The Price of Sticks Must Come Down

[epstud74 24]

Correct

[Wolfpack_1986 154]

GOOD carbon fiber is expensive.

good carbon fiber manufacturing is expensive too. ie mandrel forming versus bladders

[cptjeff 0]

GOOD carbon fiber is expensive.

Yeah, the stuff you make a toilet seat out of is the stuff that costs $10 a pound. That's not what's used in hockey sticks and skates.

[Laars 0]

Guys,

I picked up 3 Warrior Hitman sticks for $80.00 each. I got to use them last week for the first time, and for $80.00 they are a great stick. I'm playing house league hockey, with no slaps, so I don't need a $300.00 stick. I'm guessing most people couldn't tell the difference between the top of the line and a mid priced stick anyway. Its not about "look at what I have" last time I checked. Its about playing Hockey, isn't it?

[VakarLajos 5]

Guys,

I picked up 3 Warrior Hitman sticks for $80.00 each. I got to use them last week for the first time, and for $80.00 they are a great stick. I'm playing house league hockey, with no slaps, so I don't need a $300.00 stick. I'm guessing most people couldn't tell the difference between the top of the line and a mid priced stick anyway. Its not about "look at what I have" last time I checked. Its about playing Hockey, isn't it?

I'd say a lot of people couldn't tell the difference between SOME high end sticks and GOOD mid-level sticks.

[furlanitalia 1]

I'm pretty sure most players could tell the difference between a top of the line stick and everything beneath it .

[raganblink 82]

I've shot with the hitman... good for the price, no where near close to the dolo let alone another companies top stick.

[ean 0]

I don't buy one piece-period. Nowadays, ALL sticks (wood, 2 piece shaft, OPS) have been developed towards LIGHTER weight and better performance. The sacrifice is durability. Wood sticks now (if you can find them) do not last long themselves, either.

I get more damage done to my blade before anything ever happens to my stick shafts. Which is why I will never buy a one piece unless I'm blown away with a deal, because once that blade gets FUBARed you have a 150$+ paper weight.

I use 2 pieces. I got my shaft for 60 shipped and every time I need a "new stick" (ie, a blade) I dish out 20 bucks for a new one.

My ONLY qualm with the industry right now- what has happened to the blade market?! I like to use the wood ones which are cheap but they're damn near impossible to find. I don't want to pay 50dollars for a composite blade, otherwise I would just get a one piece. If they revamped the wood blade market-i'd be a happy man.

[bostonjuniorblackhawks 1]

I don't find wood blades hard to find at my lhs. Also some ops can easily be made into a shaft. Dolo for example. Buy one on sale for $130. Cheaper than dolo shaft and composite blade combo. When the blade breaks, you can still use the shaft. I find most wood blades don't last nearly as long as a composite blade for me.

[raganblink 82]

Blades were a weird market this year.

Not many shops I think put together that since the economy is tougher, the cheaper two-piece system would become as popular as it did.

We were sold out of right blades in october (the same amount that lasted all the previous season), lefties in december, and we got a reorder in with a bunch of right and left compoiste and wood, and we only got about 12 senior blades left, about half wood and composite, all left. Been out of right for about a month. Its been crazy at how many we've actually sold compared to previous seasons.

[goaliekilr 0]

But did you sell that many more shafts also?

[raganblink 82]

Yes. Twice as many as last year. After multiple reorders too. All we got in stock is high end sticks basically. We definitely didn't read the market correctly going with not enough low-midend equipment.

[Drewhunz 3]

As the saying goes: if you're not enough without it, you'll never be enough with it.

[Ital79 0]

Yeah, the stuff you make a toilet seat out of is the stuff that costs $10 a pound. That's not what's used in hockey sticks and skates.

This is what hockey sticks are made out of:

That's right - shitty, cheap Hawaiian shirts (rayon).

Take rayon, toss it in an oven, remove all O2, turn dial WAY up, wait a while and viola! You have carbonized fiber. Depending on how it's cooked, rayon fibers are carbonized anywhere from 60-90%. From there, it can then be heat treated to either be pliable or very rigid. Feed it into a loom and you then have carbon mat.

It's actually a simple process...very messy though.