Just bought Easton S3 stick

[hockeyaussie 1]

Been playing rec league for 6 months. Its my second stick, replacing my (intermediate) Tackla 5050 wooden stick. (I'm 5'11", light to medium build. Bought the old intermediate stick by mistake!)

Easton '09 S3 (senior stick)

eliptical shaft

Sakic curve

87 flex

lie 5.5

The curve and face is quite a bit more open than my old stick. (Old stick was too closed in the face for my liking)

There were three sticks I was looking at purchasing from my LHS. (Expensive because its in Australia, and not much range available in the beginners sticks) Was kinda in a hurry to replace my broken wooden stick so I had something to use for the next game, so yeah, a hasty purchase...

A couple of things I noticed (after I purchased it) was: about the same weight as my old wooden stick. Slightly heavier at the blade end than I'd like, but not too bad. Eliptical shaft end... not sure if you can you replace blades on these sticks?

It was either going to be the Easton S3 or a cheapish Mission stick... I liked the Mission stick a lot, (felt great, good balance, slightly lighter than the S3. Liked the curve which was slightly more closed than the Easton Sakic curve and slightly more open than my old stick) only reason I didn't go for the Mission was the 96 flex... I'm used to 75 flex wooden stick and didn't want the shock of going straight to a rigid stick...

Anyone care to comment? Should I have gone for the mission, whose curve was a little more like my old stick? I'm committed to the S3 though, cos its already been cut. But any suggestions for adapting to it after learning on a wooden stick?

Cheers!

[AIREAYE 248]

I think curves only take getting used to, but flex is much more important. It's unfortunate that you don't have more selection (but then again, lucky that you have an LHS there :p ) With your build, I would recommend a SR stick, but with 75 or 77 flex, but the only Sr flexes available in low end models are 85 and up unfortunately :(

[mickz 107]

Everybody is going to have their preferences but I'm more picky about flex and lie than the curve.

Do they have any high end wood sticks (ex. Sherwood 9950) in Australia?

[hockeyaussie 1]

Everybody is going to have their preferences but I'm more picky about flex and lie than the curve.

Do they have any high end wood sticks (ex. Sherwood 9950) in Australia?

Thanks mickz and AIRAYE for your input. Yes, I put flex and lie as my first priorities when choosing a stick. Sounds like I chose the best option that was available to me at that time. I don't think there are many options when it comes to wooden sticks. Composite seems to be what is popular, so that is what the store stocks I guess. (though one of my training coaches reckons I should be using a wooden stick... maybe he's right, but they just aren't readily available here!)

cheers guys,

ha.