Stick Blade Break Question

[4thpairing 0]

My little brother has recently started to play again, which is awesome. But his first two sticks (EK10 & CCM 130) have both broken their blades mid length. The curious part is that he's managed to do this within 4 hours of actual use. I seriously doubt this a manufacturing defect, my guess is a technique issue. Any thoughts?

PS: Both sticks are 75 flex with sakic curves.

[Chadd 916]

A mid curve blade breaking in the middle leads me to suspect that he's doing something to the toe. Either jamming it into the boards or being really firm on his grip and coming down toe first on his windup would be my guesses as to how that happens, but there's no way to know without seeing him play.