True Xcore 9

[darkhors 88]

About Me

6'0'' Male - 180lbs Shoots RH - Mostly Forward/Some Defense

Mostly Snappers with some wristers and slap shots

Stick Info

True Xcore 9 85 Flex TC2.5 curve stock height

Used for approx 1 year 1-3 times a week (minus summer May-August).

Blade (10/10)

This is the "True" beauty of this stick. The blade has a urethan insert that runs from the heel to just about the midpoint of the blade that works to dampen feel and give you a wood-like feeling blade. The insert can be seen on the bottom of the stick as it's not fully encompassed by the stick but I actually run a piece of tape on the top, toe and bottom of the blade before taping my stick normally. I do this for durability reasons to help keep the blade from splitting or cracking. It's more preventative than a "sure" thing. Anyway, the blade also has BRT (braided rib technology) that runs two ribs length wise inside the blade to help keep it from torqueing when shooting or catching passes. This tech also is supposed to help provide more consistent blade contact when shooting to give you more velocity on your shot. Overall I like the blade a lot and it has held up very well over the course of play. There are a few nicks, but no chips or cuts. Also, even after all this time, the blade feels like it did when it was new. No breakdown in terms of pop.
 

Shaft (10/10)/Flex (10/10)

The top end Trues (Xcore9, A6.0/A5.2) all have Variable flex technology (Smartflex). This means that the shaft is less stiff towards the top and gets stiffer and you get closer to the blade. The tech allows the stick to flex appropriately based on your lower hand placement when shooting. So if you need to get off a quick shot with your hand up high, it's flexes higher in the stick to help load. Taking a slapshot and really leaning into it with your hand lower, flexes the stick lower and the stiffer lower shaft loads without being too whippy. As for the flex, I felt like it was pretty true to it's designation. I usually use 85's except for Bauer's Nexus line (Nexus plays stiffer than rated to me), and this felt just like I had imagined it would feel. I'm giving it a 10 for flex. The shaft is your typical square shaft with double concave walls and a very slight grip on the shaft. It's not like the Nexus grip, but almost a middle ground between a matte finish and grip finish. Just enough grip so it only moves when you want/need it to.
 

Stickhandling (8/10)/receiving passes (10/10)

Receiving passes with this stick is like having a magnet on the puck. The dampening of the insert works just as described and even hard passes just seem to stick to the blade. You can feel the contact, but they don't jump off the face like can happen with very stiff blades. Stickhandling with this stick was not bad. The weight of the stick is nice, but does feel just slightly blade heavy, probably due to the insert, especially compared to the A6.0. The only issue I had is that with the dampened feel, sometimes you forget where the puck is when you're stick handling. There were a few times where I had to look down to double check the puck was where I thought it was. If that feeling is something you're used to, then this isn't even an issue. However, if you're coming from a stiff or very stiff blade it may take some getting used to.
 

Shooting (9/10)

Slapshots were like darts. I could point and shoot and know exactly where it was going and they had some pop to them. You could really tell the Smartflex was working when you slid your hand down and felt the stick load up. Conversely, snapshots felt good too and I noticed that when taking my shots, I hardly ever floats or end-over-ended a puck that I had control of before I shot. So I felt like the insert was doing it's job there too. Wristers is where I felt like the stick could improve. I felt like the stick needed an extra second to load up on the wristers and sometimes felt like I wasn't able to release as fast as I wanted to. This could very well be from my technique as I don't take a lot of wrist shots, but it's something I noticed when I did. My main shots are usually quick snaps to catch the goalie moving or by surprise. Overall shooting was good and it seemed as thought the xcore did the job intended to do.
 

Weight (10/10) and balance (9/10)

Weight was on par with high end sticks. I believe it came in right around 425 grams without tape. In comparison, my A6.0 was around 405 grams and my QRL Pro came in at 440 when cut to the same size. The balance was a bit off for a high end stick as it was slightly blade heavy. By no means was this a deal breaker, but it was something that I did notice when picking up other high end sticks that didn't have that technology. As a comparison, my QRL Pro weighs slightly more, but definitely feels more balanced compared to the Xcore.
 

Durability (10/10)

I can definitely say that this stick has withstood a great deal and still looks and performs great. There are a couple of cosmetic nicks and marks on the shaft from people slashing me and lots and lots of faceoffs taken (I play center), but it has held up fantastically. The blade looks very good with no signs of cracking or chipping and aside from the few nicks and such toward the very bottom of the shaft (just above the blade) the rest of the stick looks great. I hope they don't change anything about the durability in the next iteration.

Conclusion (86/90)

This stick is something special. True has taken a technology and improved on it and made a very good stick here. I grew up playing with wood/fiberglass blades and loved the feel of them and this took me right back. The insert does a fantastic job dampening the blade for control, but still allows you to really fire some shots with good velocity and accuracy. I love how they use the technology of the smartflex and BRT across both lines of sticks and the consistency of their products is top notch. I know what I'm getting with them whether I choose the A series or X-core and that is something that few companies can consistently do. If you're a play maker or setup guy or defenseman, I think this is the best stick on the market. Passing and slapshots are incredible and even though stick handling could be a little better, it doesn't really take away from the total package.

 

Edited January 13, 2017 by darkhors
spelling edits