Warrior Covert QREdge - goalforfun

[JR Boucicaut 3797]

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[GoalForFun 176]

About Me

Height: 5’10”

Weight: 145 lbs

Shoots: Left

I've been playing hockey since I was 7 with roller and started ice when I was 11. I've played as high as midget AAA but was a career AA player at best, along with high school varsity hockey in New Jersey. I've used many sticks throughout my time on the ice. To give you an idea of what I have to compare the Covert QREdge to, I've used the following low-kick sticks extensively:

• Nike Bauer Vapor XXX Lite
• TPS Response R8
• RBK 7K SicKick
• Easton Synergy SL
• Easton Stealth CNT
• Easton Stealth S19
• CCM pro stock with XX-stiff blade
• TRUE A6.0 SBP pro stock (mid-low kick)
• Bauer APX2
• Bauer ADV

 

Stick Specs

Flex: 75

Curve: P28

Grip: Yes

Stick usage time: ~7 hours including 2 mens' league games

 

Review

When the opportunity from Mod Squad Hockey to be a long-term tester for the Warrior VIP program presented itself, I immediately threw my name into the hat.  I enjoy giving my thoughts on various hockey products and sticks is one field that I consider my “strength” when it comes to talking about them at length.  So, before I begin this review I want to extend a thank you to JR Boucicaut and Mod Squad Hockey for choosing me to be among a privileged few selected to be a long-term reviewer for Warrior.

I’ll be the first to tell you that I am no Warrior fanboy.  If there’s a single company’s product that I swear by, it’s not the circled W.  However, I am also an equal opportunity gear whore.  My gloves are Warriors, my helmet is a CCM, and my skates and pants are Bauers.  For me, brand loyalty takes a backseat to functionality and performance.  For that reason, I don’t only use what I like but I also use what is good.

And the Warrior QREdge is very good.

Let’s begin with the history of the stick: the QREdge is the next evolution of the QR stick family from Warrior.  As many of you likely already know, QR stands for “Quick Release”, utilizing Warrior’s low-kick construction to give the player a shot that hopefully gets off faster than the goalie can react.  I will confess that I have not used any of the previous QR offerings (neither the QR1 nor the QRL), but I have used many low-kick sticks from other companies (Bauer, Easton, and CCM).  I won’t say that my shot with the QRE comes off the blade the quickest, but it is definitely near the top of that list of sticks.  What I’ve noticed this stick does better, however, is keep the puck going where I want it to.  More on that later.

 

Delivery Day

 

 

When I first opened the box I was greeted by a nicely prepared package consisting of the Covert QREdge stick, 2 rolls of tape (white and black), and a pretty snazzy cap.

 

My first impressions of the stick were very positive.  Regarding the graphics, I really liked the color palette usage for the QREdge.  When I was growing up, Warrior’s livery was all about that POP! factor and not-so-subtle innuendos. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss those days, but I can understand why Warrior decided to move to a more... “mature” brand identity, and I think the brand has benefitted from it.  The subtlety of the graphic on the QREDge appeals to me more than the rather busy look of the QRL.  No doubt they took design cues from the Alpha QX in this regard, minimizing the amount of paint used and letting the 12K carbon weave do the talking.

 

 

 

Picking up the stick and feeling the weight, it’s not the lightest stick ever produced (around 400g dry, wet with tape).  However, I was very impressed with the balance of it.  The center of gravity felt like it was moved up the shaft, away from the blade, which should ultimately result in a faster response to hand input to both stickhandling and shooting.  This shift is probably due in part to the Minimus Carbon 1200 construction and the new Edge taper which reduces the weight in the bottom of the stick.

 

After admiring the look and weight of the QREdge, I examined the shaft more closely.  The shape of the shaft isn’t the same “wishbone” as found on the Alpha QX.  Instead, it’s a square shaft with straight sidewalls and slightly rounded corners.  The closest shaft shape that matches this one would be the “T” construction found on many CCM pro stock sticks.  If that doesn’t do it for you, then the shaft shape is very similar to what you would find on a wooden stick: flat sidewalls with rounded edges because wood doesn’t do the same concave stuff that composite materials can do.  I was really impressed by this shaft shape, one that isn’t normally found on retail sticks despite it being one of the more popular shaft shapes ordered by NHL players.

As far as the grip goes, I’ll be the first to tell you that I’m not a big fan of grip offerings on the market because there’s simply too much tackiness these days.  It seems like the product engineers at Warrior share the same opinion because the grip on this stick is very light on the tackiness, which I appreciate that a lot.  Also, you can’t tell from the pictures but there is slight ribbing along the front and back sides of the shaft to add tactile feel.  Again, I like the subtlety of the application because it’s less “intrusive” than the textured shafts on other sticks.  In this regard, Warrior has really won me over with their grip design for the QREdge.

 

On the Ice

 

 

Blade/Receiving Passes – 7.5/10

I’m a fan of very stiff and very lively blades.  I feel that the “pingy” blades allow me to better feel the puck’s position on the blade since they allow for more of the vibrations to be transferred up the shaft to my hands.  I was hoping that the QREdge would have a very stiff blade, being a low-kick construction (which is often paired with one).  However, the blade is not as stiff as other stiff-blade retail offerings I’ve used, such as the Vapor APX2 and 1st gen TRUE A6.0 SBP with BRT.  I was a little disappointed by this, but this decreased feel is compensated by allowing for more energy from shaft loading to transfer to the puck, resulting in a more powerful shot that seems to literally rocket off the blade.  I will admit, though, that this is my first time extensively using a P28 curve so I don’t have a shot comparison with another P28 stick to confidently determine whether my shot is faster because of the stick + blade or the curve itself.

Briefly, receiving passes is near effortless with this blade construction, where having a stiffer blade might require more bottom hand finesse.

For these two reasons (the more powerful shot and ease of receiving/intercepting passes), this blade earns a respectable 7.5/10 from me.  If Warrior put a stiffer blade that offered more feedback on puck feel, this rating would have been higher.

 

Shooting – 10/10

This aspect of the stick surprised me the most.  While the QREdge’s release isn’t as instantaneous as the Vapor ADV I’ve used, of which I described as being as fast as thinking, the Warrior is still able to get a shot off very, very quickly.  This comes in handy when you’re streaking down the center of the ice and need to zip one past the defender on net before their stick check and poke the puck away.  I was able to do this several times in the couple mens’ league games I used this stick in, and thanks to the Edge taper preventing shaft torqueing these quick snappers would land on net as intended (when the defender didn’t get a stick on the puck just as it was coming off the blade).  The stick and blade work together to give you good feedback when it comes to feeling when you’ve loaded the stick and positioned the puck in the sweet spot and gotten a good shot off, and they’ll tell you when you’ve missed and flubbed the shot.  I really, really like that aspect of the stick since it helps you learn for the next time you take a shot where you should be placing your hands in order to get a better shot off.

In this regard, the QREdge’s shooting dynamics is on par with the TRUE A6.0 SBP’s, the latter of which I consider the best shooting stick I’ve used to date.

 

Shaft/Flex – 9.5/10

I’ve described the shaft feel above in the intro, but I’ll summarize my thoughts here: I appreciate the light grip tackiness as well as the minimal ribbing for tactile feel.  I would have preferred no grip and no tactile, though, so the stick loses .5 of a point for that.

As far as the flex of the shaft, you can really feel the low kickpoint doing its job when you’re passing and shooting and again that’s something I really appreciate about this stick.  You can read more thoughts on this above.

 

Stickhandling – 8.5/10

Because of the not-as-stiff-as-expected blade, heads-up stickhandling with the QREdge isn’t as easy as with other sticks with stiffer blades.  On a couple occasions during games, when I would be looking over my shoulder while bringing the puck back into my own zone to see how much pressure the other team is putting on me, the puck would sometimes roll off my blade because I couldn’t feel it as well as I could with other sticks.  However, the feel isn’t entirely gone, unlike a certain other high end stick I’ve used.

When it comes to making quick corrections and dekes with the stick, because of the low weight and the balance point of the stick being moved up the shaft, making split second movements is easy and the stick really wants to maneuver around the puck the way you tell it to.

 

Weight and Balance – 9.5/10

Like I mentioned in my first impressions, this isn’t the lightest stick I’ve used but it’s one of the best balanced.  To me, balance matters more than weight, and since Warrior has done such a great job lowering the perceived weight by moving the center of gravity up which masks the actual weight, this stick feels lighter than it actually is, making movements easier.

 

Durability – Hasn’t broken so far

I've gotten a couple of stick-play chops but no one has given me a good two-hander (yet) and the stick has held up nicely.  The blade and heel do so signs of use, especially from blocking shots and getting grazed by skates yet there doesn’t appear to be any loss of feel.

 

Overall – 9/10

The Warrior Covert QREdge is a great stick. Not the best I've used, but certainly ranks near the top. Blade construction could be stiffer and I don't think that would sacrifice any usability. All in all, I can see why more and more NHL pros are making the switch to Warrior: their sticks are the real deal.

[GoalForFun 176]

An update on durability:

The stick is holding up spectacularly. I’ve blocked quite a few shots off the shaft and blade and there is barely any signs of carbon fraying (one small part near the toe but hasn’t seemed to affect the blade feel). There’s a nice gash right in the taper itself but with no signs of stress. This second point of damaged surprised me a lot since you hear stories of Warrior sticks breaking in the taper, and I expected the stick to explode which it did not.