Shafts?

[jmiro 55]

Quick back story. I am return to hockey after about 6 years or so. Decided I wanted to buy some new equipment. One piece is a new shaft. I am not a fan of the one piece due to the expense(I am cheap). As I am shoping around I don't see much in the way of shafts. In the past I bought intermediate due to length, cost, and light flex. Are they a dead item? Am I missing something? I like the fact I can change out the blade if I am going to play roller hockey (which ends up being more than playing ice now days). Thanks in advance.

[Vuronov 18]

I use intermediate sticks as well and liked having a shaft or two to try new blades since the blade options for int one-piece sticks are usually limited to a few choices. The shaft market has shrunk overall as most people just got for a cheap one piece if anything. Sr shafts and a few Jrs are still around, but int has all but died out.

Hockey monkey had some Warrior Dynasty int shafts (55 flx) that I got a few of but those seem to be all gone now (which sucks since I just broke one). That leaves the Bauer TotalOne int shaft as the only one you can readily find for sale. It's a standard taper, which sucks since all my blades are tapered. Also, the Bauer shaft is $104 on hockey monkey which is rather pricey as it is. A 2 year old top of the line one piece could run that much on clearance.

Basically, shafts in general are fading and intermediate ones are practically gone. I wouldn't mind except for the limited blade options relative to senior sticks.

[jmiro 55]

Thanks for validating what I suspected. Is turning one piece into a shaft still a viable option?

[Vuronov 18]

Think so, I've never done it myself but don't see why it can't still be done.

Cost-wise though, shaft/blade combo's aren't necessarily that much cheaper than a one-piece. The higher-end replacement blades alone can run over $60. If you're just getting back into hockey, you could grab two cheap one-piece sticks for $30-40 each if cost is the biggest factor.

[hawkeyfan 36]

Yes...they are going away. You might find a few 75 flex shafts.

Bauer appears to be one that is still making shafts...

True is also selling shafts (std. Shafts)

I JUST PICKED UP A DYNASTY AXT1 75 flex...but having issues finding tapered blades now.

getting a true might have been a better deal since you can find more std. blades.

[Stewie 721]

you have some options at intermediate, but they are limited and are getting more so by the day. Bauer is i think the only major manufacturer pumping out intermediate shafts in this current market, although you might find some old clearance ones somwhere.

Harrow hockey has some Int shafts, but they count their int at 60 flex.

to be honest though, as mentioned, i would go the ops route. hell right now you can get an intermediate 20k for 80 bucks, this was top of the line a few years back now, and all my reeboks have been tanks, and there is also lots of clearance warrior twigs out there, like dt1lt that can be had for 100 after discounts, with lots of releases right now is a good time to snag some deals on those. I had considered going the two piece route, but instead ive just kept my eyes out for nice deals on ops and dont have to worry about mating them etc, and if they break, i havent paid full price for them so its not a huge deal, but everyones different and i dont break a ton of sticks.

[flip12 717]

You can also order shafts from Base, I'm pretty sure.

[Sid 3]

You can also order shafts from Base, I'm pretty sure.

Base only does tapered and true only does standard.