Bauer Nexus 2NPro

[GoalForFun 176]

About Me

Height: 5’10”

Weight: 150 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 Nexus to, I've used:

• Nike Bauer Vapor XXX Lite
• TPS Response R8
• RBK 7K SicKick
• Easton Synergy SL
• Easton Stealth CNT
• CCM pro stock with XX-stiff blade
• TRUE A6.0 SBP (pro stock)
• Warrior QR Edge
• Bauer APX2
• Bauer Vapor ADV
• Bauer Nexus 1NXL
• Bauer 1X Lite
• Bauer Pro Custom 2NPro + Vapor 1X Lite blade

The Nexus 2NPro was my first retail stick purchase in god knows how long.  I was very excited for the stick after falling in love with my 1NXL.

Stick specs: 70 flex, P28

Blade/Receiving Passes - 6.5/10

The R-Lite blade is allegedly the most popular spec at the NHL level as it has the crispiness of a stiffer blade but softened feel for receiving hard passes and improving puck feel.  My thoughts on this blade are mixed; off the shelf it felt amazing, and though I disagree that a softer blade core helps with puck feel (in my experience a dampened feel hurts because you can't easily feel with your hands where on the blade the puck is) I wasn't initially put off by the extra dampening like I have been with other sticks because I prefer a livelier blade.  However, be it the materials or maybe just my stick, the blade went dead very quickly.  I'm talking about less than 8 full sessions.  It quickly lost that crispy feel that I liked and just became a dampened blade.  If this blade retained its pop longer, this score would be close to a 9/10.

Shaft/Flex – 9/10

I like the Nexus hybrid shaft shape a lot, but only just slightly behind the traditional boxy shape of the Supreme line.  Otherwise, no complaints about the shaft of the stick.  I got a 70 flex and it really feels like a 70 flex (strangely enough my Pro Customs were also 70 flex but feel more like an 87).

Stickhandling – 7/10

Similar to how the blade quickly died on me, stickhandling was great initially but quickly faded as the blade lost its crisp.  Nothing much more to say about that; if the blade stayed crispier longer this would be close to a 9/10.

Shooting – 8.5/10

Shooting with this stick has remained very good, even with the blade losing its life early on.  Pucks don't laser off the blade like with my 1X Lite or ADV, but they have "weight" behind them.  My only complaint comes, once again, thanks to the blade.  Initially the puck would release faster but as the blade lost its life pucks started to come off more slowly.

Weight and Balance – 9/10

Not Bauer's lightest offering, not its heaviest.  I think this stick is very nicely balanced, however, without being too blade or too shaft heavy.  But there is definitely a more blade-heavy bias to the stick which is not what I would prefer (for example, TRUE has managed to move their center of gravity on their sticks higher up in the shaft to give the perception of a lighter stick which is very welcome).

Durability – 7/10

I'm going to give durability a 7/10.  The shaft has held up fine to physical impact with only a small chunk lost near the neck of the blade.  Obviously the blade construction is not going to score well here.  However, one thing I did notice about the stick itself is that not long after I've used it (say around 15 sessions) I started to notice that the shaft started to develop a very subtle but noticeable (when you stack 2 sticks together) bend/flex to it (in the direction you would expect).  This tells me that the carbon is not returning completely to its original shape after shots.  Maybe I got a defective unit but that was definitely something I was not expecting from a stick I paid almost $300 for.

Intangibles

The 2NPro graphics have grown on me, though I personally prefer the look of the 2017 1N.

Conclusion – 7.75/10

Bottom line: a very solid stick when its new but doesn't hold up as well as you would hope.  Yes, "elite" sticks are technically less durable, but I was hoping to be able to really use the stick at its original characteristics for more than a few months.  I had to give up using it earlier than I would have liked because the blade just became unusable to me.

Edited December 2, 2019 by GoalForFun