Warrior Hitman

[JR Boucicaut 3797]

Open

[irbenaid 0]

I'll be doing a long term review on the new Warrior Hitman stick. Thanks to Warrior and MSH for this opportunity.

I received it yesterday. In the past I have used a Warrior Dolomite and most recently have been using a Mission Fuel TI. Both have been 75 flex in the Drury clone. I received a 70 flex intermediate stick since the lowest flex for the senior is 85. I'm thinking I'll like the little bit of extra flex. The blade pattern is Draper since they don't make the intermediate in the Kovalev pattern.

Overall, the stick feels very similar to the Dolomite. They both appear to be balanced the same and just holding them the weight also feels very similar. The lower half of the stick is mostly black and then the top half has the pool stick look to it like an AK27. It's really a nice looking stick.

1st on ice session will be Wednesday so I'll post again after that.

[irbenaid 0]

Tonight was the 1st time I got to use the Warrior Hitman stick on the ice. My initial impression could honestly be described as really impressed. Both my shots and passes were noticeably harder. Admittedly accuracy did suffer a bit, but that is more my fault than anything to do with the stick because I’m adjusting to a change in curve going from Kovalev to Draper.

The stick has great pop to it when shooting. I’m going to say this was because of going down to a 70 flex from a 75 flex and also the new HD blade on the stick. The blade is very stiff, but yet it was still great for receiving passes. The passes pretty much stuck to the blade and weren’t jumping away from me at all.

At this point I don’t have any real negatives at all. I planned on using the stick for a little while tonight and then going back to my current favorite, the Mission Fuel TI. I never put this down though and the Mission sat at the bench the whole time. I’ve seen on websites that the stick is advertised as being about 25 grams heavier than the Dolomite. This wasn’t noticeable at all and for some reason it actually felt lighter and similar to the Mission stick I have. The Nipple Grip is also fantastic. It’s not overly tacky, just perfect.

I touched the puck quite a bit tonight and had normal stick to stick contact and a bunch of shots along with 3 goals on the 1st night using this. There isn’t a mark on the stick anywhere and no chipping at all.

Here are some pictures I took before I left to play tonight…

Hitman 1

Hitman 2

Hitman 3

Overall, my initial impression is that Warrior has a great product with this stick. We’ll see how things end up going with this and how the durability is as time goes on. Next on ice session is Saturday night I'll post another review after this.

[irbenaid 0]

2nd Use:

Tonight was the 2nd time on the ice with the stick. The only thing that's really changed with my review is that it's even more positive now then after the 1st skate with it. I think I've found the perfect stick for me and as long as the durability holds up. I would easily say that I will buy another one of these exactly like this one.

The 70 flex is absolutely perfect for me and I have fully adjusted to the Draper curve. Last night was an open hockey night played at a fast pace and high level and I had 5 goals. Slap shots just fly off this stick and accurately. The one thing I was having problems with when I used the Mission Fuel TI was that my ability to get a good one timer totally disappeared. With the Hitman stick it's back big time. 2 of the goals I scored last night were one times in the slot. One just inside the post over the goalies leg pad and the other over the goalies shoulder. Guys are actually telling me now that I've put it all together and it's noticeable not only to me but other players.

Only one little chip on the stick down low. It looks like someone may have done a stick lift and it left a mark. Doesn't look like anything to be concerned about though.

It's interesting that the things that I was worried about making me not like the stick have all really helped my game in a huge way. I was worried about using an intermediate stick, the 70 flex, and the change in curve. But, each one of these has been a great change.

[irbenaid 0]

So 3rd time on the ice with this stick was on Wednesday night. The still is still just perfect. I honestly wish I could find some flaws with it at this point. But, there's nothing. In the end I think it's going to come down to durability to determine if this stick stays at the top of my list.

I loved my Warrior Dolomite until I used the Mission Fuel TI. Now I can't imagine going back to the Mission stick. If and when this one breaks I'll be getting either another one of these or a Dolomite shaft in 70 flex with grip. It seems to be the perfect combination for me.

The blade is still as stiff as the 1st time I used it. No major damage to report beyond what is ordinary at this point. The stick still looks great.

This is going to be a short update this time because I'm not sure how many times you want to see me type how great this stick is. Next use is Saturday night and then I may be off the ice for 2 weeks because of scheduling at the rink.

[irbenaid 0]

Saturday night was the 4th use of the stick and my opinion hasn't changed at all.

One thing I would like to comment on is how stiff the blade is compared to the old Warrior blades. Even after the 4th use I can't flex the blade at all with my hands and this is also after it got run over by a skate blade. I'm thinking the stiffness of the blade is also helping with my shot power and accuracy.

Still no chips or anything wrong with the stick at all. By the looks of it I won't be updating this for about 2 - 3 weeks as we're waiting for our new session to start. I'll post more as soon as I have it. I can't recommend this stick enough though.

[irbenaid 0]

Since my last post I've been able to get on the ice twice. I really have no updates right now. The stick is still in great shape with no major chips or anything that would seem out of the ordinary. I'm totally sold on this stick. The flex, the grip, the blade. It's exactly what I've been looking for in a stick for a long time.

[irbenaid 0]

Since my last update I've been on the ice about 3 or 4 more times. I was waiting to post again until I was sure of what I thought of this stick. The 1st time I used it after my last post I thought that the stick was losing some of it's pop that it had when I first got it. The pucks just didn't seem to be flying off of it like they were in the beginning. I wanted to wait to post until I was sure that this was happening.

To test this I brought out the Mission Fuel Ti stick in warm up to see how that felt vs the Hitman stick. Well, what I was feeling was definitely wrong. The stick still hasn't lost anything and is still much better than the Mission stick. The blade is still stiff and there are still no concerns with any chips on the stick or blade.

The new HD blade has been excellent too. For a few years now before I started to like the Mission stick I used a Dolomite shaft with a Dolomite blade. I thought the Dolomite blade was great, but these HD blades are even better. The blade stiffness definitely adds to my shot. It's more accurate and seems to be harder. Up to this point the blade is even more durable than the Dolomite blade.

[irbenaid 0]

I've had another 3 sessions on the ice with this stick and I think I'm coming to the conclusion that this stick has too much flex for me. It was absolutely perfect in the beginning, but now that I'm getting up there in the amount of times I've used it I think that once it's broken in there is way too much flex.

Maybe if the stick was available in a senior model at a 75 flex it would have remained as my favorite stick once it was broken in. I have used it every ice time since I received it. I think that my slap shot and wrist shot velocity have both decreased a bit since it's been broken in and I'm having lots of trouble getting a lot on one timers now and when I receive a really hard pass across the crease to hold the stick there for a deflection into the net. There is just way too much flex.

For the 1st time since I got the stick I found myself going back to my Mission stick and now I'm considering giving one of my Dolomites a little time on the ice next time I play as well.

I will update more and this goes along, but I think I may have found the ultimate downfall for me with this stick.

[irbenaid 0]

Well, this will be the final review on the Warrior Hitman stick. This was an interesting experiment for me since I was able to use a flex that I never used and went back to a curve that I haven't used in a few years as well.

My initial impression of this stick was that it was simply amazing. After two months of use, however, it's just no longer usable. The good points about this stick are:

1. The new HD blades are just great. After 2 months of use there isn't even a chip in the blade. The old Dolomite blades just weren't like that. So I'd say these blades are very durable. It's still very stiff as well. Just a great blade.

2. The 70 flex was great at first, the kick was also great when the stick was new.

3. I really liked the grip as well.

Honestly, everything about this stick was perfect in the beginning. I couldn't say one bad thing about it. This is where the hard part of evaluating this stick comes in. I think that the 70 flex is one of the things that was great in the beginning but helped to lower my opinion of the stick in the end. The difference between how the stick was the first month and how it ended up being in the last month was just drastic. For the retail price of the stick I just think that the drop off in performance is way too great in that short of a time period. Maybe I wouldn't have felt this way if they made the stick in a senior 75 flex and I cut it down a few inches like normal. Then maybe the drop off really may not have been that noticeable.

In the end though the great performance was just too short lived. The stick lost it's pop and became way too whippy.

Thanks again to MSH and Warrior for giving me this opportunity. I hope the review was helpful to anyone that read it.