Is there a middle of the road curve?

[Cheetodust 4]

I am so sorry for asking this question of you guys. I live in the hockey desert of Southern Missouri and have nobody to ask my hockey questions. Plus my wife is about to kill me for buying sticks. I am looking for a good middle of the road curve to try. My main problems are holding passes right after I receive them and lifting my backhand shot. I play as a winger and seem to always find the puck on my backhand but also need to be able to lift the puck in close to the net on my forehand. I am also not the best stick handler. I am currently playing with a Warrior Diablo - Draper curve. My buddies that I play hockey with have told me that my problem is the amount of rocker on the bottom of my stick and to try Sherwood sticks for they tend to have a flatter rocker and are easier to receive passes and lift on a backhand. I have only been playing hockey for about 1 1/2 years and have tried about 8-10 sticks/curves. Mostly the Draper/Hall type curves. Sorry for asking this but I'm tired (well my wife is tired) of buying sticks trying to find the perfect curve. Just wondering if there is a good middle road curve that I can work on my skills with and not be hindered in any aspects. Thanks for any help.

[n3gkiwi 1]

With a flatter rocker, you will have to make sure your lie is right so your stick is flat on the ice. With a wrong lie you can end up with your toe or heel way up in the air. I'd just try and practice making quick forward to backhand shots. Start by using your heel more on backhands with Sakic/Hall type curves...

If you still find it hard, try something with a flatter curve or rocker. Problem is that you may be good at everything else, then switch a curve to be good with backhands and then be bad at something else...

If you really want something with a flatter rocker because you think it will help, let the board know your preferred manufacturers/sticks you have used and maybe then you can get some recommendations for another curve.

[lpgbackups 17]

do you guys have rinks in southern missouri?

[Vet88 674]

I hate to disappoint you but it ain't the stick or curve. There is no perfect curve that will fix your woes, the only thing that will do it is practice, practice, practice. Instead of buying another stick, put your money to use with a shooting pad, a tarp and 20 or so pucks. Then shoot 200 pucks a day. A tape 2 tape (google it) device is also a great thing to have to work on passing, receiving and one timers.

If you have limited access to ice but have a smooth carpark / park / driveway / outdoor area you can skate in, some outdoor inline skates with hard wheels, a green biscuit and an abs blade in an old shaft will do more to improve your game than anything else you can do.

[Cheetodust 4]

do you guys have rinks in southern missouri?

Just one, Mediacom Ice Park. It's actually a very nice fascility but only has 2 sheets of ice so the opportunity for ice time is limited. The variety of equipment available is also a problem. I usually go to St Louis to buy equipment. I could order online but like to try on things and get a feel for it.

With a flatter rocker, you will have to make sure your lie is right so your stick is flat on the ice. With a wrong lie you can end up with your toe or heel way up in the air. I'd just try and practice making quick forward to backhand shots. Start by using your heel more on backhands with Sakic/Hall type curves...

If you still find it hard, try something with a flatter curve or rocker. Problem is that you may be good at everything else, then switch a curve to be good with backhands and then be bad at something else...

If you really want something with a flatter rocker because you think it will help, let the board know your preferred manufacturers/sticks you have used and maybe then you can get some recommendations for another curve.

Very true. I probably should stick with what I have and practice more. I would probably just create another problem by changing curves. I am very comfortable with what I have. No problem hitting top shelf up close, saucer passes and slappers are good too. It just seems like the puck sneaks under my stick when receiving passes. Backhands are difficult to elevate too. I guess the backhand issue is common though for many players.

I hate to disappoint you but it ain't the stick or curve. There is no perfect curve that will fix your woes, the only thing that will do it is practice, practice, practice. Instead of buying another stick, put your money to use with a shooting pad, a tarp and 20 or so pucks. Then shoot 200 pucks a day. A tape 2 tape (google it) device is also a great thing to have to work on passing, receiving and one timers.

If you have limited access to ice but have a smooth carpark / park / driveway / outdoor area you can skate in, some outdoor inline skates with hard wheels, a green biscuit and an abs blade in an old shaft will do more to improve your game than anything else you can do.

Good advice . Need to buy a foldable net and use that. I have a shooting pad just no net. That would probably help more than anything.

[boo10 323]

With a P92 type curve, backhanders have to be taken from the heel. If passes are sliding under the toe with regularity, then it's highly likely that your stick is too long for you. Some shorter players (Martin St.Louis) use long sticks, but they adjust their technique by carrying the top hand higher, (more elbow bend) to compensate for the extra length.

[smcgreg 81]

I am so sorry for asking this question of you guys. I live in the hockey desert of Southern Missouri and have nobody to ask my hockey questions. Plus my wife is about to kill me for buying sticks. I am looking for a good middle of the road curve to try. My main problems are holding passes right after I receive them and lifting my backhand shot. I play as a winger and seem to always find the puck on my backhand but also need to be able to lift the puck in close to the net on my forehand. I am also not the best stick handler. I am currently playing with a Warrior Diablo - Draper curve. My buddies that I play hockey with have told me that my problem is the amount of rocker on the bottom of my stick and to try Sherwood sticks for they tend to have a flatter rocker and are easier to receive passes and lift on a backhand. I have only been playing hockey for about 1 1/2 years and have tried about 8-10 sticks/curves. Mostly the Draper/Hall type curves. Sorry for asking this but I'm tired (well my wife is tired) of buying sticks trying to find the perfect curve. Just wondering if there is a good middle road curve that I can work on my skills with and not be hindered in any aspects. Thanks for any help.

Lots of relevant suggestions, but to answer your direct question, you might like the Zetterberg. The Zetterberg has a little rocker, less than Draper/Kopitar, but more than others like the Kovalchuk. So, the lie is not as critical as something like the kovalchuk that has no rocker, but not as much as the Draper/Kopitar. Further, the curve is not as dramatic as on the Draper/Kopitar, so, the backhanders will be a bit more consistent for you. Some respondents will/have make the practice, practice, practice argument, but some curves are just not right for some people and given your comments, the Zetterberg might do the trick.

Steve

[wrangler 157]

Try your friends' sticks.

You still haven't answered the question asked in the first response -- which sticks/curves have you tried? How did they work for you?

[SirJW 207]

Try a wood blade or stick. It will be easier to accept passes, but you need to cradle them or let them come to you but not with a stiff hand let it hit the blade and pull back just a bit to absorb the puck.

[Chadd 916]

A couple quick tips:

For catching passes - tilt the face down a bit and make sure you put a little pressure down on the stick when you catch a pass. Taking some of the loft off will help prevent pucks from jumping over the blade and it will close up the holes under the toe and heel caused by the rocker. Putting a little pressure down will keep the puck from sliding under the blade itself.

Backhand - start the puck at the heel and make sure you go through the puck, not just up. my favorite drill for this is to line up a bunch of pucks just outside the goalie crease and try to roof them all as quickly as possible without stickhandling at all. go around the arc on the forehand and backhand a couple times and it will speed up your release on those plays as well as help you lift the puck in tight spaces or under pressure.

[Vet88 674]

Another tip I was given for learning backhands, think of the stick as a shovel and you are tossing a load of dirt out of hole. This gives you an idea of what the mechanics are like, from there you learn the motion and refine it.

[SCOMPL 14]

My first recommendation would be to switch to a two-piece for a while until you decide on a blade pattern. Get a good shaft, then you can swap blades at a much cheaper price until you dial it in.

You might want to look into a wedge-pattern, such as the Easton P6 (Parise). The pattern provides lift for those close-in shots, and the flat back allows for a consistent backhand. However, personally I find the pattern hard to stick-handle with.

[Cheetodust 4]

I hate to disappoint you but it ain't the stick or curve. There is no perfect curve that will fix your woes, the only thing that will do it is practice, practice, practice. Instead of buying another stick, put your money to use with a shooting pad, a tarp and 20 or so pucks. Then shoot 200 pucks a day. A tape 2 tape (google it) device is also a great thing to have to work on passing, receiving and one timers.

If you have limited access to ice but have a smooth carpark / park / driveway / outdoor area you can skate in, some outdoor inline skates with hard wheels, a green biscuit and an abs blade in an old shaft will do more to improve your game than anything else you can

Lots of relevant suggestions, but to answer your direct question, you might like the Zetterberg. The Zetterberg has a little rocker, less than Draper/Kopitar, but more than others like the Kovalchuk. So, the lie is not as critical as something like the kovalchuk that has no rocker, but not as much as the Draper/Kopitar. Further, the curve is not as dramatic as on the Draper/Kopitar, so, the backhanders will be a bit more consistent for you. Some respondents will/have make the practice, practice, practice argument, but some curves are just not right for some people and given your comments, the Zetterberg might do the trick.

Steve

Thanks Steve! I will have to look into that curve.

Try your friends' sticks.

You still haven't answered the question asked in the first response -- which sticks/curves have you tried? How did they work for you?

Sorry about that. I started with P88 Kane curve and used it as a launching board to start playing. Did ok with it but had a hard time elevating the puck up close. Then went to an Easton Hall curve and loved it for the elevation it gave but then had a hard time stick handeling. Since then went to the Draper and have had the problems I mentioned initially. I have tried an Easton Iginla (was ok but just did not feel right), Sherwood Ryan (backhand was great but stickhandeling suffered due to lack of curve) also tried an Easton Camilari (again was ok but just did not feel right).

A couple quick tips:

For catching passes - tilt the face down a bit and make sure you put a little pressure down on the stick when you catch a pass. Taking some of the loft off will help prevent pucks from jumping over the blade and it will close up the holes under the toe and heel caused by the rocker. Putting a little pressure down will keep the puck from sliding under the blade itself.

Backhand - start the puck at the heel and make sure you go through the puck, not just up. my favorite drill for this is to line up a bunch of pucks just outside the goalie crease and try to roof them all as quickly as possible without stickhandling at all. go around the arc on the forehand and backhand a couple times and it will speed up your release on those plays as well as help you lift the puck in tight spaces or under pressure.

Thats terrific! Thanks for the tips! I will try them tomorrow night at stick and puck.

[beedee 227]

I also use a Draper Dolomite and have been for the last 4 seasons or so, the blade just cracked in my game tonight. Last season I had an itch to try a different curve so I went with a Burrows Dynasty. I struggled with it for a few games before going back to my Draper Dolomite. No matter how much I tried, I just couldn't get used to the almost non-existent Burrows curve of the Dynasty. I'm now in the market for a new stick, luckily HockeyMonkey is 5 minutes from my work and they have a shooting room with a ton of sticks to demo. Although I wont be able to put my skates on, and the sticks are all varied in length, so I'm not sure that I would be able to get an accurate representation of how the stick would actually work for me.

[Vet88 674]

I started with P88 Kane curve and used it as a launching board to start playing. Did ok with it but had a hard time elevating the puck up close. Then went to an Easton Hall curve and loved it for the elevation it gave but then had a hard time stick handeling. Since then went to the Draper and have had the problems I mentioned initially. I have tried an Easton Iginla (was ok but just did not feel right), Sherwood Ryan (backhand was great but stickhandeling suffered due to lack of curve) also tried an Easton Camilari (again was ok but just did not feel right).

if you don't like an Iginla or Camalleri then a PM9, Zetterberg, Burrows, Savard etc is also out of the equation for you. Personally I love the Camalleri on my RS and Mako. I practice / play with curves from PM9 to Drury and often spend 15 minutes of each practice using a lefty instead of my preferred righty. Reason for this is it's all about expanding your skill set. If you are an nhl player then yes, concentrate on the one curve to be that 10% better but for the other 99.9% of us dreamers, be as good as you can be and the way to get there is to use as broad a range of skill sets as you possibly can. At the end of the day though we come back to how much practice you put in and where you focus it, imho your skating ability is far more important than the curve and stick (hands) and I see this consistently when a good inline player comes across to ice. Good hands and vision but as they can't skate, and often can't shoot as well, they are next to useless until they get these skills up to an acceptable level.

[louierev07 31]

My first recommendation would be to switch to a two-piece for a while until you decide on a blade pattern. Get a good shaft, then you can swap blades at a much cheaper price until you dial it in.

You might want to look into a wedge-pattern, such as the Easton P6 (Parise). The pattern provides lift for those close-in shots, and the flat back allows for a consistent backhand. However, personally I find the pattern hard to stick-handle with.

I have been doing this since I started on the ice. Over the past year Ive gotten maybe 5 or 6 shafts from this guy http://www.ebay.com/usr/qbert23

Some are better than others, and you have to try to get one that was cut close to the blade so a tapered blade will fit, but Im extremely happy with what he sells for $25-30 bucks. Ive also either bought wood blades for like $10ea, or gotten cheap ones that were removed from one piece sticks.

From doing this, Ive had a chance to try out a bunch of different curves, flexes, grips, etc, without spending a bunch - which is something I would hate to do if I wasnt sure. My first good stick I bought before using these two piece sticks was a warrior widow, and the blade cracked pretty quick. Sucked to break a stick like that, but I dont worry about that at all when playing with the two-piece sticks.

[Chadd 916]

Sorry about that. I started with P88 Kane curve and used it as a launching board to start playing. Did ok with it but had a hard time elevating the puck up close. Then went to an Easton Hall curve and loved it for the elevation it gave but then had a hard time stick handeling. Since then went to the Draper and have had the problems I mentioned initially. I have tried an Easton Iginla (was ok but just did not feel right), Sherwood Ryan (backhand was great but stickhandeling suffered due to lack of curve) also tried an Easton Camilari (again was ok but just did not feel right).

I never liked the Draper/Hall/Sakic type curves, the rocker and the loft just make for a bad combination for me, but I can make it work if I need to. The important thing is to work on the skills you want to improve. Once you can make all of the shots with any of the curves, you will find the one that works the best for you.

[Cheetodust 4]

louierev07, I looked at the EBay link (thank you!) and wondered how long of a shaft you need? Noticed most of them are around 48". I guess with the blade that would make about 60". Doe that sound right? Have never seen a 2 piece stick, how do you make it to where the blade does not come off while playing but your able to change them out? Thanks again.

[Vet88 674]

You need a hot glue gun and, ideally, a heat gun. Blades, if new, have a glue on them. Heat the glue up with the heat gun until it goes slightly runny, then slide the blade into the shaft. when the glue cools it stays in there. To remove the the blade, heat the area up to make the glue go soft and then pull the blade out. Lots of videos on youtube about this. Instead of a heat gun, I've seen people use hairdryers, ovens and stove tops.....

If you want to put a blade back in that has already been used, use the hot glue gun to put new glue on the blade then follow the installation process again.

There is a large thread about turning ops's into two piece units. Have a read of this and it will give you some more ideas.

http://www.modsquadhockey.com/forums/index.php/topic/7494-cutting-ops-at-fuse-point/page-38

[Cosmic 178]

When fusing the blade to shaft, don't be fooled by an apparent perfect fit. I put three pieces of tape over the hosel of the blade to shim it, and have to really force it in. Once it is in, it ain't moving.

One my first fuse of blade to shaft, I did not shim it, and then the connection came just a tad bit loose. This smallest little rattle irritated me to no end, so now I use the 3 shim method. This guy has a pretty good tutorial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoA_MJVslyY

[louierev07 31]

@Cheetodust: The last two I got were 51" and 54". I had to add a little on the 51, and shave a little off the 54". I'm 5'9" and cut it at my nose off skates. I usually end up taking an inch or so off of a brand new senior stick, just to give you an idea. If you have to put a little plug in its really no big deal, as long as its not too long.

More importantly, check where the stick was cut compared to others. If its too far away from where the fuse point is, itll be too loose with a tapered blade - and the kick point will be significantly lower than it was intended - not sure how much it will affect performance.

For example, in this listing: http://www.ebay.com/itm/181276913564 I got #126 and #131 (so i could compare 85 vs 100 flex). #131 is a much better fit since with the new blade its basically exactly where the stock blade would be. If you look in this picture, its the only one with 8 little diamonds showing:http://i.imgur.com/hs2iJVs.jpg (5th reebok from the right)

If your trying out different patterns, The Easton wood blades are like 10 bucks each right now on hockey monkey. I usually spray paint part of it black so it blends in with the stick. Keep your eyes open around here for blades, as I got some cheap ones off someone earlier.

Like Vet88 said, your gonna need a heatgun, and glue sticks. And like cosmic said, you really almost always need at least a few pieces of tape. For me I like it so I pretty much need to force it as hard as I can for it to go. Any looser and it probably will end up coming out. My last one I guess I didnt have it tight enough, and at first my stick always seemed to vibrate or something when I hit the ice a certain way. Towards the end of that same session, the blade could be moved back and forth, so I had to fix it when I got home.

Even if you end up getting a stick that isnt perfect, with the wood blade my stick cost $35 total, and is wayyyy better than most $100 sticks. IMO if you get a good one, with a decent blade and cut at the right spot, I dont see how much better that same stick as a one piece can be.

Good luck!! Lemme know if you have any other questions.