Warrior Dynasty AX1 - watchgreat

[JR Boucicaut 3802]

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[watchgreat 4]

First off, before I get started with my review and first impressions I would like to thank Mod Squad Hockey and Warrior for giving me the opportunity to test out this newly released product. It really shows that Warrior cares what it is putting out in the stores and I have truly been impressed by this stick having used other models of Warrior sticks in the past.

Product: Warrior Dynasty AX1 Grip

Curve: Kopitar

Flex: 85

Size: 5' 10" 160 Lbs

Playing Level: Midget U16 AA/AAA

Position: Newly converted defenseman. That being said I play a pretty offensive game. I do still have stints up front on some occasions.

Old Favorite Sticks: Bauer X60, Easton SE16, Easton Mako, Bauer G3.

Current Sticks: Clear Easton S19/RS Prostock, Grip Bauer Nexus Prostock. Both 85 flex Kreps.

​Pictures:

Backhand

Forehand

First Impressions: As soon as I got home from school I saw the stick on my doorstep wrapped in plastic. Right as I lifted the stick I was shocked at how light it was even before removing the packaging. After I removed the plastic the first thing I noticed was the velvet style grip as well as the sharp graphics package. Warrior really put a lot of effort into the detail of this stick and that transfers onto the ice as well. Before I even cut down the stick I headed outside to take a few shots on my skill pad and net. It was about five degrees out so I just wanted to take five or six quick shots. It was amazing how fast the puck spring boarded off the blade. The kick of this stick felt similar to the X60 to me even though it is a mid kick stick. It just had a great pop to it. After I took my shots I went to the garage and cut/taped her up so I would be ready to help student coach and practice later. I will split up my impressions for my two and half hours of on ice time by category.

Appearance: The AX1 has a really nice and sleek graphics package on it. It has a simple look that is classy and it really sticks out with the big white letters on the shaft.

Peer Appeal: The instant I walked into the locker room my teammates all noticed the new stick. About five or six kids asked to see the stick and play around with it a little bit before we headed onto the ice. They said that the stick looked great and that the weight and balance were incredible. Once we got on the ice about three teammates wanted to try out the stick. Of course I started out with it for a while and then let them take their turn with it. All of my teammates said that they loved it, the features they mentioned were the feel and an outstanding kick on shots. Two of them were already talking about buying them for their next stick if that says something when they used it for a total of about five minutes.

Weight: A very light stick. I do not have an exact weight but I would say it is on par with any high end stick if not a little bit lighter. The stick FEELS light regardless of its actual measured weight.

Balance: The AX1 has a great feel to it in your hands. It is not blade heavy but you can feel that the blade is there. It is quite nice how the stick feels balanced and solid as well as its weight feeling feather light. I have not used a stick that is this light and well balanced throughout my entire career, though the Mako is a close runner up in balance. The weight of the AX1 blows it away.

Grip: Coming off of sticks that have a normal rubbery grip type of coating on them this was quite an adjustment. I am a huge fan of the rubbery grips and my teammates make fun of me because I basically like my hand glued onto my shaft. This stick has almost like a powdery matte finish over a rubber coating so that it is smooth until you put pressure on it, once depressed your hand is pretty stable on the shaft. It also has a slightly bumpy surface to the point where it is almost like extremely fine dust that is just underneath the coating to give it a little bit of extra texture. Overall it is nice but like I said I am big on the rubbery grips so I will have to get used to it.

Feel: I have always had good experience with Warriors blades in the past. The construction on this blade is different than any other blade I have used but the difference was welcomed with open arms. This stick has the best feel I have ever experienced on any stick. The blade is just lively enough so that the puck will fly off the stick and so you can feel where the puck is but it is dead enough that the puck stays put when catching passes and feels as if the puck is attached to the stick with a magnet. I was blown away by the feel of this stick and I think Warrior has done an extremely good job on the new blades.

Passing: Like I said in the feel section, the blade keeps passes glued on the tape. I had no problems catching rocket passes from teammates or dishing off some rockets of my own. The shaft did a lot of the work when whipping the puck off. Saucer passes were fine as expected. I feel that those have more to do with the curve than with the stick itself. Coming off of a Kreps curve it did take me a few minutes to adjust to the different curve but once I was ready all of my passes coasted tape to tape with ease.

Shooting: Right from the get go I noticed a difference in my shot coming from my Nexus. In the start of practice the majority of my shots were snappers and there was a definite increase in velocity with those. This stick did not seem to "noodle" like a lot of other mid kick sticks do when you try and shoot with your whole body rather than a quick wrist snap. The snappers and wristers were not what really impressed me. My first clapper was a BOMB. I was in awe when I saw how fast that thing flew off my blade. It was super fast and accurate, it did not flutter and it came off almost effortlessly. With this stick I guarantee that I will be winding up at the point versus taking my old standby snapper. Every slapper afterwords came off the same way and the stick played very consistently. I have never shot even close to that hard in my life and the closest I have been was with my old X60. This blew even that out of the water.

Accuracy: This practice I was not really put in many situations where I could be a "sniper", the shots I was taking from the point went right where I wanted them and the snappers were on target as well. I will add to this more in depth in my future journals.

Flex: The stick was great in the flex category. It is an 85 which is what I normally use. I could easily load up the stick when I was going for a quick pass or a lazy snap shot but I could also get a rocket flying off the stick when I really needed to bear down on it. I have never used a stick before that was versatile enough to be good effortlessly and not noodle out when I really put some muscle into it.

Kick: This stick kicks like a horse. It shoots harder then anything I have ever used before especially on the slappers. It easily loads and then trampolines right off the blade like a springboard. A++

Overall: Having had some bad experiences with Warrior sticks in the past I was extremely impressed with the newest edition of the Dynasty. I feel as if Warrior is really trying to step up their game so to speak using various programs such as this and their built better guarantee to get people into their sticks. This stick clearly shows the tremendous amount of effort that has been put into development. I have been a Bauer guy my whole life but if this stick keeps it up I think Warrior may be my go to guys. I did have a bit of an adjustment period today so hopefully I can have some more insight after another ice session or so.

[watchgreat 4]

Last week practice was canceled due to in climate weather. That being said I still was able to get on the ice for about 6 hours or so across the past two weeks including a game. These last weeks I found my self switching between my nexus and AX1 many times throughout the practice. I would start every ice session with the AX1 and every single time I atleast used my nexus for a brief stint. About 60 percent of the time I found my self walking off the ice with the nexus in hand. I didn't like how the AX1 was playing for me in situations where I was predominantly using snap shots and needing to make quick plays with the puck. I have been in a slump lately so call superstition if you would like, I just needed to change it up in game when I went with the nexus. Another thing I noticed was that while using the AX1, the puck would sort of flip up on its edge when catching a pass. This could just be my hands not adjusting correctly since I am using a different curve on both sticks. The stick still has great feel, but I am not as confident of its shooting ability after my latest uses.

[watchgreat 4]

I have still been switching between the nexus and the AX1. One thing I have noticed is that the grip coating seems to be peeling very easily but that really is not a big deal to me.

[watchgreat 4]

Sorry for such a long wait since my last post. My team did not make the playoffs or state tournament so I haven't had a chance to be on the ice in a long time as I have been officiating end of season stuff. I got a chance to skate at rat hockey yesterday. I was just getting my legs back so it wasn't really a great environment for review. I was mishandling the puck a lot and missing passes left and right but that is expected after not skating for a month. With spring season starting up, I should be able to get posts up more often now.

[watchgreat 4]

Used the stick at a few more skates. I really didn't use this stick too much in real competitive hockey that was under coach supervision. I still can't get myself off the kreps curve. If this stick was fitted with that curve it would have seen ALOT more ice time. It has great feel and kick to it.