wear on blade

[Empieee 0]

so hello,

I had a question about the wear on the blades of my stick. Currently I use a ballistik 22 caliber stick with a sakic clone. and like my last stick(easton s7 with sakic curve) it started to crack/wear at the heel.. from my knowledge there can be 2 reasons for that: too long of a stick(my sticks are chin height on skates) or a wrong lie on your blade. The weird thing is, I used a easton synergy 200 before the s7 and it lasted me about2 years before it broke. This stick also had a sakic curve and I didnt have any problems with that

my question obviously is: are there other reasons? or could it be the lie?

hope too hear some good solutions!

kind regards

[Chadd 916]

the combination of length and lie is not correct. You could be making it worse if you have a shooting form that involves impacting the ice heavily.

[Vet88 674]

You don't say how experienced you are or how long you have been playing. Have you just started to really work on your slap shots as you have improved your game over the last few years?

Biggest cause that I see of cracked heels in the kids I coach is poor form in slap shots. Puck handling, wristers and snap shots will not crack or split the heel but a sad slap shot will break it in a matter of days. There is a simple way to test this, retape your stick then go out and hit 20 slap shots. After each slap shot, have a look at your tape on the bottom of the blade to see where the blade hit the surface and the front of the blade to see where the blade hit the puck. If the wear on the bottom is in the middle of the blade then your blade is striking the surface ok. If the wear is in the heel then you have your answer. A tip I use for this, accepting that your stick is a length you are comfortable with and you aren't driving the blade into the surface at the wrong angle, is to move the bottom hand lower down the stick.

Also the puck should be striking the middle of the blade, not near the heel or the toe.

Another reason can be the clone. I've seen a lot of clone sakic curves that have the same profile as a sakic (curve and loft) but the lie is different.

Length and lie is a complex thing to work out, how you skate, stance, position of hands, puck handling technique, position you play etc all impact on the length and lie you may want to use.

[Empieee 0]

well, some more information then,

I started about 5 years ago, dont really take a lot of slapshots. I will give the tape trick a try when I have the chance.. so my game has quite improved over time only 2 things really lacking(accuracy and skating)

will drop a message tomorrow then i should have my answer..

[Chadd 916]

When I started playing I booked a couple private lessons with the hockey director at the local rink and it improved a couple aspects of my game immediately. I strongly suggest that for anyone trying to improve.

[Empieee 0]

well problem is.. I am from The Netherlands playing at recreational lvl. I do train about 2 hours a week and other 2 are pickup..

what seems weird is that I never had the problem untill I got too the easton s7..

so I either started doing it wrong since then or I got taught wrong..

[Vet88 674]

If you find it is your slap shits then don't throw away those broken sticks. Instead get yourself about 20 pucks, some garden netting and a plastic shooting board. Set yourself up a goal at home and practice slap shots with your broken sticks concentrating on getting the bottom hand lower down the stick. If you hit 50 shots a day, in a month or so you will be hitting slap shots with a nice regular action. Lots of slap shots is always hard on sticks but with the correct action your sticks will start to last a lot longer.

[Empieee 0]

So I tried it today, didnt work too well since I sprained my ankle last week and bruised it prety bad. So wasnt able to take full shots.. but this time while using my jofa stick with sakic clone the tape didnt wear on the slappers.

so might be a week or so till i will found out

when I have time ill post pictures aswell

[Empieee 0]

so here are some pictures of blades.. so you can see what happened to them..

http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/q619/Nhversch/Foto0306P.jpg

at this point i can easily flex the blade by hand because it started to chip? from heel almost untill the toe

http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/q619/Nhversch/Foto0305.jpg

this stick I used for the the stuff vet88 told

http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/q619/Nhversch/Foto0304P.jpg

I think this one shoes prety good where I hit the puck...

[Vet88 674]

If the white marks show the range where the puck is coming off your blade, you are hitting the puck slightly to the rear. Where the front mark is (the vertical white line closest to the E) is where you want to be hitting them. I have a total one that is split at the back of the blade in this spot and I now use it exclusively as my slap shot practice hitter. 6 months on, 200 or so slap shots a day and it's still going strong, admittedly down a few % on power... If your technique is ok your blades will last.

[Empieee 0]

well the white marks are actually cracks in the blade

ahh ok, well I was always thought to hit it more to the heel.. actually I was thought too hit all my shots more too the heel

[skyscrape 5]

Are you a big guy? How tall are you? How much do you weigh?

[Vet88 674]

Have a look at this for example,it's just one of thousands of slap shot videos on you tube, shows

Ron Hainsey of the Columbus Blue Jackets

hitting 100mph slap shots, note how the puck comes off the blade just in front of center, how low his bottom hand gets on the shaft and how square (middle part of the blade making contact to the ice) the blade is to the ice when it impacts and sweeps through. No heel involved at all.

If you ever look at a video of a manufacturer testing their sticks, the slap shot machine hits the pucks very similar to this.

[Empieee 0]

not really a big guy.. 1.80 meters and about 75 kilo could be close to 80 though

ahh ok, never looked at a video that way. thanks for the info

in the video he holds his stick slightly lower then I would with taking a slapper so Ill practice on that