Rebellion 65-10 Stick

[JR Boucicaut 3799]

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[shooter27 116]

First off, let me say many thanks to JR and Rebellion for setting up this review.

Rebellion 65-10

Pattern: p92 clone

Flex: 95

Personal info: 6'3" 215 lbs

Position: Defense

Former NCAA D3 player, currently playing top level men's league in Los Angeles area once or twice a week

Last sticks: Until recently I have been running through old stock of sticks from college (OG SyNergy's mostly) but in the last couple years I've tried the Bauer TotalOne, Easton s17

Initial impressions: I really had no previous notion of Rebellion so this was a blank slate for me. Out of the box I like the feel of the stick. It feels light and well balanced. The flex feels right on. It just feels like a solid piece of equipment. The curve appears to be spot on, although it does appear the blade is somewhat less rockered than the p92 or Sakic, the lie feels good playing around in my house, but we'll see how this plays out.

Shaft shape: The shaft felt a bit on the small side to me and somewhat rounded. For me, this is a huge positive, one of my favorite sticks of all time is the Koho CoreLight, which was a smaller size stick. Not as small as the Easton Cyclone, but Smaller than a traditional shaft.

Balance: Balance of this stick feels really nice and the stick is definitely light. Since I'm 6'3" I'm going to need an inch or so of extension at the top of the shaft and for the review I'm going to experiment with a composite plug instead of a wood plug in order to keep the balance in tact.

I haven't had much chance to play around with the stick yet, just putzing around my house with a golf ball. But so far the stick has a really nice feel to it and when I lean into it to simulate a shot the flex feels nice and like its going to kick pretty nicely. Looks wise, it looks sharp. The grey, white, red, black color scheme really works. Heck, even my wife commented how nice the stick looked when she saw it.

Next step will be to pick up the composite end plug and get the stick cut and prepped. I'm not going to be able to make my game on Tuesday due to a work commitment, but I'm going to try to find some sticktime to give the stick a workout without having to do it in a game situation.

[shooter27 116]

Thought I would post some pics before I jumped into prepping the stick

http://i1061.photobucket.com/albums/t476/shooter_27/photo4.jpg

http://i1061.photobucket.com/albums/t476/shooter_27/photo.jpg

http://i1061.photobucket.com/albums/t476/shooter_27/photo1.jpg

http://i1061.photobucket.com/albums/t476/shooter_27/photo2.jpg

http://i1061.photobucket.com/albums/t476/shooter_27/photo3.jpg

Also, I mentioned the lie in my last post and playing around with the stick the lie felt very familiar but I couldn't place exactly where I remembered it from and it was bugging me. Last night I finally figured it out, the lie feels like the old Rafalski Mission M-1. The angle of the lie isn't much different than a p92 or Sakic, but the rocker of the blade is much flatter.

[shooter27 116]

Finally got to the rink on Tuesday and was able to use the stick for the first time. It was a fairly high paced mens league game. I'm usually very picky with my sticks and don't hesitate to switch, but for the purpose of the review I've dedicated myself to only using the Rebellion for at least the next couple of games, no matter what my experience is.

The first thing I should note is that in an attempt to compensate for the slightly lower lie than I've been using lately I left a little bit of extra length on the stick when I extended it so that probably had an effect somewhat on my impressions.

Now, on to the actual stick. Taking it out in warmups it felt pretty good. It has really nice puck feel, I always knew where the puck was on my blade. Making and receiving passes felt nice and solid. I didn't feel like the puck wanted to jump of the blade when receiving passes, which I have found with some other sticks. The stick feels like it flexes and releases just a little bit when making passes, which I like, because I have a tendency to try to over-mustard passes when I don't feel the stick flex. However, once I got into the game, I could feel the difference in length and the slight difference in the rocker on the bottom of the blade. I've always been one to want to not think about my equipment during the game, and these differences made me think about the stick, so that took a little bit out of my enjoyment of the stick Of course, the length and lie are items that are 100% personal preference, so it doesn't affect the performance of the stick, but it did put a bit of a damper on how much I liked the stick.

Without sounding like too much of a d-bag, shooting is my area of expertise. I have always had a very hard, very heavy shot. My problem is that I'm a max-effort type shooter. I'm not one that focuses on technique and lets the stick do the work for the most part. That's why I've been going to lower flexes lately (yes, 95 is low for me) because I felt I could put a little less effort in the shot to get it off quicker and pick up some accuracy while maintaining velocity. I also thought I could pick up some velocity on wrist/snap shots as a result of a little more flex in the stick. So, with that being said, I can say this stick really kicks when shooting. I was having some issues with my slap-shot because I still tend to max-effort it, but the wrist shot had a lot of nice zip to it and accuracy was spot on. I'm hoping as I adjust my technique on the slap shot, I'll be able to make true use of the 95 flex on slap shots as well because I think this stick has the potential to be a really good shooting stick.

Overall, I can say I like the stick so far. I think that once I get the length adjusted the lie issue should dissipate and with some more time on the ice I'll be able to adjust pretty well.

[shooter27 116]

Had another game last week and I'm starting to like this stick more and more. I've gotten the height pretty much dialed in and I'm adjusting to the lie difference, so I'm becoming more confident with the stick in my hands, which I hope will allow me to give more feedback that directly applies to the stick. So far, the feel of this stick is what is really impressing me. I don't want to say it feels like a woody, because no composite stick truly does, but it is easily the best feel I've had for the puck since I first starting using OPS almost a decade ago. The puck just feels really natural, whether I'm stickhandling, making or receiving passes, or shooting. Passes have been spot on as well. One thing I've noticed is that there is a touch of tackiness to the stick. I'm not sure if it is a grip (if it is, its very light grip) or just a result of the materials used in construction, but that has taking some getting used to as I usually use non-grip sticks.

Shooting with the stick has been a bit of an adjustment for me. It's a 95 flex, but with the extension I've added it definitely feels a bit softer, so I'm having to focus a bit more on technique and getting shots off quickly instead of fully letting it rip. Generally the directional control has been there, but my timing has been somewhat off so the velocity hasn't been exactly what I'm used to, but its getting better as I use it more. Not sure if this is due to the lighter flex or the lower kickpoint (was previously using a TO) but I think it's coming around for me.

I'd love to make an insightful comment about durability, but so far the stick hasn't really been tested. I haven't had any major hacks on it or any major shot blocks so the stick still looks and feels basically brand new.

[shooter27 116]

Sorry it's taken me so long to post another update, work has been a bear the last couple of weeks.

I've got a couple of things to comment on, first I'll start with the stick and then I'll follow up with my comfort with the stick.

As far as the stick goes, its still going strong. It's 5-6 games in now and it really feels just like it did coming out of the box. Puck feel is very good, making passing and receiving easy. It definitely kicks nicely when shooting and I think the flex level I've got is just right for my penchant to try to power shots instead of focus on technique. All in all, I've been very pleasantly surprised with the overall quality of the stick. I've always been a bit of a brand snob when it comes to equipment, but after trying out the Rebellion, I would not hesitate to play with their sticks in the future and give some of their other gear a try.

Now, on to my comfort with the stick. As I've stated in previous posts, the lie of the stick has been an adjustment for me. First, it definitely plays at a bit lower lie than the P92 and P14 that I had been using prior to this. In addition, the rocker of the blade is extremely flat, which makes it play very true to its actual lie, which means if the lie isn't exactly for you, the stick will take some significant adjusting. The second item I have noticed more recently. As I said in my first post, I needed about 1.5" of extension in the stick and in an attempt to keep the balance I felt in the stick out of the box I decided to use a composite plug. Well, unfortunately, even with the composite plug the stick now feels a touch blade light to me. Taken individually, neither of these is a huge issue, but when you combine them it gets to a point where I'm still having some trouble feeling comfortable with the stick, especially when it comes to taking slap shots. Now, this is in no way a reflection of the quality of the stick, it is a 100% person preference issue, which is why I've separated it here.

My plan for now is to continue trying to adjust to the stick and get it to feel comfortable (man do I miss having practices for the purpose of getting a stick dialed in). All in all, its definitely a quality stick, even if I never adjust to its specs fully.

Feel free to PM me if anyone has any questions.

[shooter27 116]

I don't have too much to add about the stick right now. I'm still fiddling around trying to get completely comfortable with it. My guess at this point is that the lie just isn't quite right for me so it'll never feel perfect, but that is 100% a personal preference issue. The stick definitely performs at a high level as I have mentioned above and it is still doing so.

To comment on durability a little bit, the stick is still going strong. It's been a little over two months now since I got it so we're talking ~10 games in and I haven't noticed any "whipping out" of the shaft or softening of the blade. There are some marks and dings on the shaft from play, but that is to be expected, overall it still feels very solid. Still has plenty of pop when shooting. As always, please feel free to PM me with any questions.