Help Finding My Ideal Curve

[althoma1 575]

I've searched the forumns, reviewed the pattern database here and on several other sites and have a decent idea of what I'm looking for, but would like to solicit a few opinions.

General Background: I'm 27 and have played hockey for about 20 years without ever really knowing much about curves and the lie of the blade - I pretty well just used whatever and had a tendancy to choose bannana type curves. I played with a few curves growing up, but usually used the Sherwood Coffey Blade. I also tried the Easton Hull Pro Wood blades.

In my mid-teens I switched to the Shannahan Curve and used that almost exclusively until the last few years when I've tried the CCM Thornton curve, the CCM Recchi curve, the Easton Yzerman curve and most recently the Nike PT3 Legwand Curve.

My general thoughts and experiences with each of the curves:

Coffey - great for stickhandling, great wristshot, OK backhand. Good snap shot, but not the greatest slap shot - of course I've never had a really good slap shot. I remember liking this curve, but haven't used it for over 10 years.

Hull - Ok for stick handling, didn't like the extremely small curve. Not the greatest for wristshots. Easier to receive passes on the backhand and slightly improved slap shot. Didn't really like the curve.

Easton Shannahan - great stick handling, great wrist and snap shots, ok slap shot. Wore the heel first. Lie probably too high for me.

CCM Thornton - good stick handling, great wrist shot, ok slap shot. Wore the heel first. Lie probably too high for me.

CCM Recchi - great for passing, good for stick handling, good wrist shot, easy to recieve back hand passes, Ok slap shot. Blade wear pretty even. Would prefer mor curve.

Easton Yzerman - great for stick handling, great wrist shot, ok back hand. Sometimes tough to receive passes on backhand. Heel wear significant - lie probably too high.

Nike PT3 Legwand (Apollo One Piece) - perhaps it's because the only other one piece I've used is a CCM Vector 100 Recchi curve, but for the one pick up game I used this stick for I was not stick handling as well as I usually do and I was missing some passes I normally pick up. I did get away hard, but less than accurate wristshots with this (going wide or over the net often). I'm usually pretty accurate with my wristshots.

Anyway, now I have a CCM Vector 100 OPS Recchi that's almost worn out, a Nike Apollo Shaft with an Easton Yzerman Blade in it, a few other old shafts I'm not presently using, and a Nike Apollo OPS PT3 Legwand. I used the Apollo Shaft with the Yzerman blade my first game of the season (Men's League) with some success, but missed a couple backhand passes and noticed the heel wear so I was thinking of getting a new blade before my game this Thursday, but wanted to make sure I got the right one.

I usually rely on my speed, stick handling, and good wrist shot in games. I'm 6'2", 210lbs, usually play right wing, shoot right, and like to have my stick at about chin level when I'm on skates. I very rarely take slap shots and the slap shot is probably the worst part of my game. From my past experience with the curves and the recent research I've done using these forumns and other sites I've concluded I like a Mid to Mid-Toe, Moderate to Deep curve and the ideal lie for me is probably around 5 or 5.5 - 6 seems to be too high. I'm also used to a closed or neutral curve in general which is probably why the more open PT3 feels wierd.

Based on this and the pattern database I'd say the curves I may want to try (or continue using in the case of Recchi) are:

1. TPS: Brendl, Mid, Deep, Neutral, 5, Round

2. RBK: MS-Blue, Mid, Moderate, Slightly Open, 5, Round

3. NIKE: PM1, Mid, Moderate, Slightly Open, 5, Round

4. CCM: Recchi Mid, Moderate, Neutral, 5, Round

5. Easton: Gaborik, Mid, Deep, Neutral, 5.5, Round

6. Innovative: Mogilny: Mid, Moderate, Slightly Open, 5.5, Round

7. Mission: Rafalski, Mid, Moderate, Slightly Open, 5.5, Round

8. Gear: Reskey, Mid, Moderate, Slightly Open, 5.5, Round

9. Easton: Sakic, Mid, Moderate, Open, 5.5, Round

10. TPS: Nash, Mid, Moderate, Open, 5.5, Round

11. Sherwood: Leclair, Mid, Moderate, Slightly Open, 4.5, Round

Does anyone have any advice as far as narrowing the choices goes or other suggestions? Any feedback would be appreciated. I went to the Sport Check at the Eaton Centre in Toronto yesterday afternoon and couldn't find any of those curves in replacement blades (they had quite a few Shannahans and a couple Yzerman's) and only found a Recchi OPS, but there are several other places I can look. There's a Just Hockey store just around the corner from where I live, I was just hoping to find the blade at Sport Check as they have 20% off blades this week.

[jeffg 13]

I assume from your age that you play in a men's league much as I do. I have used some of the patterns listed. From my experience the performance of the curve varies as whether or not the blade is wood or composite and person using it. When I started playing I used a Coffey pattern on a Sherwood 5030. About 10years ago I switched to a z-bubble with a Shanahan ultra lite blade. I have tried the nash, pattern, Gaborik, Recchi. and a Sakic. I found I could not shoot, pass or stick handle as well with these blades. I even tried a Synergy Shanahan and found it was not the same as my ultra lite blade when it came to stick handling and controling passes. I went back to my z-bubble, because I don't have the "hands" for a OPS.

You might try a Modano pattern, lower lie. Less curve though will take some time to adjustment to. Also alot of people on this board seem to like a dury curve. I would like to try it sometime also.

bottom line: it's all personnal perferance, but if you have a curve that has been working for you - stay with it.

[Sticks of Fury 0]

Maybe a Bauer Lindros P88 pattern. It is a mid moderate curve. Check it out. I used the Supreme 4000 Kevlar wood blade but it breaks down after a while but it was on sale at Sport Chek last year for about 20 bucks. I think there is also a review in the review section.

[althoma1 575]

Thanks for the feedback. Yes Jeff, I play in a Men's League - so it's basically just for fun, but it's a fairly competitive devision and I still want to be able to perform at my best. I've tried to OPS and I do get a better feel with a shaft and blade combo so I think I'm going to use the current OPS I have and then go back to the shaft and blade combo. I may go back to the Shannahan if the curve is the same as what I used to use 6 or 7 years ago or use the CCM Thornton like I did for rollerhockey in the summer although I seem to wear the heel first on those curves so should probably look for something with a little lower lie if possible.

I'd be hesitant to try the Drury or Modano, although I did read on here that about 60% of the pros use Drury type curves and both those curves are popular on here. I forgot to mention in my original post that I tried a CCM Stuart curve last year for a few games and I couldn't really do anything well with that one - it's a slight heel curve so I'd imagine the Drury and Modano would be similar. For a guy that's used a big mid-curve most of his life to switch to a small heel type curve would be quite an adjustment...although if I see a Drury or Modano curve on sale for a low enough price I may just buy one to try in a pickup game out of curiousity, but it'd have to be pretty cheap.

Sticks of Fury - I may check out the Lindros pattern as you suggest, it seems to be similar to the Recchi which I didn't mind although the lie may be a bit high. I think the Recchi with more curve would be almost perfect. Maybe I'll just buy some Recchi's, heat them up and try to add a bit more curve or look into the Christian custom blade option. Ask them to make a Recchi curve with the same lie, but a bit deeper curve. Or maybe a Shannahan with a lower lie.

[SR27 0]

Try an Inno McCarthy.

Shanny is discontinued btw.

[Chadd 916]

I would go with the Recchi and if you need a little more depth, have some customs made up. The price isn't that much more for custom blades.

Sakic, Nash and Rafalski are all the same curve and open up quite a bit at the toe.

Gaborik is going to give you similar performance as the Yzerman as will the Brendl, now the Sundin.

[hip check 0]

What about finding a Hespeler Smyth / Inno Hull (retail) curve? A bit more of a 'straight' blade for backhands and picking up passes, and a decent curve on the toe for your wrist shots.

[althoma1 575]

I don't mind the performance of the Yzerman at all. I just think I need a slightly lower lie so based on the pattern DB the Easton Gaborik or TPS Brendl/Sundin are patterns I'll definitely look at. The Recchi was pretty good when it was new, but the blade on the Vector 100 is getting softer since I used the stick for about 4 months last year averaging 2-3 hours of ice time a week. I'll probably pick up a new Recchi blade as those aren't too hard to find and see if there's a Gaborik or Brendl/Sundin that's not too expensive to test one of those out.

Thank you all for the input. I appreciate it.

[Chadd 916]

I've never been a fan of Vector blades because they lose stiffness fairly quickly.

[hockechamp14 0]

Does anyone know what the pro model of the hull blades are like? I've seen the TPS and INNO ones online, and I was wondering if:

1) they are both the same thing

2) if they match the listing in the pattern database

[Chadd 916]

Does anyone know what the pro model of the hull blades are like? I've seen the TPS and INNO ones online, and I was wondering if:

1) they are both the same thing

2) if they match the listing in the pattern database

The pattern DB does not have actual pro patterns, they are RETAIL PATTERNS ONLY.

Pro Hull is a 6 lie, toe curve with a huge rocker on the bottom.

[hockechamp14 0]

Does anyone know what the pro model of the hull blades are like? I've seen the TPS and INNO ones online, and I was wondering if:

1) they are both the same thing

2) if they match the listing in the pattern database

The pattern DB does not have actual pro patterns, they are RETAIL PATTERNS ONLY.

Pro Hull is a 6 lie, toe curve with a huge rocker on the bottom.

I wasn't sure weather the inno SMU's were patterns they made for pro's or not... :)

[Chadd 916]

Does anyone know what the pro model of the hull blades are like? I've seen the TPS and INNO ones online, and I was wondering if:

1) they are both the same thing

2) if they match the listing in the pattern database

The pattern DB does not have actual pro patterns, they are RETAIL PATTERNS ONLY.

Pro Hull is a 6 lie, toe curve with a huge rocker on the bottom.

I wasn't sure weather the inno SMU's were patterns they made for pro's or not... :)

That's a very grey area