Christian Hockey making a comeback?

[woodstick 0]

http://www.cbhockey.com/home.php?cat=11

Anybody used these? I saw them in a Scheels, and they looked amazing. Were pretty light too.

I went to Scheels in in Eau Claire WI and they didn't have any ice hockey equipment out. The manager told me they would start putting out hockey gear in another month. If I needed something specific, they would look in the basement for me. Bummer -- well, at least Scheels had a lot of nice baseball and softball equipment on the shelves.

[OldNSlow 3]

I ended up ordering custom wood blades from Christian, so I thought I would share my experience with the MSH community in case anyone else is thinking of ordering. Rick, joint-owner and the stick maker, was very helpful and professional during the entire process. He did a terrific job of getting the blade specifications exactly how I wanted. When I first received the blades, I was very happy and I thought my problems of finding a blade with a lower lie and a mid-toe curve (LH) were over. Overall, I would say that the new owners are solid guys that can be trusted.

Having said that, I am disappointed in the blades themselves. I think the main reason for this is because I was expecting the blades to be similar to traditional Christian Diamondlite blades (see http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/491212/G...-Images-Sport); in fact, this was the reason why I chose to order custom blades with Christian in the first place. Because I take about two slapshots a season, I thought it was worth the expense. I wish I had known that the blades would be totally different than the older Christian blades.

Some specifics - the new Christian blades seem much stiffer/stronger and more durable than the older blades. The epoxy and fiberglass seem to be different, and it is noticeable immediately based solely on the color and look of the blades. My guess is that their intention is to make the blade more durable, as traditional Christian blades were known for going soft rather quickly. At $35 a blade, I can definitely understand a business decision to make the blades more durable, however, all of the pluses of the traditional Christian blades, in my opinion of course, are gone. First, the new Christian blades are heavier than the older Christian blades. When plugged into a standard shaft, the combo feels blade heavy. I have used mostly wood Easton, Christian (Harrow), and CCM wood blades in the recent past, and I have never felt such a blade heavy combo. If you are concerned about weight, you should talk to Rick prior to ordering about his ability to make the blades lighter. Second, the feel of the puck is different than the soft feel of the old Christian blades. Maybe this is because of the different type of fiberglass used. I understand, however, that puck feel may be a personal preference thing. The feel of the new Christian blade is more like traditional Easton wood blades than traditional Christian blades. I could probably get used to the puck feel, however.

Overall, like most hockey sticks, it comes down to personal preference. If you want custom wood blades and want to have confidence that the markers can be trusted with your blade specifications, then the new Christian company may work for you. If you are an old-timer who likes the traditional Christian blades with their amazingly light weight and soft puck feel, then the new Christian blades will probably not work for you. The only things that are similar to traditional Christian blades are the name and the diamond weave. I'm sure some people would love the blades that were made for me. Unfortunately, I don't, and I'm out a couple hundred of bucks; not to mention back to square one in terms of finding a lower lie, mid-toe curve. Like I said, I wish that someone from Christian would have told me or advertised that the new Christian blades were nothing like traditional Christian blades. I talked to Rick prior to ordering about how I was using Christian (Harrow) blades and I only wanted to tweak the curve a bit; of course I was assuming the whole time that the blade construction and feel would be the same as traditional Christian blades. Although, he did tell me that the epoxy used was better in the new blades than the Harrow blades, so I guess I should have known that the construction wasn't exactly the same. Trying out a new Christian blade is like trying out a blade from a completely different company, so don't assume anything because of the name.

Feel free to message me if you have any questions or would like to trade to test out a blade yourself.