Curve advice needed for a nice passing, deking blade

[HockeyTactics 0]

Hi Guys,

i am currently searching advice on optimizing my curve to my preferences and playstyle. And you guys seemed quite knowledgeable on these topics to me.

So, I mostly play center and would characterise myself as a gritty playmaker. Meaning often times I find myself winning a battle at the boards or making a couple of dekes to beat my opposition and then drawing other opponents on to me which opens up nice passing options. Currently i am using a p28 which i like for the nice pocket and its deking potential, aswell as the toe shooting. But my feeling is, that this isn't the strongest passing blade since i am strugling with nice consistent saucer passes.

Since i am pretty tall I like to play with a long stick which helps with intercepting passes in the neutral zone and shielding the puck away from the opposition. Therefore i need a long blade with a lower lie.

I am not really a good finisher so my shot isn't really my greatest weapon. Still sometimes i get a really solid shot away. Most of the times it's a wrister because of the time and space you get but my slapshot on possible one timers is the more threatening weapon. Where i get the feeling that the p28 might not be the most benefitial. But around 60-70% of my goals come from in close when I have beaten a defender to the net or from my net front presence.

Summary:
-pass first center
-pocket for deking prefered
-long blade for intercepting passes
-lower lie (~ 5)
-open face for the roofing capability

Thanks for your suggestions in advance!

[colins 246]

1 hour ago, HockeyTactics said:

Hi Guys,

i am currently searching advice on optimizing my curve to my preferences and playstyle. And you guys seemed quite knowledgeable on these topics to me.

So, I mostly play center and would characterise myself as a gritty playmaker. Meaning often times I find myself winning a battle at the boards or making a couple of dekes to beat my opposition and then drawing other opponents on to me which opens up nice passing options. Currently i am using a p28 which i like for the nice pocket and its deking potential, aswell as the toe shooting. But my feeling is, that this isn't the strongest passing blade since i am strugling with nice consistent saucer passes.

Since i am pretty tall I like to play with a long stick which helps with intercepting passes in the neutral zone and shielding the puck away from the opposition. Therefore i need a long blade with a lower lie.

I am not really a good finisher so my shot isn't really my greatest weapon. Still sometimes i get a really solid shot away. Most of the times it's a wrister because of the time and space you get but my slapshot on possible one timers is the more threatening weapon. Where i get the feeling that the p28 might not be the most benefitial. But around 60-70% of my goals come from in close when I have beaten a defender to the net or from my net front presence.

Summary:
-pass first center
-pocket for deking prefered
-long blade for intercepting passes
-lower lie (~ 5)
-open face for the roofing capability

Thanks for your suggestions in advance!

 

When you say long because you are tall - with no skates on and standing in your socks, where is the top of your stick hitting? Chin, lips, nose, eyebrows?

Usually long stick and strong on the boards are conflicting traits. Also trying to find loose pucks around the blue paint off rebounds and broken plays - a shorter stick tends to help there as it's usually in your feet or close to your body.

Curve wise the retails options are very limited. Retail P92 is out - with it's high lie at a long length you won't be getting much blade on the ice for those board battles or in front of the net. P92 L5 is a possibility but it means ordering a custom Bauer or lucking into one on sidelineswap or similar. I have found them to be rare.

P30 might be of interest but CCM seems to be ditching it so that's not a long term option either at retail.

P90T is maybe your best bet - pretty popular in pro stock and seems to be trending upwards maybe you can get it with custom orders now, I'm not sure.

Have you used a P88 before? It has the lie and pocket you are looking for, but it's closed not open. Just curious what your thoughts are on it if you've used it before.

 

colins

Edited November 27, 2019 by colins

[caveman27 208]

3 hours ago, HockeyTactics said:

Hi Guys,

i am currently searching advice on optimizing my curve to my preferences and playstyle. And you guys seemed quite knowledgeable on these topics to me.

So, I mostly play center and would characterise myself as a gritty playmaker. Meaning often times I find myself winning a battle at the boards or making a couple of dekes to beat my opposition and then drawing other opponents on to me which opens up nice passing options. Currently i am using a p28 which i like for the nice pocket and its deking potential, aswell as the toe shooting. But my feeling is, that this isn't the strongest passing blade since i am strugling with nice consistent saucer passes.

Since i am pretty tall I like to play with a long stick which helps with intercepting passes in the neutral zone and shielding the puck away from the opposition. Therefore i need a long blade with a lower lie.

I am not really a good finisher so my shot isn't really my greatest weapon. Still sometimes i get a really solid shot away. Most of the times it's a wrister because of the time and space you get but my slapshot on possible one timers is the more threatening weapon. Where i get the feeling that the p28 might not be the most benefitial. But around 60-70% of my goals come from in close when I have beaten a defender to the net or from my net front presence.

Summary:
-pass first center
-pocket for deking prefered
-long blade for intercepting passes
-lower lie (~ 5)
-open face for the roofing capability

Thanks for your suggestions in advance!

Hard to say. You like to be a defensive center so you play with a long stick. I don't know. You might want to force yourself to play to your offensive attributes, and go with a blade that works for passing, handling and shooting instead of blocking. It might be that your existing stick is long, but if you cut it shorter, you force yourself to bend down more, and your lower hand grasps farther down the shaft to get more strength behind your saucer passes for better consistency and get more lift to your top shelf wrist shots.

[start_today 770]

At the risk of sounding stodgy and condescending...pick literally any blade you want, and practice with it. Since you're used to the p28, and it checks almost all, if not all, of your requirements, stick with that and make it do what you want. If you change curves, that alone might improve some aspect of your game, but other aspects will suffer.

From your descriptions, it sounds like you just need to go to stick time and practice wrist shots and passing accuracy.

[HockeyTactics 0]

9 hours ago, colins said:

 

When you say long because you are tall - with no skates on and standing in your socks, where is the top of your stick hitting? Chin, lips, nose, eyebrows?

My Stick goes up the Nose when i am standing straight up without Shoes.

Usually long stick and strong on the boards are conflicting traits. Also trying to find loose pucks around the blue paint off rebounds and broken plays - a shorter stick tends to help there as it's usually in your feet or close to your body.

Curve wise the retails options are very limited. Retail P92 is out - with it's high lie at a long length you won't be getting much blade on the ice for those board battles or in front of the net. P92 L5 is a possibility but it means ordering a custom Bauer or lucking into one on sidelineswap or similar. I have found them to be rare.

P30 might be of interest but CCM seems to be ditching it so that's not a long term option either at retail.

Oh in europe the p30 didn't really catch on and i still have the feeling it is a quite new curve out there. Thought they might give a little more time to develop.

P90T is maybe your best bet - pretty popular in pro stock and seems to be trending upwards maybe you can get it with custom orders now, I'm not sure.

Do you think that the P90T will get an option on retail level next Season?

Have you used a P88 before? It has the lie and pocket you are looking for, but it's closed not open. Just curious what your thoughts are on it if you've used it before.

Na i haven't use a p88 before but i took it into consideration. Maybe i get the chance to test a couple of curves on the ice in the foreseeable furture and looking forward to giving it a shot.

colins

 

Edited November 27, 2019 by HockeyTactics

[colins 246]

 

See if you can borrow a P92 that's a bit shorter, between your chin and lips for example, it's a great all around curve with the features you describe but I suspect using it at your current length might not be to your liking.

That said - for the type of game you describe as being your strengths - I'd recommend trying a shorter stick in general.

No easy answers I'm afraid - you've got some experimenting to do. 🙂

 

[HockeyTactics 0]

11 minutes ago, colins said:

 

See if you can borrow a P92 that's a bit shorter, between your chin and lips for example, it's a great all around curve with the features you describe but I suspect using it at your current length might not be to your liking.

That said - for the type of game you describe as being your strengths - I'd recommend trying a shorter stick in general.

No easy answers I'm afraid - you've got some experimenting to do. 🙂

 

Got an old w03 lying around heard it is more like a p19 then a p92 but might give give it a shot aswell.

Shortening up the stick corresponds with cavemans answers. I will try out a shorter stick next time.

[getthekidthepuck 32]

Its not a 5 lie, but p91/Drury meets alot of your needs you listed. Its not the easiest to find but they are out there.

[Buzz_LightBeer 969]

Ditto that, but with P106

[HockeyTactics 0]

11 hours ago, Buzz_LightBeer said:

Ditto that, but with P106

Availability is even more of a problem with the p106 though.

[flip12 714]

On 11/27/2019 at 2:31 AM, HockeyTactics said:

So, I mostly play center and would characterise myself as a gritty playmaker. Meaning often times I find myself winning a battle at the boards or making a couple of dekes to beat my opposition and then drawing other opponents on to me which opens up nice passing options. Currently i am using a p28 which i like for the nice pocket and its deking potential, aswell as the toe shooting. But my feeling is, that this isn't the strongest passing blade since i am strugling with nice consistent saucer passes.

Since i am pretty tall I like to play with a long stick which helps with intercepting passes in the neutral zone and shielding the puck away from the opposition. Therefore i need a long blade with a lower lie.

I am not really a good finisher so my shot isn't really my greatest weapon. Still sometimes i get a really solid shot away. Most of the times it's a wrister because of the time and space you get but my slapshot on possible one timers is the more threatening weapon. Where i get the feeling that the p28 might not be the most benefitial. But around 60-70% of my goals come from in close when I have beaten a defender to the net or from my net front presence.

P28 is a nice passing blade if you sort out where the heel to middle release point is. Usually it’s possible to launch a saucer pass heel to toe, especially with the degree of loft on blades like the Drury. I’m pretty sure that’s the main reason for there being so much loft on the blade. The P28 still has vestiges of that origin: it’s an open heel curve until it turns into a mid-toe curve. The rub lies in the aggressiveness of the rocker on the toe. This means you can’t wait until the puck is at the toe to launch a sweeping saucer pass or shot starting from the heel. You have to release before you reach the toe, just beyond the middle of the blade.

Before you go trying different curves, see if you can expand what you’re comfortable with using the P28 for. Just practice the saucer standing still, super soft motions, almost no pressure on the stick. Do a few sets of five or six pucks in a row and see if you can feel where the puck wants to release. I did this when I was struggling with my Ville Leino SE16. It’s basically a Kovalevized P28: lower lie, max-length blade, but similar idea. Once I found the sweeping sweet spot I didn’t have fluttering saucer passes anymore. My shooting also improved, so I could finally shoot from either the heel or the toe, no problem.

Edited November 28, 2019 by flip12

[HockeyTactics 0]

2 hours ago, flip12 said:

P28 is a nice passing blade if you sort out where the heel to middle release point is. Usually it’s possible to launch a saucer pass heel to toe, especially with the degree of loft on blades like the Drury. I’m pretty sure that’s the main reason for there being so much loft on the blade. The P28 still has vestiges of that origin: it’s an open heel curve until it turns into a mid-toe curve. The rub lies in the aggressiveness of the rocker on the toe. This means you can’t wait until the puck is at the toe to launch a sweeping saucer pass or shot starting from the heel. You have to release before you reach the toe, just beyond the middle of the blade.

Before you go trying different curves, see if you can expand what you’re comfortable with using the P28 for. Just practice the saucer standing still, super soft motions, almost no pressure on the stick. Do a few sets of five or six pucks in a row and see if you can feel where the puck wants to release. I did this when I was struggling with my Ville Leino SE16. It’s basically a Kovalevized P28: lower lie, max-length blade, but similar idea. Once I found the sweeping sweet spot I didn’t have fluttering saucer passes anymore. My shooting also improved, so I could finally shoot from either the heel or the toe, no problem. 

Thanks flip12, some great tipps there, definitely will try it out later. P28 seems to be even more versatile than i thought.

Reading the other suggestions I think I am sticking with the p28 for now and change some small parts about the stick length and my blade usage. It seems to be the closest to what I want on retail level and i am still not using every aspect of it correctly. Might be also giving similar curves like the p90t a try if I get a chance to get my hands on that curve.

Wouldn't be the old Shanahan (Kane's pro Stock Curve) also be pretty close to my discription and similar playing to the p28? Or does it play completly different?

Is the Ville Leino SE16 you got a pro stock curve?

Edited November 28, 2019 by HockeyTactics

[sbecks72986 51]

Stick with P28 just practice saucing passes more, I’ve been using the P28 since the Mako2 stick you can definitely get great sauce from that curve.

[HockeyTactics 0]

Okay today in practice I noticed what flip12 said. The nice and flat sauces where released before the toe hook. Guess i just need to get the mechanics down for using the blade correctly.

I noticed on my Clappers when I stroke them well they have a tendency to miss to the left uphigh over the net as a righty. Should I also try to release it earlier on the blade or is the wrist motion at fault?

Around what height have the other p28 users cut the stick?

[Sniper9 529]

3 hours ago, HockeyTactics said:

Okay today in practice I noticed what flip12 said. The nice and flat sauces where released before the toe hook. Guess i just need to get the mechanics down for using the blade correctly.

I noticed on my Clappers when I stroke them well they have a tendency to miss to the left uphigh over the net as a righty. Should I also try to release it earlier on the blade or is the wrist motion at fault?

Around what height have the other p28 users cut the stick?

Where to cut the stick is completely up to you and is personal preference irregardless of the pattern. 

Edited November 29, 2019 by Sniper9

[z1ggy 81]

P28 I've found is the best blade for me when it came to top shelf anything, toe drags, etc but it's not the best for anything backhand. Like I saw above... you really need to sort out where the heel is when trying for backhand passes, shots, etc. I use a P90T now and it's got a little more heel to it and I find backhand passing much better and it keeps my shots from going too high. 

[Sniper9 529]

I never had issues wirh backhand witj the p28. Didn't have to adjust at all. The forehand sauces I notice aren't as second nature with this pattern though. Only pattern I really had issues wirj the backhand is the hossa pro. 

[asgoodasdead 74]

i'm pretty much the same type of player and i use the PM9. cut to the botttom of my lips when barefoot and 65 flex

[HockeyTactics 0]

Yesterday for warmups i tried the p28 with 4 inches less so that the heel part of the blade lies flat on the ice when i stand up with a relaxed arm. But oh man it does feel akward using it coming from the long length.

While i bend quite a good amount over for my stride i guess the long stick taught me the behavior of making moves more in an upright fashion.

[psulion22 402]

Given what you're looking for, I think the P10 will be the best option for you.  It's about the longest blade out there, with a square toe for puck control on the boards.  It's a toe curve, so stickhandles are good with it, and the overall shape makes saucer passes effortless.  It's a 5.5 lie, and the open face does make lifting the puck easy.  The biggest issue is that the length makes it hard to get off quick toe shots because you have to get the puck so much further along the blade.

 

 

[asgoodasdead 74]

1 hour ago, HockeyTactics said:

Yesterday for warmups i tried the p28 with 4 inches less so that the heel part of the blade lies flat on the ice when i stand up with a relaxed arm. But oh man it does feel akward using it coming from the long length.

While i bend quite a good amount over for my stride i guess the long stick taught me the behavior of making moves more in an upright fashion.

well yeah, its gonna take some time to get used to the shorter stick. but once you do, you're gonna love it

[JimmyTheDriver 36]

Consider the CCM p29 / Bauer P92? Aka.. Sakic, Ovetchkin, Crosby, Nugent-Hopkins.  A great all-rounder that lifts the puck nicely and much easier to shoot than the p28, in my opinion.  Cut a bit shorter than you are used to, and I bet you could get the feel in no time.

https://www.thestickguru.com/pattern-database/

 

Edited December 2, 2019 by JimmyTheDriver