Easton V9

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Stick Details:

Easton V9 Grip

75 Flex

E28

Righty

Stick has been cut down appx 4" (close to a 90 flex)

Used a sticky roll to add some tackiness to the exposed portions on the heel of the blade without tape

Personal Details:

Height: 5'8"

Weight: 170

Level:B level men's league

Position: Winger (but occasionally wherever they need me..you know, men's league, heh)

Recent Stick History:

Bauer X:60

Bauer APX

Bauer TotalOne NXG

Warrior Covert DT1

Easton Mako II

Easton Stealth RSII

Intro: After a long and very happy marriage to Bauer sticks I have gone on a little bit of a tangent and tried out some other manufacturer's twigs. This has taken me from Bauer, to Warrior, back to Bauer, to Easton, back to Warrior and to Easton. Through all of these sticks I have started to tweak what I really like in my sticks and hopefully I can give you a better idea of what the V9 brings to the table. I play in a pretty high level men's league as well as a few pickups during the week and have had a chance to put this V9 through the ringer. I have probably been using the V9 for about 5 months now. *NOTE:I have also used a V9 with a different curve as well(E3).

Blade: One of the things that kept me away from Easton sticks for a very long time; the stigma that they all go soft in the blade after use. I can say that I am extremely happy with the way that the blade has held up over time. Not sure if it's the use of the hypertoe or stiffening rods in the blade but it gives it a very solid feel. I am not sure/can't tell if the hypertoe technology on these velocity sticks really makes a difference when shooting (off the toe) but I can say that it makes the blades feel a lot more solid to me. One of the things that I used to love about Bauer sticks that eventually made me switch was their "soft" puck feel. After switching companies to Easton I enjoy the feel of a blade with a little more crispness to it.

Stickhandling/ReceivingPasses: Coming from Bauer sticks over to Easton there was a bit of an adjustment when it came to catching a pass. The Bauer sticks would allow me to just let it hit the blade with barely any deflection, like a magnet..when first using the V9 there puck would bounce slightly off but this is something that most folks can adjust to over a small period of time. As noted before I add some stickiness to the heel of my blade using a sticky roll...any pass i catch on the back 1/3rd of my blade will stick pretty well because of it. The more solid feeling blade gave me a better sense of where the puck was (I feel like this is extremely personal though as there are plenty of people who love the Bauer feel)...what I feel is less personal, however, is the fact that this stiff blade has a lot of pop to it.

Shooting/Shaft/Flex: This brings me to the area I feel this stick excels at. First and foremost, I am a shooter. I use mostly snap shots and wrist shots and rarely use a slapshot(even my slapshot is a half clapper usually just to get it off quickly). One of the things that I have come to realize over time is that I do not like a super low kick. I like to be able to feel a stick flex below my lower hand. Before I cut down the V9 to it's current length i stick handled a little in my garage on a pad and flexed the shaft...at 75 flex you can really feel it whip..when i cut it down to it's current height it felt more like what I'm used to. When i bare down on the stick I can feel the shaft flex below my lower hand, but it's stiff enough where it's responsive and gets the puck off the blade. Even when shooting in stride coming down on a rush the puck comes off the blade clean, the shaft has power, and the accuracy is very good. I do not feel any blade deflection, I do not feel any distortion in the lower portion of the shaft. I love the way this stick shoots plain and simple. In contrast, I have used an RS2 and found that I do not like the eliptical taper(totally opinion)...The release is definitely quicker and the puck comes off with a lot of pop...I did not feel like I was getting nearly as much on my shot however. Using Bauer sticks I felt like I could feel the stick load, but sometimes it would "overload" and there was some lag to my shots..like i was losing some power into the shaft.

Weight/Balance: The V9 isn't the lightest stick out there but it's certainly light enough. With Easton having a fuse point I can see how it feels a little more blade heavy than a true one piece, however that's not to say that this stick feels blade heavy...it's just compared to some other high end sticks it might. I like that it has some heft to it and I feel like the particular balance of the stick gives me a little more feel when stick handling (ie if it was blade light I wouldn't necessarily be able to feel the puck as well). I do not remember much about before I cut the stick down when it comes to the weight although i'm positive it would make a difference in the feel of it.

Durability: A Note:I am not very hard on my sticks...I do lean into my shot a lot but I'm not one to go digging in the corner, slashing sticks, or really treating it like a 2x4...I respect my investment and try hard to keep them in as good of shape as I can. As I've said before there was a stigma with the Eastons that they went soft in the blade...I can say that with this stick I have had zero problems...the blade is still going strong and has tons of pop and life in it..the shaft has zero cracking and the only chips are strictly cosmetic and should be expected from 5 months of use.

I've been bouncing around stick companies for the last year or so and can say that this is the first stick that has given me everything it promised, as well as everything that I look for in a stick. I have zero complaints about it.