STX Stallion 500

[benson 8]

Background: I am 5'10", 195 lbs, I play 1-2 times a week, and coach youth hockey 3-5 times a week. I play in a competitive men's league over the winter in Minnesota, then play in spring/summer leagues. I alternate between using an X88 and X92 style curve on my sticks. It usually depends on the flex and overall feel of the stick to determine which I like better. In this case, the X88 was great.

The stick is a 75 flex with the X88 curve. I typically go with an 85 flex, but I wanted to try something a little more flexible when I bought this one.

Blade: This wasn't my first, nor will it be my last X88 curve. It matches up well with other brands' curves in that pattern (I currently have a CCM Ribcore in that pattern as well). We'll get into more details in the shooting and stickhandling sections below.

Shaft/Flex: The Stallion is more of a mid-flex shaft. I typically use the low kickpoint shafts like the Bauer Vapor, etc. However, this stick got me back to liking the mid kickpoint. Snap and slapshots came off with power, and wristshots have plenty of power as well. With the 75 flex, I could feel the stick load easily. The downside to the flex is that I feel it flex when receiving hard passes. That feels odd to me, and I occasionally have a hard time controlling the puck then. Overall, the 75 flex isn't for me in this stick, but I still liked the stick.

Stickhandling/Receiving Passes: The blade controlled the puck well, stickhandling is no issue with this stick. Receiving passes though, the 75 flex would sometimes flex when receiving a hard pass. When the shaft flexes and I'm not expecting it, I could have trouble controlling the puck. Once I figured it out, I did try to catch passes closer to the heel, but it could still happen.

Shooting: This is a good shooting stick. Snap and slapshots were easy and smooth. The kickpoint of this stick make those feel natural. Wristshots had plenty of power, I could feel the shaft load up easily. 

Weight and balance: Pretty light, and well-balanced as well. This stick isn't as light as the lightest sticks out there, but it is close enough. The balance feels great. I really like the feel of this stick.

Durability: The downside, I used this stick for about 6 months before it broke. Not that it was used any harder than other sticks I use, but I blocked a shot with it, and that broke a chunk off on the inside of the stick. It didn't take long after that before it started to crack and finally broke. 

Intangibles: It's a nice looking stick. Personally, I like the all black with yellow graphics. High contrast, and you know what you are looking at. Some of the other brands are less distinct, this is a pretty distinctive look.

Conclusion: Nice overall stick, if I were to buy it again, I'd get an 85 flex and probably go with the X92 curve. I'm not likely to buy one again though simply due to worries about durability. I've used plenty of other sticks that lasted longer than the STX did taking more slashes and blocked shots.

Final score: 5/10, decent stick with durability worries in my mind.