STX Surgeon - thejackal

[JR Boucicaut 3802]

Open

[thejackal 46]

Thanks a lot to JR, MSH and STX for making this possible. Been posting here since Day 2 of the board and really happy about how far we've made it as a community.

Background:

6'2", 200lb

right-hander, LW/RW

former high school varsity player, now play on 3 beer leagues and outdoors during the winter. on the ice 2-3 times a week (used to be closer to 5 or 6 but the weather is too warm for outdoors shinny now)

Playing style:

shooting forward (60% wrist shots, 20% one-timers, 20% everything else). I don't try to blast the puck through the goalie too often. usually I'll try to get a shot off before he's set, or sneak a shot in an upper corner or between his legs if he is squared up.

Sticks used:

CCM Vector series (V110, 120, 130)

Innovative 1100 two-piece

TPS XN10

TPS R8

Reebok 7K prolite

Reebok 9K

Sherwood Nexon 8 and Nexon 12

Base Savoy Special

Current rotation includes the Base (75 flex BC01) and the Sherwood Nexon 12 (75 flex Statsny)

First impressions (75 flex, p92 clone):

The graphics are interesting - some would say that it's heavily borrowed from the Mako II paint scheme, but for me both sticks seem mostly inspired from iOS 7. Simple, crisp and modern; recognizable from a long ways away.

The finishing quality is very good. The shaft has a soft matte grip finish, which is very subtle and maybe half as sticky as a typical grip finish (or at least the grips of my current sticks). Same texture all the way down the shaft.

The thin taper goes up pretty far along the shaft. Honestly I don't know the exact construction of the stick, but the shape reminds me a bit of the APX and other top of the line low-kick sticks.

Very thin blade. Maybe 30% thinner than the Base and 10% thinner than the Nexon. It's pretty stiff for how thin it is but has some flex to it, which apparently is engineered to add a bit more zip to the shots - we'll see.

The balance and "pick up weight" of the stick is pretty much as good as it gets. You could definitely tell it's a $200+ stick just by handling it. Handled a tennis ball for 10 minutes or so on a hard floor and it just feels like there's no stick there at all.

The only negative point I'd add at this point, is the limited curve selection. I understand that STX has tried to cover their bases as best as they can by offering the 4 more popular patterns on the market (pm9, p88, p92 and p91 clones), but having an E28 type pattern there definitely would have made me pay more attention to the brand, and may get a few more players to give STX a shot. That's an easy fix in the future, though.

[thejackal 46]

Here are some pictures. the timing the stick arrived is a bit of a shame. I got it on Wednesday afternoon, and my games this week were Monday and Wednesday before work. Not sure if I'll be on the ice at all the rest of the week because of work, but have been doing off-ice stickhandling drills and really excited to take this thing out for a spin. big fan of the shaft shape so far. it's somewhat rounded and slightly double-concave. less boxy than the Nexon 12 and thinner than the stock Base handle shape

STX X92 (sakic clone) vs Base BC01 (Hossa pro) - actually not that big of a difference between both patterns in the first 2/3 of the blade. Then the BC01 takes a sharp left and begins to round off faster. I switch between both curves on a regular basis and theres basically zero difference in everything except shooting - I can bring the puck further back and closer in on my wrist/snap shots with the toe curve, but have to be more careful when receiving passes on the front half of the blade.

[thejackal 46]

Finally got some time to go out and shoot some pucks. Went to one of the only outdoor rinks still open in Montreal (NHL-size, refrigerated) and put the Surgeon through its paces.

When I got there, the ice was brand new and there was nobody else there, which was a bit surprising considering there is usually 20-30 people on that ice at the some time on the weekend. no chance to try out how the stick would do in traffic, but at least that allowed me to take out 5 pucks and just go to town.

Started off with some stickhandling drills and then a few wrist shots from the hashmarks. in one word: responsive. the weight and balance really made stickhandling feel easy - it reminded me a lot of the Nexon 12, but even faster-feeling (the N12 has a bit of a heavier blade).

very easy to pick corners with wrist and snap shots. there's no twisting or lagging in the bottom portion of the stick. could go bar-down all day with it.

when I'm shooting off the toe, the flex on the blade seems to add a little more zip to my shots. so far that additional flex hasn't translated into loss of accuracy, but I'm curious if the blade will go soft and affect shooting over time.

after a while I moved back and spent 10 minutes on slap shots. once again, no lag, no torque; could hit my spots well and rarely missed the net. I found the balance to work against the stick on slappers through. it was a bit too easy to lift too early and over-rotate with such a light stick. I felt like I could get better contact if I slowed it down a bit and stayed with my shot a bit longer through the downswing instead of coming up too early.

the thinness of the blade was nice for backhanders. could go forehand-backhand-top shelf with relative ease.

the only caveat I have about the stick until now, is that after about 45 minutes of shooting practice, my right forearm muscles started to tire and get fairly sore. after trying a few different things I realized that it was because I was using my right hand (lower hand) too much on my shots, which was not only making my arm sore but also robbing me of velocity on my shots. once I started getting my top hand more engaged and pulling through the shot instead of pushing with my bottom hand to make the puck go, I started seeing better results. not sure if the weight and balance of the Surgeon caused the problem, or just made me more aware of my technique breaking down. anyway, it was an interesting finding.

no durability concerns just yet, considering the stick has yet to see game action. will keep an eye on the blade stiffness over time and whether it affects performance.

[thejackal 46]

Got two more icetimes in since last post, including a league playoff game yesturday.

Sunday:

took some shots on a goalie for the first time with the Surgeon. beat him clean high-glove side 3 straight times, just inside the post and below the crossbar. still feels very nice on quick-release shots.

could hear something moving around in the shaft when I shook it. probably loose epoxy.

starting to think that this stick might be just a tad too light for my taste. it's just not as good along the boards because of how light the lower third of the stick is. I tend to play the puck a lot one-handed (my fault for being lazy) and the tiniest of stick lifts takes me completely out of the play, which doesn't happen with the Base or even the Sherwood.

Monday:

Scored 2 goals. the first one was on a quick release shot - came down on my off wing, my centerman dropped the puck to me and I just put it on net as quickly as I could. the puck ended up trickling through the goalie between his glove and his pad. the other goal was a puck battle in the crease. I tipped the puck and it was sitting on the goal line, then I went stick-on-stick with the defender and muscled the puck in. had both my hands on the stick on that one, and the lightness of the stick is a definite asset there.

going from stick-and-puck type practice to a full game represented somewhat of a learning curve. the stick probably helped me out a bit on the two goals, but it threw my timing off a bit and I was losing the puck a lot more than usual trying to go around defenders. took maybe 6-7 shots in total and the main thing was that there wasn't as much dwell time on the stick before the puck left. I could get my shots off in a hurry, but I like to feel the shaft loading up and have the puck sit on the blade for a split second longer, like I can with the Base. it's mainly just a feel thing. velocity and accuracy is fine.

there was some heavy hacking in the playoff game; no damage beside paint chips. however after the game I checked the blade and there's a slight cracking sound coming from the center of the sweetspot when I flexed it with my hand. no outwards signs of damage, so it might be something wrong with the core. keep in mind that I had the same problem with my other sticks (blew out a Base in 3 weeks and a N12 in 4).

[thejackal 46]

EDIT: Double post

[thejackal 46]

actually wrote an update post a few days ago, but maybe I left the page before hitting Post. anyway...

played with my regular sticks for a while because I was on a long scoring streak, but wanted to change something up recently and went back to the STX.

had 3 games in a pretty high level tournament. scored 2 goals in the first game and generally liked how the stick performed. the first goal was a quick release wrister which went 5 hole and gave the goalie no time to react. second one I drove the net from the corner and banked off his back from the bad angle. was surprised with how much pop the stick has. still very responsive. took some slashes and blocked a point shot with no ill effects. blade still makes that cracking sound when I really try to bend it, but still stiff and no performance issues,

2 more goals tonight in my weekly league. both wrist shots from 30ft out off the rush. gonna be sticking with the surgeon for the near future, I think.

[thejackal 46]

Quick update:

Ive come into the possession of some pro stock Reeboks in my preferred specs, so Ive passed off the Surgeon to my buddy who's been using it as his number 1. He's more of a playmaker and not too rough on his sticks. 4 beer league games and no signs of further damage.