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FlyChicaga

Help Me Pick A Stick

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I spent all night online reading reviews and stick threads on this and another forum trying to narrow my stick search down. I'm driving myself crazy trying to find a good stick for my playing style, so I need some help.

I'm a 5'10" 160 lbs defenseman, playing fairly competitive men's league hockey. Right now I've been using an intermediate 67 flex Supreme 170 stick (Toews pattern) cut down a little shorter than I probably want. Past few games, my passes have been off, shot is a bit off, although my stickhandling has improved after taking 4" off my sticks. I also have a 75 flex Easton Synergy 60 E36 and 87 flex Bauer One95 P92. Using the 87 flex cut down, my wrist and forearm start to hurt, so I know that flex is probably too high for me. The Easton isn't bad, I especially like the curve (not a fan of the Toews pattern).

I'll add this: The best stick I've owned in the past few years was a Warrior QR1 75 flex Zetterberg pattern. I felt like my passes were accurate and I had a good accurate shot. However, the durability wasn't there for me. I broke one on a one-timer two weeks in, and my replacement snapped in half when I got the stick wedged between two players in front of the net. They went different directions, and the stick snapped immediately.

So... my search has led me to the following sticks:

- CCM Tacks line, 75 flex, Hossa

- CCM Ribcor line, 75 flex, Hossa

-  Bauer Nexus line, 75 flex, Kane

- Warrior QRL line, 75 flex, Zetterberg

I play a two-way defense style, where I'll carry the puck up ice into the zone, sometimes join the play down low. I want a stick that will give me accurate passes, and allow me to receive passes comfortably every time. I'm no dangler. I sometimes take slapshots from the point, but often use a quick wrister or snapshot for a fast release in an attempt to get a defection or rebound. Also since I join the rush, I don't shoot slapshots down low, I always aim for a wrister.

 

Any help here would be appreciated... I'm seriously losing it trying to figure out a good stick to purchase. I'm tired of getting sticks and having them sit in the garage with me asking "why?"

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The N1 is pretty great, great puck fill can load up on slap shots, strong writers and passes. Dampened blade is nice for handling. 1N feels a bit whippier than most other sticks I cut down about 4 inches and was worried but surprisingly the 92 flex isn't too much. Either I've gotten a lot stronger or its whippier than 92

 

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Following this Topic.... sticks have me really confused... 5'10" 200lbs  Noob  using cheap wood sticks now... What flex is right? what curve?  Like everybody I don't want to spend a ton and hate it or have it break quickly as I see in some of the reviews of sticks...   Looking forward to hearing the answers...    sorry if this is sort of a HiJack of the thread

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if you feel your existing stick is fine, But now a little short? why not add an extension plug?

but my advice is of the options you presented - you have been happy with the Warrior, Go with that again, i bought a couple of warriors a year or so back and have only broken one (in the blade as it got caught around the boards). It sounds like your snapped between 2 players was more a bad luck/timing and whatever brand of stick you had then possibly would snap - so not a fault of warrior etc.

 

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I think a lot of knowledgeable people on this board will give you the same answer: It's all personal preference. It's a fruitless endeavour to recommend a particular brand or model of stick to someone, since only that person knows what feels right for them and maximizes their performance on the ice. If you'd like to try out a bunch of different patterns, flexes, kickpoints, and blade stiffnesses without the risk of buying a stick that you might not like, you should check out BASE Hockey's fitting / shot analysis sessions. We've got really knowledgeable fitters who create different shaft+blade demo setups for you to try based on your preferences, your feedback, and high-speed video footage of your shot. Even if you're not at all interested in a BASE stick, a fitting session should help you figure out what pattern and flex work for you, regardless of brand. That should take a lot of the guesswork out of stick purchasing. Otherwise, you can always look up a major hockey store that has a shooting booth - that would also let you try different sticks before you buy one. However, they might not be able to fine-tune a setup for you based on your preferences, and they probably won't have a high-speed camera.

Of course, you should take what I say with a grain of salt since I work for BASE, but I went in for a fitting session with two buddies in Montreal before I started working for them, and it was one of the best hockey-related experiences I've had so far. Really neat to see your shot in slow-mo, and it's fun to shoot a ton of pucks through all sorts of different curves, flexes, and sticks without having to commit to buying one.

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I own and use both a Nexus 8000LE and a Tacks in a 75. Both have proven to be extremely durable and both deliver the performance you'd expect from a top tier stick. You really cant go wrong with either stick.

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Your size and playing style sounds very similar to mine. I like the QR1 but havent used one much. I've been using my TRUE 5.2 and I am VERY fond of it. I've been using a 75 flex cut down a few inches with the p92 curve.

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