. This puck park happened when I couldn't close my legs fast enough to get in the way of a shot, the inner calf protection is extremely lacking and shots here were very uncomfortable to the point of painful. This park mark was off of a decent snap shot. I had to leave the ice in pain and I never wore the shins after that for fear of my safety. A month later my shin was still in pain from this shot and it felt like there was a small dent in the shin pad where the puck hit. The sizing detail on the outer knee protection feels really high quality and looks great. Showing the width differences between the Surgeon and Stallion shins. Shows the massive size difference (and difference in protection) between the Stx Stallion and CCM Ultra Tacks Showing the difference between the Stx Stallion and Stx Surgeon. Surgeon is the "sleek" line for mobility and is considerably thicker. One piece of padding in the CCM Ultra Tacks is thicker than the entire Stx Stallion shins. Stx Surgeon is considerably thicker and more protective on the calf wrap than on the Stallions. Stx Surgeon calf wrap is decent in thickness, needs a larger velcro landing area though as it was too small to actually fit correctly. Showing the other side of the Surgeon calf wrap. Pureform foam used as the liner on the Surgeons as well. Thicker liner and knee donut on the Surgeon than on the Stallion. Stallion should use this knee style. Again inner liner and padding more adequate on the Surgeon than the Stallion.

Interesting that their stiff will be curved like that.