A question regarding manufacture of pro stock gear

[txhockey 0]

This question stems from watching two different videos regarding the NHL. One was the show sports job with junior seau, and the other was a video of new draft picks talking with Danny Briere. In the first video, Seau is working in the equipment room for the Capitals. Ovechkin comes in to do some work on his sticks. He starts cutting his sticks down, and then sanding off the edges. So obviously then ovechkin is having his sticks sent to him in a certain flex, and then he is cutting them down, thus altering the flex. Now granted, ovechkin could probably get CCM to customize his stick however he wants, and maybe he was experimenting..

In the next video, Briere is talking with taylor hall and tyler seguin and showing him is super flexible blade on his stick, which he says he asks for that way, and then also says that in the beginning of the season, he starts with sticks that are between 87 and 90 flex, and then slowly moves down to 77 flex as the season moves on.

So this leads me to my question, how much can these NHL guys customize their sticks. Now granted, guys in the ovechkin, crosby, toews category can probably get whatever they want, but what about a guy like Briere? Seems ovechkin is cutting his down, so its not like he is getting a custom length and flex, but what is Danny doing? He seems to be getting a custom blade type, but with regard to the stick flex, is he just talking about moving from a standard 87 flex one95 that is cut down and probably a higher flex (he is pretty short), then down to a standard 77 flex that is probably cut down and like an 85 flex or even a little more? So basically is this guy changing his stick length the whole season, or is he getting bauer to customize sticks with specific flexes that ratchet down as the season goes on, based on his preferred stick length?

What also got me on this is I always liked the custom orange stripe on brieres one95, and never realized it was something mere mortals could get until I checked out the bauer custom stick website.

I know this is some pretty specific stuff, and maybe just an idiotic question that can never be answered, but it is just something I have been pondering, and I know there are a lot of smart people on here that might know something about the workings of custom pro gear.

Also, for reference, the briere video:

http://ballhype.com/video/taylor-hall-and-tyler-seguin-talk-hockey-sticks-with/

Couldn't find the ovechkin one.

[Shayno 1]

Briere was refering to changing flex on stick...not length.....more flex later in season.

[Scotty 8]

To answer your question in a succinct manner, the players at that level can customize a stick so heavily that at that point it no longer resembles anything close to its retail counterpart. The sticks are often so heavily modified that the only thing resembling the version you buy off the shelf is merely the graphics on it.

For example, a lot of players use Warrior sticks. The stick may say that it is a Dolomite, but Warrior offers over 1,300 different blade patterns. A pro can have their own blade made however they like. Warrior also offers them 6 different shaft profiles, such as straight walls with rounded corners, concave or convex shafts (walls bowed in our out), super boxy shafts like the ones used by Kovalchuk or Shanahan (to replicate his old aluminum shaft shape), very large-diameter shafts for guys like Chara, etc. And if they don't have a kind a player wants, they'll make it and add it to their arsenal. Warrior offers 7 different outer finishes of possible grip, such as Super tack, Grip, Soft Grip, Velvet Grip, PolarFibre, SharkSkin, or Clearcoat. They offer flexes ranging from 50 and going in 5-point increments (70, 75, 80, 85, etc) all the way up to 140+. And there are 6 different blade formats that a player can choose from to change the feel of their blade that include various foams, stiffeners, and different epoxy resins. They'll also use different systems of stick manufacturing to determine how lively or dampened a stick will feel. The equipment manager that services Holmstrom's account with Warrior said that he likes a heavy stick that feels like wood, so his stick uses more fiberglass content in it to deaden it a bit, as well as a special blade mentioned above and the fact that it is basically a fused shaft and blade to further determine feel.

And that's just Warrior.

Bauer (and I'm sure other manufacturers do as well) offers things such as custom flex profiles. Whereas the stick you buy at retail may be an 85 flex throughout the whole stick, players can specify that they want different zones of their sticks to be different flexes. They can play with the kickpoints and alter where the stick flexes the most heavily. I recall hearing that some of Ovechkin's One95 sticks (when he used them) were around a 75-80 flex throughout the top 2/3rds of the stick, but the bottom third was 100 flex, which determines where the stick flexes the most.

Players can have whatever stick they want as well. Many of the sticks used by NHL players are past models of sticks simply painted to look like newer current models on the market (for selling and marketing purposes). The Easton Synergy ST is their classic Synergy with some minor enhancements, but due to other technological advances in their other stick lines, it has been reduced to their "durable stick with performance". Since so many players used the original Synergy when it came out, many players still use the ST now because it is so similar. They're just painted to look like the newer Easton S19s or Easton SE16 sticks. Which brings me to another point: MANY of the sticks you see used in the NHL are simply repainted versions. Companies don't want players running around using old versions of sticks on TV. How would that help them sell any new sticks? So stick designs that may not have changed for the past 5-6 years are painted to look like the newest and greatest stuff they're selling. Such as what I mentioned with the Easton ST stick or the fact that many of the current Easton SE16 sticks are actually older Easton Synergy SEs, which is a stick from a handful of years ago. But, as I said, even then the name of the stick doesn't matter much as players can customize it all they want. This doesn't even take into account the various graphics changes that can be made for players that request special little things.

Regardless of how much is done to a stick, players will always want to mess around with them more. That's what hockey players do: cut, shave, sculpt, tape, etc. It's been that way since the days of wood sticks. Composite blades are not meant to be re-curved by heat as it heavily weakens them, but this doesn't stop many NHL players from using torches and such to do this (many of them don't know a great deal about equipment itself, they just go by feel and use it to play the way they've always played). Luc Robitaille used to be told all the time that he couldn't be shaving down his composite blades and such because they would break easily, yet he kept doing it. Players will still want to cut, chop, and file on their sticks. You'll see some videos of players taking belt sanders to their composite stick blades to "shorten them down because they come too long from the manufacturer", so they'll take the sander to it and take off maybe 1/4th of an inch. Not a huge difference, but they'll still do it.

I think you can basically see the extent now to which those players can determine what they want. They know how they want it to feel and the companies will do almost anything to a stick to earn that player's business.

[burrn 0]

I don't think a pro NHL player would alter his stick length all the time, and it's not really hard to make different flexes.

And since most things equipment are done through the EQM, and not directly between player-manufacturer, I guess the player's "presence" within the team and the EQM’ｓ "presence" in the industry might have something to do with it too.

I'm not really sure about the Ovechkin cutting his sticks part, since I have been wondering the same thing, but maybe it's personal preference/superstition (like he likes to cut down a 85flex himself than using a short 95flex, or something like that).

[Scotty 8]

EDIT: Damn double post.

[burrn 0]

Sorry, NM.

[TBLfan 25]

Custom stick lengths is rare with an exception, full 63" length seems to be somewhat normal.

Flex is available in 5ths, instead of 75, 85, 100, 110.

Blade stiffness, thickness. Various different model blades(obviously, this means different materials). Blade profile, pattern, lie.

Shaft wall thickness(weight, durability, feel), shaft shape, grip, grip level

Basically, a no name guy or call up gets to pick one off the shelf, which is normally Reebok. They tend to carry multiple pro pattern options in Reebok, think of it as a pro-only Reebok-id program... the team will stock some of the Reebok pro patterns in multiple flexes for camp and call ups.

Every company pretty much offers the same "stock" pro patterns, sakic, darby, drury, lidstrom, forsberg, etc

When you make the team, generally the team will order you a custom stick and then you could be looking at a custom pattern. Beyond that it seems more like it's the rep/company that allows customization or refuses customization of sticks(such as custom flex profile).

My bet is Briere's sticks have gotten more particular in Philly where the Bauer rep virtually lives in the locker room.

[txhockey 0]

Thanks Scotty, that is exactly the kind of answer I was looking for

[Staal111218 8]

Briere sticks are cut to length at the factory - he just tapes them. He uses 2 different flex sticks based on his strength level. Early season is 87 and sometime after the All Star break he goes to 77.

[michael.yue 2]

Briere sticks are cut to length at the factory - he just tapes them. He uses 2 different flex sticks based on his strength level. Early season is 87 and sometime after the All Star break he goes to 77.

Thanks for repeating exactly what txhockey stated in his original question :)

[Staal111218 8]

Thanks for repeating exactly what txhockey stated in his original question :)

TX is asking if Briere is using different flex sticks cut at different lengths. The answer is no, they all come one length cut to Briere's height. I am confirming this for him.

I'll be more specific for you next time.

[Chadd 916]

Next snarky comment gets a couple days off.

[Homersonic 7]

When I talked to TPS (now Sher-Wood/TPS) a few years ago, they said that their blades had 31 different points on the surface where they could make changes. That's scary.

[Chadd 916]

The software the Warrior uses to analyze pro shot techniques is really interesting. Some day I think that type of customization will be available to "Regular" customers, much like the program Bauer now has.

[Scotty 8]

The software the Warrior uses to analyze pro shot techniques is really interesting. Some day I think that type of customization will be available to "Regular" customers, much like the program Bauer now has.

Bauer has a version also? Any video of this?

[mickz 107]

The software the Warrior uses to analyze pro shot techniques is really interesting. Some day I think that type of customization will be available to "Regular" customers, much like the program Bauer now has.

Base Hockey will be offering this to retail customers very soon.

[michael.yue 2]

TX is asking if Briere is using different flex sticks cut at different lengths. The answer is no, they all come one length cut to Briere's height. I am confirming this for him.

I'll be more specific for you next time.

Gotcha, my mistake. I read it wrong in his original post

[dsjunior1388 81]

On a more basic level, is it still common for players to only select a few sticks out of a batch? I had heard guys like McInnis and Coffey would get a box of sticks and only take three or four out of them to use. With the OPS, is that still common or do players tend to trust the consistency and use the whole box now?

[uclahockey707 1]

^^^Guys are still really picky about their sticks. On the ovie video you see him going through his sticks choosing his game sticks and then the others are NFG and are gotten rid of or sold to us hahaha. But, besides ovie, I've heard a bunch of other guys do the same thing, checking the sticks for balance, feel, weight etc.

mickz - what is Base Hockey? I saw they have an undeveloped webpage but I didn't see anything else.