Vapor XXX (or: The Price Of Hockey)

[Langenbrunner15 0]

I cant shoot with a wood shaft,i need the composite feel

Therein lies the problem. Developing players using equipment as a crutch rather than actually developing skills. Give me something shaped like a <a href="hockey%20stick" onmouseover="window.status='hockey stick'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">hockey stick</a>, and I guarantee you i would be able to play with it.

i can shot but it wont have the same affenctivness because im so used to the composite feel

[J-Shera 0]

Composite and feel should never be used in the same sentence, with some exceptions though of course, like Innovative i hear there blades have great feel.

[Knotfan1 0]

Whos paying for it im sure no 12 year old cant buy a 150$ sticks so remember your parents are paying for it. I used my first full composite last year it was one of my chirstmas presents a tps response im 15 now and i have a job and i droped 458.99$ on hockey equipment this year and i am a dish washer at a golf course. When have played 6 years and for the first 4 i used wood and then mission dangler with a ccm vector blade . After i felt my first composite i like it and went and bought a ccm vector 110. More then any thing i think its a ego thing(got to have the nice stuff so people think im cool).

[LetsGoWings13 0]

i think hockey manufacutres should not be allowed to make junior ops or composite blades. they should only make wood blades and junior shafts

[Fonya 0]

i think hockey manufacutres should not be allowed to make junior ops or composite blades. they should only make wood blades and junior shafts

Now why would they do that, I think it lies more in the shop owners and employees, but in the end..the customer is always right no matter what you say.

[Langenbrunner15 0]

I do pay for most of my stuff for my self,iim also a lonly child so there would be not as much money for me if i had a brother or sister.

[Cavs019 710]

lonely child?

[Langenbrunner15 0]

wrong wording srry,i have no siblings

[Perry94 0]

I think we should start a "Wood Hockey Stick Crew". When Pat Quinn says that "few can benefit from one-peice sticks", he's right. I can honestly say that my shot with a wood sick (Nike Quest 3) is at LEAST as powerful as my shot with my composite shafts (xn10, cyclone, diamondback). Aim has nothing to do with the stick anyways. The difference of release doesn't really matter; 2 billionths of a second isn't gona be enough time for the goalie to react differently anyways (I think nerves fire at like 200m/s or somethin).

Back to topic. No skate is worth 500+ bucks in my humble opinion. I'll take my cheap 200buck pair of skates anytime, thank you very much. Price-gouging ain't cool. Marketers should learn that one day.

[2048 0]

Yes and no. I love shafts because I can change patterns whenever I feel like it. Still haven't found the perfect pattern and I've tried everything between a mega banana to a drury to a modano. Can't imagine doing that with wood sticks.

[Perry94 0]

I dunno. I've already found a fairly decent curve, so I'm happy with what I have. I've just tryin to find a flex. I've been trying out junior wood. DIdn't turn out well at all.

[Bauer_freAK 0]

you talk about the prices in north america

look at the prices in europe/germany

the normal price for the stealth in germany is:

400.00 EUR = 532.420 USD

an si-core grip :

320.00 EUR = 426.028 USD

Vapor XX skate:

649.00 EUR = 863.734 USD

so...what would you say to the parents of

the kids in europe/germany? :D

[Langenbrunner15 0]

you talk about the prices in north america

look at the prices in europe/germany

the normal price for the stealth in germany is:

400.00 EUR = 532.420 USD

an si-core grip :

320.00 EUR = 426.028 USD

Vapor XX skate:

649.00 EUR = 863.734 USD

so...what would you say to the parents of

the kids in europe/germany? :D

holy crap!!!! thats outragous!

[EBondo 235]

I'm 14 and I started using OPS about a year ago, I wanted to try one out, and I thought that it definitely did have a better feel in my hands then the Tri-Core I was using before that, and I have been either using OPS or tapered sticks from that point, the only exception I have is my Bauer Tri-Flex Gold shaft and Vapor X

[prenny207 1]

"the price of hockey" is exactly the problem. amateur hockey registration in the US is down, players are quitting at a younger age, and cost is through the roof.

when i played midget AA, my ice bills were 200 a month, add in gas, hotels, food, and equip costs. last year, i coached what basically is the same team i played for 8 years before. the kids ice bills last year were 500 a month, now add in the fact that gas is double the cost, sticks are double the cost, skates are double. food is up, hotels are up. and let me say that income for the average hockey parent hasn't doubled in the past 8 years.

the game has become too expensive for many parents without even getting into equipment. a player 8 years ago using wood sticks may have gone through 6-12 sticks a season... so thats roughly 150-300 usd. not a kid will go through 6 OPS at 150 each (900 for the season). when does it become too much. and in times of a lagging econemy, a weakening doller, and higher unemployment rates. how can this game survive at this pace.

this isnt the strongest sport down here, and it already faces challanges, lets not make it harder for a kid to play. this sport tends to produce the best behaved athletes out of the major sports in north america. you don't see the crap out of hockey players that you see out of basketball, football, and baseball. lets make it easeir for kids to enter the sport and become quality athletes.

[Briggy 0]

I think we should start a "Wood Hockey Stick Crew". When Pat Quinn says that "few can benefit from one-peice sticks", he's right. I can honestly say that my shot with a wood sick (Nike Quest 3) is at LEAST as powerful as my shot with my composite shafts (xn10, cyclone, diamondback). Aim has nothing to do with the stick anyways. The difference of release doesn't really matter; 2 billionths of a second isn't gona be enough time for the goalie to react differently anyways (I think nerves fire at like 200m/s or somethin).

Back to topic. No skate is worth 500+ bucks in my humble opinion. I'll take my cheap 200buck pair of skates anytime, thank you very much. Price-gouging ain't cool. Marketers should learn that one day.

I have to agree, also JR stated before that you can get more veloicity with a wood stick, but I dont like the delay I have. I like composite shafts only due to the quick shot I get off, I recently took my Sherwood 5030 out with me for a practice and it was amazing, great feel, just weight was a bit of an issue, but im sure if I stick with that stick I will learn to play with it. Overall I wish they made wood stick that I can find that is balanced to my liking.

[Pachocolate29 0]

back to the topic, i dont think that they look like $700 CND skates, like graf 735 look alot nicer in my opinion <_<

[mik3 1]

eh, I don't really care about looks. if they held up worth a damn, the new vapors would probably be worth 450usd, but they won't, so they aren't.

[Hockeyman9621 0]

as you said,you only live once. Thats toatlly true.Im 12 and i have many syergys,xn10`s and shafts. As long as you can afford it and its not a big waste of money,go for it.

you can flex your shafts and i think that is ok but i think it is bad when a 4 year old has a synergy

Yeah, I was watching a local AAA game and a kid snapped his stick,(xx) and a father picked it up after it got chucked and said to his son, "look, your new stick" and the kid just looks at him with a big smile on his face. He was about 8, I thought "whatever makes you happy."

[Accord 0]

Hmm let's see where this is going.....we can build skates that don't even last half as long as they used to(so we sell twice as many now), charge a lot more and convince our users that the extra performance they get will make them the next Pavel Bure. Not only that, but once they are conviced that these "magic skates" are the solution to their wildest dreams...."we gotcha".....there's no going back....I think we have a winner.....

Sorry to all you guys running the pro shops in here, but one of the problems for the whole sport of hockey is it's current stagnant growth here in the USA. This is largely because of the cost of the sport....This kind of marketing does not help parents with 3 or 4 kids select hockey as the sport of choice. I know it's a great "business plan" but between the $500 skates and the $150 - 200 sticks, the sport is pricing itself out of reach of the people it needs the most.

The real problem is the peer pressure created among kids to have this top of the line stuff or feel somehow inferior. This type of equipment may make sense to players who earn their living from the sport, but like the man said earlier..we have become so $ driven in our assessment of quality, that most of us will no longer buy anything that costs too little for fear we are getting inferior merchandise now. We are looking more at the price and the Glitz and not necessarily the actual long term performance of our purchase....ie the value.

Very well said, I completely agree.

[Pachocolate29 0]

hey buddy i am jesus, and i am the cap

[Accord 0]

you talk about the prices in north america

look at the prices in europe/germany

the normal price for the stealth in germany is:

400.00 EUR = 532.420 USD

an si-core grip :

320.00 EUR = 426.028 USD

Vapor XX skate:

649.00 EUR = 863.734 USD

so...what would you say to the parents of

the kids in europe/germany? :D

Ah, the joys of international shipping.

[Accord 0]

I think we should start a "Wood Hockey Stick Crew".  When Pat Quinn says that "few can benefit from one-peice sticks", he's right.  I can honestly say that my shot with a wood sick (Nike Quest 3) is at LEAST as powerful as my shot with my composite shafts (xn10, cyclone, diamondback).  Aim has nothing to do with the stick anyways.  The difference of release doesn't really matter; 2 billionths of a second isn't gona be enough time for the goalie to react differently anyways (I think nerves fire at like 200m/s or somethin).

Back to topic.  No skate is worth 500+ bucks in my humble opinion.  I'll take my cheap 200buck pair of skates anytime, thank you very much.  Price-gouging ain't cool.  Marketers should learn that one day.

I have to agree, also JR stated before that you can get more veloicity with a wood stick, but I dont like the delay I have. I like composite shafts only due to the quick shot I get off, I recently took my Sherwood 5030 out with me for a practice and it was amazing, great feel, just weight was a bit of an issue, but im sure if I stick with that stick I will learn to play with it. Overall I wish they made wood stick that I can find that is balanced to my liking.

You should try out the 9030.

[sherwood21 0]

Oh, I see. I guess I misunderstood what you said. My bad..

[joshy207 15]

you talk about the prices in north america

look at the prices in europe/germany

the normal price for the stealth in germany is:

400.00 EUR = 532.420 USD

an si-core grip :

320.00 EUR = 426.028 USD

Vapor XX skate:

649.00 EUR = 863.734 USD

so...what would you say to the parents of

the kids in europe/germany? :D

Buy Busch and Graf!