Lester8

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Forsberg. 100. Left.

2006 Easton Stealth CNT - Forsberg 100 LH Introduction: I'm 5' 11", 185 lbs, 25 years old. I'm light on sticks and mine usually last a long time. I kept the Stealth CNT at full length. Since this is a few inches longer than usual for me, I used longer wood extensions on other sticks to eliminate length variances. I play mainly in a gentlemanly scrimmage now, but I put the stick to the test of a more competitive setting in an adult tournament. It's not uncommon to get the ice to myself at shinny, so the stick logged a lot of time in shooting intensive sessions. I estimate 12+ hours of shooting and 20 hours of play. Aesthetics: After a close inspection, I discovered the many layers that create the intricate design. There's a transparent-blue coat on the shaft's silvery Kevlar weave. Screened-black masks the shaft, allowing only its corners to shine through. These elements fade faintly into the over-spray of a sparkling-blue paint applied at the shaft's ends. The sparkling-blue to transparent-blue transition is barely apparent, making them appear as one in the same. The shift from sparkling-blue to black is understated by the overlying stick labels. The colors and fonts used in the labels are a departure from Easton's begging-to-be-read white block-letters outlined in black. By comparison, these are subdued with dull silvers and an oblique twist. The "Stealth" labels are given high-visibility placement on the lower half of the shaft but are indiscernible. Due to the word length, character spacing, and imbalanced typeface, they register less as a word than a disconnected series of varied shapes. Players and refs alike stare down trying to make it out while talking to me. Despite its unique design, the stick aesthetic is a psychological curveball in play. When I use one-piece sticks, opposing players never hesitate to employ any available measure to damage and disrupt them. The complete opposite occurs with the Stealth CNT. I don't get pressured or engaged. In fact they back off. The outward appearance of my stick being the only change, I'm lead to reason their toned-down assault is caused solely by the Stealth CNT's ambiguous aesthetics. The low contrast, interplay, and equal placement of colors make it nondescript. There are no pretentious or telling signs that it's high or low end, so players are neither motivated to overcome a greater stick or overwhelm a lesser one. With nothing to lock their target on, players are handcuffed. I have much more freedom of movement and much less stick-wear. I thought the only stealthly aspect of the stick was supposed to be the fuse-point, but I've never had a stick persistently avoid the radar as this. I can't account for the difference any other way and I would be remiss to leave it out. 8/10 Assembly: Easton's evenly spaced graphics create the impression of consistency and uniformity, but a closer look revealed many imperfections. Upon delivery, the paddle had a tab protruding from around the toe; there were two deep smush-dents in the top edge of the blade; zig-zag grooves stretch over the blade where resin did not fill the weave; the braid is loose and swirled in the middle of the blade face and all around the toe; the Kevlar corner strips, though precisely aligned on the shaft, have balled ends from being sloppily trimmed; and the hosel is wavy on every side. To further expose the junction, the hosel is slightly off axis: leaned (less loft), tilted down (lower lie), and rotated forward (deeper curve). All of this on a stick that came directly from Salt Lake and isn't a second. These are minor assembly flaws, but I wouldn't knowingly buy a stick with this many of them. When a stick is obviously mishandled at various stages of production, I worry it impedes its ability to perform. As a model geared towards performance, I expect painstakingly precise fabrication and handling to facilitate that. 4/10 Weight and Balance: Averages 425g at full length. As it is, the stick swings easily while staying under full control. The stick is far from dropping or dragging like a burden. I am as amazed now as I was the first day by how effortlessly the stick moves. The blade is a feather. It's so weightless that if I don't check which way it's pointing, I may unsuspectingly drive the toe to the ice. The top half of the shaft is another area of significant weight savings. It's slightly thinner than the lower half due to reduced content. Because of the stick's light ends, the bulk of the weight is centered in the shaft's slightly fatter, lower half. The weight distribution leans the stick ever slightly bottom-heavy, but its balance is not even a remote issue in play. It's not an alarmingly lightweight stick, but any amount of weight is infinitely more manageable at middle than at the ends. 9/10 Blade: I've used this pattern for several years, so I'm more familiar with it than anything else. Comparing the Forsberg Stealth CNT's blade form closely to its twins and clones, the Stealth mold yields a flatter blade-rocker by making the heel and toe lower. The longer flat improves puck leverage from heel to toe and suppresses roll-offs and whiffs. Easton blades faces are normally flat with no bulging, and this blade is consistent with that. Additionally, the paddle has near equal thickness from top edge to bottom, instead of having significant taper. The hosel tapers only slightly down to the heel but the blade thins promptly in just the first third of the paddle length. 8/10 Shaft/Flex: The shaft's Kevlar strips add the bulk I felt the previous Stealths were missing. The girth and corner radius closely match that of the Ultra Lite shaft. The strips run the length of the shaft to about 8" above the heel. The upper half of the shaft length has a gentle concavity; the lower half has a shallower concavity. The transition is subtle and short at about 2' up from the heel. The inner shaft walls are straight and can accept a regular extension, but the stick comes capped with a plastic plug. Easton ditched the composite extension, and now the stick extends the full 60" without it. The flex feels lower than 100 under light pressure, but that barely begins to describe it. Although a softer flex, the shaft does not bow deeply--it becomes radically stiffer. With each increment of force there is less change in bow depth. I lean into shots as hard as I ever could with the Stealth CNT, yet never contort it extremely or achieve significant lower-hand lead. The stick resists stretching and loosening despite all that I can put on it. I would sooner cramp and/or fall before pushing through the break-threshold of the Stealth CNT during a shot. Other sticks have much less latitude. They continue to bow easily and are susceptible to stressing or snapping before sufficiently tensing. Higher or lower flex, they want to straighten before I fully sweep through the puck, diverting the path of the swing, and causing poor swing-kick timing. Maybe it's being light on sticks, but I like to stay in control of the puck. Loading the Stealth CNT, I find it tenses rapidly without being so stiff that it bounces back immediately. It resists deep bowing, and it doesn't unload early--this flex characteristic is the astounding aspect of this stick. 9/10 Stickhandling and Passing: My preference is for long sticks so I usually contend with shaft extensions and the accompanying dampened top-hand feel. I tape a small knob to keep my hand flat against the shaft. I find it gives the best sense and control of the stick's angles. To avoid disrupting this, I limited my extensions which severely limited my stick length possibilities. After reading on MSH that Easton lengthened their shafts, I was curious to try greater lengths on an Easton OPS without interrupting handle geometry, texture, and flex. When the Stealth CNT arrived, I taped it at full length. The new length gave me a more comfortable body position, and achieving this without an extension meant uncompromised top-hand comfort and control. The shaft length undoubtedly contributes to better puck feel, but it is enhanced in larger part by the Stealth CNT's vibration. The stick vibrates cleanly to communicate exacting puck location and trajectory from even brief, unseen contact. The stimulus is not a harsh, lingering, omni-directional ping, nor the other extreme of a cloudy, muffled brush. The stick's hard composition allows a single impulse to travel directly up the shaft. I've experienced the "elusive heel" with many different patterns, so to a small degree the squarer heel geometry contributes to an enhanced ability to contain the puck. Even so, puck contact is crystal clear everywhere on the blade. The stick's hardness and length give the best puck feel I have ever experienced. One of the first things I noticed on the ice was the stick's complete refusal to twist. As a result it loses a certain "loaded" feeling. I can roll the shaft of most other sticks with my lower hand to squeeze down on the puck before I (try to) launch into a deke, but not with the Stealth CNT. I tried putting more weight on the stick, but that only made it load and release dump-ins. Foregoing twisting of the shaft, I experienced a momentary delay between wanting to move the puck and moving it. At first it took a brief instant to consciously skip the twist and just push. The stick gives a perfectly clear sense of the puck anyways, and traps the puck well enough because of these anti-torsion qualities, so there was no longer a need to squeeze down at all. It was a small adjustment and I've had a higher deke-success rate not twisting the Stealth CNT than twisting other sticks. The puck accelerates quicker and closer to the intended direction. Catching passes is excellent. I don't find the blade lively at all. It doesn't stick to pucks quite like the Si-core, but it's still impressive. The times I didn't adequately soften up a pass, at the most the puck would bounce half as far as expected. Without proper angle on the pass I still lost the puck, so there are no miracles here. I watch my passes much less because the blade does not open up. The blade stays square behind the puck, assisted by a flatter bottom, cradling it securely and placing passes where intended. Even changing the direction of the pass mid-release maintains similar authority. Saucer passes are difficult to place. I'm still unaccustomed to the energy transfer, and have yet to achieve the desired arc. As mentioned earlier, there is a slightly fatter area on the lower half of the shaft--this is not to be confused with the Kevlar corners. After some experimenting, the transition in concavity marks two drastically different puck feels. There is a precise puck feel with my hand above it; but there is a numb, overpowering feel with the hand below it. These two phases cater to upright handling, and down low shooting. Depending how low you cut and how wide you grip, you may no be able to avoid overpowering the puck. 8.5/10 Shooting: As with passing, the blade isn't out-of-control lively--it cradles the puck. With that firm grasp, increases in velocity and accuracy easily follow. It starts with the ease at which the blade connects with the puck. The shaft's dynamic flex absorbs the singular vibration. Combined with the stiff blade, the sweet-spot is effectively larger. Even one-timers found the spot at a success rate I never dreamed of. No matter how hard the pass, there is no huge jolt. The puck is just light. After contact, the shaft stiffens with that shallow bow, and the tension does not immediately unwind. The stick contains the tension and puck so well that I am free to focus on my target. With a precise sense of puck position, and storing a loaded flex, I can release the puck exactly when and how I chose. I can use a short follow through, a long follow through, or anything in between. The puck won't be flubbed and the snap will not misfire. Where I want to place a shot is where it goes. Snap, slap, wrist, and backhands are on target with--by no exaggeration--zero learning curve or mechanical adjustments. Aiming is purely intuitive from shot one. Accuracy is deadly because the struggle to contain the puck and flex is eliminated. It's not to say that any haphazard swing will pick a corner, but if I try to control the puck, it is amply controlled. The precise puck feel and controlled release is like none other. There is also improved puck velocity due to the shaft and blade's resistance to torsion. Besides containing the puck to counteract slicing and topping, the stiffness that prevents the blade from opening gives the paddle a sort of head start coming around. My top hand can better assist blade turn-over because of the twist-less shaft, and the more effective turn-over makes the curve seem deeper than it is. Utilizing the entire length of the blade to impart spin on the puck--as per deeper curves--it releases faster, flatter pucks with less lobbing. There is a deceptive quality about the velocity because the shallow bow and lack of lateral puck slippage eliminate the visual cues that a shot is coming. Goalies underestimate the shot speed, and are forced to read the puck in the air. The large sweet spot, clean puck feel, retainable flex, and stiff blade make for the best shooting experience I've ever had. It's soft on the joints with consistent and tremendous output--I could shoot all day long. 10/10 Durability: I am usually over conscious about the finite number of shots a blade can tolerate, but was eager to determine this stick's limit. I've folded a couple high-end composites with fewer shots than I've taken with the Stealth CNT yet it shows no ill-effects. The blade still doesn't budge or crunch. It retained nearly 100% of its out-of-the-box stiffness. There are short, shallow nicks to the blade to speak of, but is otherwise the same condition as new, and my blades usually show wear I can't account for. Fueled by the poor craftsmanship, I maintained a "we'll see" attitude to expose how easily the stick can break. I didn't ease up on face-offs or stick checks, but even at my usual game I'm pretty gentle; in a competitive game or otherwise. I prefer the paths of least resistance over brute force. I don't chop, jab, or fish with any stick. Furthermore, players don't throw themselves at this stick as much as others. Nevertheless, stick abuse is not completely absent, and the shaft shrugs off every medium slash and lift it gives or takes. It hasn't earned 'Tank' certification, but it's certainly not frail. The only issue I can detect is slight shaft bowing. There are really no major charges against its durability. I'm surprised to find that durability was not mired by how brutally it was assembled. Even if I eliminate the idle days between uses, the sick far surpasses the warranty period and continues to hold up against all reasonable uses. I haven't reached the shot limit yet, and there is no indication it's coming soon. 9/10 Performance drop: I think I detected a slight performance drop after the first couple hours of strictly shooting. It seemed to lose a bit of whip at the end of the follow through. It may have just been my performance drop, but it was a very small drop at that. Still, the stick continues to amaze, and here the performance has plateaued. The performance is virtually unaltered from contact or flexing. This is a testament to its resistance to deep bowing and the ensuing stresses. 8.5/10 Conclusion: I don't claim to have tried even half of the sticks out there, but I've tried all the ones I wanted to. These were top-end sticks. I never complained about pinging or vibrations and assumed the limiting factor could only be me. The Stealth CNT has shattered that perspective and taught me the finer aspects of shooting. Now other sticks are far too jarring. I put everything into a shot to mixed results, and I have to regain balance and speed. With the Stealth CNT I am never in that kind of recovery and it shoots consistently. The stick is distinguished from all others by its matchless combination of shallow bow-depth and retainable reflex. It also set a higher standard for anti-torsion. Besides the minor adjustment in deking, it felt like nature from the moment it touched the ice. It improves my game beyond shooting. It allows me to visualize, focus, and react better. It also avoids hateful attention. It reached new heights in stick performance while defying durability-tradeoff and performance drop-off. Though its assembly is not picture perfect and the balance is narrowly less than ideal, it excels in flex and feel--a stick's most important aspects. I'm tempted to say I don't want the specs tinkered with one bit, but I've been foolish enough to think things were perfect before. Easton has a great product here and I hope they don't change the direction of it. My overall satisfaction with this stick is very high. 9/10 I can't express how grateful I am to Easton Hockey for giving me a crack at this stick. Thanks to Barbara Boone for arranging the delivery. Thanks to everybody at MSH who helped make the stick available to me. I couldn't have enjoyed writing this review if not for everything you do. -Lester Tiu

Fit: These are cut a bit long. Even when pulled all the way up, they hit right above the knee on my long legs (34" waist, 6' tall). Protection: Nothing seems to fix the problem of the cup sitting too far away from the body. Compression material forms both sides of the pouch. Weight: Negligible Durability: There are no signs of wear on the inside or out. Even around the Velcro there is minimal shredding or balling. The elasticity has not slackened. None of the stitching has unraveled. Intangibles: I had to move the Velcro up the legs. They were jamming into the flaps of my shin pads. I sewed them directly above its original position. I also flipped the Velcro over so that the tab hangs under in the way Itech's do. Conclusion: In the first use, I noticed my legs had a great amount of energy left in them compared to the loose Itech shorts I used prior. I haven't noticed the advantage in the 12 months since. I'm probably used to it. Any regular jock strap under any compression short will provide better protection. You would just need to find wide Velcro to sew on and you might still save in the end.

I'm guessing Inno is using Hespeler's Roberts moulds. Hespeler's retail Roberts replacement blade and OPS patterns were not identical. The Hespeler Roberts blades I've seen all look like the one Sid posted. The Hespeler Roberts OPS has a more rounded toe (image).

Fit: Has single-tool adjustment that works. Very helpful as I only need one stubby screwdriver and I don’t have to take the helmet off to adjust or tighten screws. The shape suits heads that are narrow (long front-to-back). The helmet does have some “stretch†to it so it can accommodate slightly less narrow heads like mine. Just pulling on the sides with my hands before the first few sessions gave it the width I need, although the widening/stretching made the helmet slightly shallower. I wear 7 1/8" hats and I wear this helmet in medium, opened one click. The dual density foam layers are pliable enough to conform to the contours of your skull. 8/10. Protection: At first, the helmet seemed to be lacking in coverage. Much of the forehead and back felt exposed. On the ice, it’s a non-issue and the helmet has never let me down. 9/10. Weight: Very light weight. Easily in the top 3 of the lightest, approved helmets on the retail market as of posting. Nothing else good or bad I can say. 8/10. Durability: My helmet cracked by the lower screw behind the ear. It’s still usable, though against recommendations by Bauer and the CSA. The ear loops haven’t ripped at all. I’m still using the original chinstrap and clip. The oxidized screws rusted very little. The foam has held up well. The glue does its job. After 4 years, the rear pad has just now come lose. The outer shell has no other major damage to it. The fault line is the biggest and only downfall of this helmet. 6/10. Intangibles: I have washed this helmet many times without a problem. You can remove all screws and bolts except for the front two anchors. With the helmet taken apart, submerge everything except for those anchors in soapy water. This will remove sweat and prolong the life of the plastic shell. Rinse, let dry, and reassemble. It doesn’t seem to harm the foam or glue. Conclusion: I have no complaints about this helmet other than the cracking, which happens on many of these helmets. I would buy another one. It’s my favorite helmet out of the current offering. Has lasted over 4 years without use of a helmet bag. 8/10.

Easton Hybrid Lami Stickhandling: The stiff paddle gives it a crisp feel on the puck. The lami hozel provides a closely-matching stiffness and all around the blade gives a decent feel for the puck. 7/10. Passing: The stiffness doesn’t make passes hard to receive, but it does make sending passes harder to feel and aim. I couldn’t focus on much else when making passes in a game. 4/10. Shooting: I didn’t notice an improvement to my shooting with this blade over wood or composites. It shoots rather poorly. Shots were softer and off target. It maybe that it snaps back too quickly for me and loses all the power before I release the puck. 5/10. Weight and Balance: It’s a fairly light blade at around 200 grams. Not noticeably lighter than all-wood blades. It makes for a slightly higher balance point than its competing models. It’s light, but nothing outstanding. 7/10. Durability: Poor durability. The hozel cracked on the face side. On the whole, it’s too stiff and it doesn’t bend or stretch enough. I blame the thick glue layers of the laminations. 3/10. Intangibles: The blade is not as consistently constructed as I expect molded blades to be. The shape of the heel, forehand to backhand, is not symmetrical. The hozel length was 1/2 inch longer than, and the toe shape does not match, more consistent Modano models. The lie was a bit lower also. Gaps can be seen between the paddle and hozel joint. There are some air pockets that appear to be from paddle and outer sock failing to adhere or melt to each other. All of this contributes to the blade’s performance. Conclusion: Unless it’s they pay you to take it, I wouldn’t recommend this blade to anybody for any reason.

Fit: These pads shift a lot and are very uncomfortable. The padding material and stiff, vertical, plastic chest and spine plates do not bend easily so the vest tends to tent instead of sitting close to the body. The bicep pad is attached directly to a protruding part of the vest (no bridging strap), so the bicep pad slides on your arm when your shoulder moves up and down. The stiffness of the padding material combined with the straight edge of the plastic shoulder caps create a “flat top†or box shape. In order to fill the negative space, the vest “rolls†forward so the front shifts down, and the back shifts up to the shoulder pad’s resting place. The configuration allows the flat-top to angle down with the body but leaves my collar bones vulnerable since the neck hole is forward. The back of the neck hole rests against the back of my neck to prevent any further rolling. Half of the chest pad becomes an abdominal pad. A gap opens up between the padding and pants on the back. I went through the bench door once and the corner of the bench scraped my back badly. The shoulder caps sit higher than other models since the gap designed into them adds to the gap between the body and vest. The caps are deep and they tend to pop up when I put out my arms. They are not far from swinging into your ears if you’re not careful. 5/10 Protection: Despite the loose fit, the pads offer outstanding protection. The stiff padding material protects from all manner of poking. These pads provide near-full coverage. I’ve slammed into people, boards, and nets yet I’ve skated away from them all. The JDP plastic shoulder caps give excellent protection to the shoulder joint. The polyethylene plates on the chest and back help these pads stand up to more abuse than anybody should take. The large bicep plates have never fallen short. 9/10 Weight: These pads are significantly heavy. Just wearing them can tire out my upper body in minutes. The majority of shoulder pads are lighter. 5/10 Durability: The materials in these pads have changed very little over the years (3 and a half). The vest has become only slightly more flexible and it resisted creasing. The downside is that the stitching is not strong enough to hold the materials together. The bicep pads fell off and the shoulder cap stitching started to unravel. A few stitches by the ends of the cap attachments solved that problem. I had to hand stitch the bicep pads back on a few times (The stiffness of the material and the size of the gap can’t be fixed with needle and thread). Other than those attachment points the pads have held up really well. Straps are in tact, Velcro is still strong, no shredding, tearing, or cracking. 8/10 Intangibles: These pads do not ventilate well. The floating plates are not fully floating since they are attached so closely to the rest of the padding. The ventilation meshing under the plates just hold the pads together more than they ventilate since the chest and back plates sit directly over them. The extensive coverage of the dense padding deflects and channels heat up through the neck hole. Altogether, the materials are quick-drying and easy to clean. 6/10 Conclusion: The padding would suit large players or those just flat across the shoulders. To reduce volume in the pads, let out some of the shoulder cap stitching to let the vest “drop.†The fit suits only a minority but the protection is outstanding. 7/10