OPS Technology

[Chadd 916]

Back to the OPS technology, I'd love to see a true OPS, solid one piece mold like the Busch, come back into the marketplace with today's materials and technology. We're already pushing $300+ in Canada on OPS and what's the $ figure on TOTALONE skates there? Say what you want, but, with the dollar roughly at even with US, can you imagine paying that for a stick or high end skates? WOW!

Since we're obviously going to hit that price point soon, we might as well see some advancement in technology to go along with the advancement in price.

[MLSman 22]

A TRUE one piece single mold construction would be an interesting technological advancement...but $300 for a stick is just insanity.

...then again I found a way to justify 2 pair of $900 skates...ugh.

I saw the hockey summit commercial on NHL network, and there is the part where Burkey talks about keeping the game affordable to youth...I had to laugh when I mentally tallied up the cost of all the goods in my hockey room.

[Jarick 5]

So what are the advantages of a TRUE one piece over a fused stick?

[raganblink 82]

For youth the game is still very affordAble. here Atleast costs for mites is like 450 a season, and all new gear is at minimum of 250. so to start head to toe in new gear and a season is 700. Spread that out over 6 months and you're looking at 3-4 dollars a day. let's say five bucks, I'm sure almost everyone can cut five bucks out of their day. no pop or eat out less etc. if u look at peoples financings everyone should be able to have their kid play hockey.

[fiimb 1]

For youth the game is still very affordAble. here Atleast costs for mites is like 450 a season, and all new gear is at minimum of 250. so to start head to toe in new gear and a season is 700. Spread that out over 6 months and you're looking at 3-4 dollars a day. let's say five bucks, I'm sure almost everyone can cut five bucks out of their day. no pop or eat out less etc. if u look at peoples financings everyone should be able to have their kid play hockey.

i think that's a pretty harsh assumption when you consider most families spend $5-10 a day feeding a child.

[DolomaticDangles 13]

For youth the game is still very affordAble. here Atleast costs for mites is like 450 a season, and all new gear is at minimum of 250. so to start head to toe in new gear and a season is 700. Spread that out over 6 months and you're looking at 3-4 dollars a day. let's say five bucks, I'm sure almost everyone can cut five bucks out of their day. no pop or eat out less etc. if u look at peoples financings everyone should be able to have their kid play hockey.

I think from squirt up the hockey fees were at least $1500 (normal youth hockey). That doesnt include travel, food, hotel rooms, tournament fees etc... Plus if you want decent gear that can easily be another 1000.

I think parents look at it and go "Oh my, $1,000+?!?! We'll just sign Johnny up for soccer for $150 and he'll play that.

It wasnt a problem for me or my parents but I can see some parents just seeing the cost compared to other sports and saying screw it.But you're right, everyone should be able to afford it.

[JR Boucicaut 3804]

Pretty broad statement there...

[raganblink 82]

For rec fees here aren't higher than 600 at any level. add gear, even at senior level, and it is at minimum a grand a season. over a six month period parents have to spend 6-7 a day. tell me, how much do parents spend of pop, smoking, drinking, not carpooling, hdtv, and other shit that is a luxury rather than a necessity. quite a bit. I know this bc that's how I was able to play as a kid, and how I can afford gear and having fun now. anyone can find money to cut from their daily routine, and I guess that's why I don't have much sympathy towards people who do these luxuries than say they can't afford something.

anyways back on topic. its going to be a funny day when retailers really have to explain that this stick is a true ops after all the years of what an ops was...

[maxamillion 3]

The single biggest reason I didn't play ice earlier is because my parents refused to pay for it. It wasn't until I was a freshman in college working at a sports memorabilia store in all of my free time that I was able to pay for it.

[shooter27 116]

For rec fees here aren't higher than 600 at any level. add gear, even at senior level, and it is at minimum a grand a season. over a six month period parents have to spend 6-7 a day. tell me, how much do parents spend of pop, smoking, drinking, not carpooling, hdtv, and other shit that is a luxury rather than a necessity. quite a bit. I know this bc that's how I was able to play as a kid, and how I can afford gear and having fun now. anyone can find money to cut from their daily routine, and I guess that's why I don't have much sympathy towards people who do these luxuries than say they can't afford something.

anyways back on topic. its going to be a funny day when retailers really have to explain that this stick is a true ops after all the years of what an ops was...

I think you're making a pretty big assumption about the luxuries that many of the people that would experience financial strain by paying for hockey hockey utilize. Things like smoking, drinking, HDTV, etc. are not things that families that are really struggling pay for. There are still plenty of families today that don't have any TV or a car at all. I don't know the exact numbers but I'd guess those luxuries (maybe with the exception of alcohol) are purchased by well less than 50% of the population.

[mickz 107]

Did some digging...we have two (2) TRUE OPS, made in a single mold from blade toe to butt end handle.

More info to come soon!

For a lack of better words, was the Innovative True 1 a true one piece stick?

[JR Boucicaut 3804]

For a lack of better words, was the Innovative True 1 a true one piece stick?

By that definition, no. It was the first of the "true" OPS.

[Eazy_b97 1]

I thought Busch had a true OPS that pre-dated every other one-piece?

Larionov used one in his SJ/early Detroit days

[Chadd 916]

For youth the game is still very affordAble. here Atleast costs for mites is like 450 a season, and all new gear is at minimum of 250. so to start head to toe in new gear and a season is 700. Spread that out over 6 months and you're looking at 3-4 dollars a day. let's say five bucks, I'm sure almost everyone can cut five bucks out of their day. no pop or eat out less etc. if u look at peoples financings everyone should be able to have their kid play hockey.

Mite league is over $1k here, plus tournaments and mandatory fund raising. That obviously doesn't cover equipment either and kids that age can easily go through multiple sizes in a year. That's a big nut to cover for a lot of people, especially in the current economy.

anyways back on topic. its going to be a funny day when retailers really have to explain that this stick is a true ops after all the years of what an ops was...

Either they didn't know what they were talking about or lied, pretty simple explanation. Most will just blame a manufacturer for their ignorance.

[raganblink 82]

A grand for mites? Holy shit, that's expensive league coats. and by explaining, I mean, we've called them a one piece stick forever. having to explain that those were really a blade and a shaft that were fused together then maybe additional stuff will be funny to say.

[hamstercaster 2]

Mite league is over $1k here, plus tournaments and mandatory fund raising. That obviously doesn't cover equipment either and kids that age can easily go through multiple sizes in a year. That's a big nut to cover for a lot of people, especially in the current economy.

Either they didn't know what they were talking about or lied, pretty simple explanation. Most will just blame a manufacturer for their ignorance.

Many of the players who use high end stick don't care and probably wouldn't know of the added advantage no matter how minimal it could end up being if they were using a true OPS. Again, based on some of the knowledge I acquired here combined with and the many guys I play or have played with, I'd say about 97% of them don't know much about gear development and features. They just buy the top of the line sticks because they can afford to and for performance, namely the weight of the stick. They will see that it shoots better and probably handles better but won't necessarily know why.

I was discussing gear in the room a couple of months back with someone and others were listening in on the conversation. Some of them are actually pretty decent players, some with mostly high end equipment and most were surprised to learn about some features on the new gear coming out, namely the One100/Total One and such. You should have seen the look on their faces. One of the guys said: He knows about all this gear but yet he doesn't use it all this sitting right next to me while I still add my One95's in my feet, 9K Shoulder pads and my Jofa 9144.

[Eazy_b97 1]

Many of the players who use high end stick don't care and probably wouldn't know of the added advantage no matter how minimal it could end up being if they were using a true OPS.

Why would there be an advantage in using a true OPS? There have been a few out in the past and they weren't well recieved. I'd have to think guys like Easton, Bauer, etc.. would have made a top-end True OPS if they felt it was a performance upgrade on the fused sticks.

[Scotty 8]

Seems that it's all a pissing match about whose is a "real" OPS. My thoughts? Who CARES? Fused, real... They all perform like tapered shaft/blade combos to begin with, so there is no drive to create a real one. Except maybe the right to say that you actually sell a true OPS, but it seems that the cost of doing that is a con that outweighs the pros right now.

[fiimb 1]

we were chatting last night after our weekly shinny. i recently bought a 10k pro stock and he was saying i was stupid cause the 11k is coming out soon and he was gonna get it. I asked him "what's so great about the 11k? how much better can it be than my 10k pro stock?".

He replied "cause it says 11k on it".

the point i want to make is, now its just about getting the "best" and newest stick. ever since foam core blades, i wouldn't care for any new tech in sticks.

[VakarLajos 5]

Seems that it's all a pissing match about whose is a "real" OPS. My thoughts? Who CARES? Fused, real... They all perform like tapered shaft/blade combos to begin with, so there is no drive to create a real one. Except maybe the right to say that you actually sell a true OPS, but it seems that the cost of doing that is a con that outweighs the pros right now.

I'd take a high performing B/S over a crappy true one-piece. If it works for me, it's the best stick.

[hamstercaster 2]

Why would there be an advantage in using a true OPS? There have been a few out in the past and they weren't well recieved. I'd have to think guys like Easton, Bauer, etc.. would have made a top-end True OPS if they felt it was a performance upgrade on the fused sticks.

Some people seem to think that there might be some advantage if I go by some of the other threads flotting around. Notice how I wrote no matter how minimal it could be.

But that wasn't the essence of what I was saying. The essence of my post was about the fact that there way less people than we think who actually know much about the gear out there. Like it's been said, for some it's just about getting the newest thing on the market

[Eazy_b97 1]

It's more of an open question than something just to you. I noticed it a page or so ago as well and it caught me off guard.

[Chadd 916]

Seems that it's all a pissing match about whose is a "real" OPS. My thoughts? Who CARES? Fused, real... They all perform like tapered shaft/blade combos to begin with, so there is no drive to create a real one. Except maybe the right to say that you actually sell a true OPS, but it seems that the cost of doing that is a con that outweighs the pros right now.

All OPS do not perform like tapered shafts and blades, as there is no consistency among them either. Sticks with artificially lowered kickpoints flex and perform nothing like tapered sticks with higher kickpoints. It wouldn't make a bit of difference in terms of sales if they were the same price.

Why would there be an advantage in using a true OPS? There have been a few out in the past and they weren't well recieved. I'd have to think guys like Easton, Bauer, etc.. would have made a top-end True OPS if they felt it was a performance upgrade on the fused sticks.

The Busch sticks had fantastic feel, better than any other OPS I used. Unfortunately the inability to put a plug in and the lack of performance were huge negatives to me. If the performance was better but they couldn't make a profit selling it, you wouldn't see one.

[JR Boucicaut 3804]

I have a funny Busch story.

When the Orlando Solar Bears folded, we got all of the used sticks - and we had a tent sale. Well, one of the sticks was a Busch Balance. It was spraypainted to cover up the Itech logos. I went ahead and took them for myself, and used it, but it was a bit too short. I passed it on to someone else, who passed it on to someone else, who passed it on to someone else...to make a long story short, the last time I saw the stick being used, it was 5 years later, and it was STILL being used.

[Scotty 8]

Pissing match?

The sticks might not perform like a tapered shaft/blade combo. Do you know this for a fact? I remember when we came out with the original TPS XHALE OPS Goal Stick, which was a true OPS, and the difference between that and a test stick we had at the time that was a "fused" OPS was night and day! Again, that was a goal stick, but, you could tell a HUGE difference. Maybe at 775g, things are different than at 415-435g.

I more so meant the current "true one-piece" sticks (that aren't really real OPS at all, but rather fused) in comparison to fused OPS and their equivalent shaft/blade combo. Does a claimed true OPS like the 10k, despite being fused and merely having the same strands of material from end to blade, have any sort of advantage over the fused SE16? Or, for that matter, does the SE16 OPS have a real life performance advantage over the shaft/blade combo?

Maybe.

Maybe noticeable for the pros, but not for the vast inclusive group of everyone less than a pro. But who knows? I didn't work in the industry and am fully aware of that.

However, I was not trying to say that a modern version of a Busch-like true OPS would not hold advantages over our current options. I was just saying that with the way things are now (changing models every other year, keeping fused as the preferred way to do it, production times/schedules), there really isn't any incentive for a manufacturer to retool an entire factory in an attempt to be the first to produce a real OPS.