synergy's vs stelth and sicores

[JR Boucicaut 3804]

No Stick Will ever improve your game. 

Once again, Modo, you keep on bitching and complaining about OPS...but you are always the first to buy one when they first come out. If you think that since Benny Hogue can shoot well enough with a wood stick, then why haven't you switched back to wood?

Answer that question to yourself before you go on here and preach to the choir...you just sound hypocritical at this point.

[Chadd 916]

I use composite sticks because they're more cost effective for me. 2 wood sticks a week at $25 a pop or a composite stick that lasts 4-6 weeks on average for $150. Composite is cheaper.

[McCabe24 0]

Yes composites are usually more cost efficient and when you draw out the life span of a woodie to that of a OPS stick the OPS will clearly perform better in the long run. It is also a better invesment than multiple woodies especially when you score them cheap like I do. The most money I have put into a stick was $220 (Novius with focus flex blade) and I only spent that much because I didn't wanna miss out on the last Inno shaft because I was waiting for a discount.

[chippa13 1844]

The shaft shape on the Stealth is much, very noticeably smaller than the standard shape Synergy.  If you don't like a pro-radius, contoured, intermediate-feeling shaft, you will not like the Stealth.

Also the stick plays very light, meaning a player with a wood stick or 450+ grams stick can easily knock your stick up and off the puck.  Unless you are a 100% true finesse player I would not recommend the stealth.

As far as the SiCore . . . the Si-core is just a Synergy with two 1inch by 1inch gel squares in the top of the blade.  And ESP Technology is typical Junk Marketing.  If it weren't they wouldn't be scapping it after only four years.  I personally prefer the Synergy Grip.  Best control, hard slap-shots . . . what else could you want.

First, the Stealth is slimmer but still has a very box-like shape, not pro-radius (rounded). Second, the weight of a stick has nothing to do with how easy an opponent can lift your stick, that is determined by how strong you are on your stick. Third, I am far from a finesse player and have had a ton of success playing my kind of game with the Stealth.

Any other foolish statements???

What's a foolish statement is to discount my personal opinion and preference. It's also ignorant. But hey, opinions are like a******s - - everyone's got one.

From my experience, when I used the stealth and another player using a wooden stick hit my stick up it went up a lot easier than any of the 450+ one-pieces I have used. I am a grinder, I spend a fair bit of time along the boards, in the corners, and crashing the net. And the weight, fragility and smallish handle of the Stealth did not suit my game - - In My Opinion. And regardless of the handle shape, the shaft is so damn skinny it feels To Me Like a Pro Radius or Contour Shaped Shaft - - In My Opinion. I dont' care if it's still a box shape, a small enough box shape feels almost like a pro-radius to me.

But I am glad to see the Stealth has brought you success. After all, Easton's marketing team promises: More Speed + More Control= More Goals. If you buy the Stealth you will gain more speed, more control and thus more goals, guaranteed! And that's not a Personal Opinion; it's an Easton Corporate Fact! It says so in black and white on their website and literature so it has to be true! Thank God for Corporate Hockey Innovations. If not for new and improved sticks how the hell could players improve their games! If only Gretzky had a Stealth in his day, he woulda amassed 3,000 plus points!

Go ahead and retort Chippa, . . . unlike you, I won't call your opinions and personal preferences foolish. Because to tell another person what theirown Personal Opinion and Preferences are . . . that would be foolish.

Seriously, if someone is lifting your stick, 50 grams on a stick doesn't make a lick of difference. If you aren't strong on your stick then even the heaviest stick in the world won't change how easy it is for someone to lift your's.

I never said it made me a better player, but it fits me very well, and yes, I am a grind it out player. It has a very good feel that my stone hands notice and things go on target since I don't get the torqueing of the shaft that I have with other sticks.

[tokes 0]

No Stick Will ever improve your game.

Easton took an intermediate Synergy, stretched it out, added some stiffness and you guys all think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. Somebody, (I don't have my Stealth anymore) measure the circumference of the Stealth and then the circumference of a standard stick. I think you'll all be surprised to see you are using a very long intermediate stick. That'll prove the fact and prove my opinion.

And by somebody, I mean somebody competent enough to measure precise to the millimeter.

All my good mic's and everything are at my garage, but with a good engineers ruler the difference in width between an iggy stealth and a Z-bubble grip is around 1.5 MM at the top of the shaft. You can't say it's a streched out intermediate synergy, because it's not. The blade feel is completely different from a Synergy, and anyone who has used one is going to tell you that. It's a lot thinner, it feels better (IMO) and is stiffer.

I disagree with you that any stick won't improve your game. Physically the weight and balance and what not might not make you a better player, but think about it. Why do people go on a "hot" streak, why do people go into slumps? Because a lot of how well you do in hockey is in your head. When you're doing good, you feel like you're the best out there, it gives you a ton of confidence and you play like it. Opposite happens for when you're playing poorly. The same thing happens for a lot of people I know with sticks. They think they are a better player with a composite, it gives them added confidence, and that can make you a better player.

[Modo9 0]

You're assuming people are buying these things as aids and expecting them to turn them into good hockey players. For the most part people on this board who tend to have the latest and greatest are either getting it as a child from their parents, so the decision is ultimately upto the parents or else they are older and are paying themselves.

Because you're buying a top-end stick makes you an idiot is the implied message in your post, or at least thats the message I get behind it. If someone is stupid enough to buy it based on the belief they will be better, let'em, if they buy it because they have extra money laying around and its a stick they want let'em. If people are opting to take the money for a Stealth out of their grocery cash so their child (or selves) can goto the NHL I see a problem, but I don't think anyone is stupid enough to do that, especially around here. I think alot of it is more of a hobby factor or a mental edge. You've gone on a few of these rants (as I recall) and nobody disputes your point, you are just saying what we all know. It's the player behind the stick.

You're Beniot Hogue example. Hell he isn't in the NHL anymore, maybe its because he didn't switch to an OPS, I could throw that out there. Throwing the fact he doesn't use an OPS out there doesn't mean anything. Wait not true, it means he doesn't like OPS for one reason or another. It doesn't mean people who have the money and enjoy having the latest and greatest for whatever reason should be deprived of it.

Will an OPS make you a superstar? Can it improve your game? If you believe it will, it generally will. Whether mental or physical everyone has the right, as long as its within their means, to spend money on something like an OPS.

You can use the "do we need it question" over and over again. The answer is no. Do you need steak, shrimp, or other expensive food? No, but sometimes its nice to have. Same goes for clothes, cars, Houses and pretty well anything you can think of in life.

Sorry for the rant, and sorry If I have missed your point Modo. It just seems like your stating the obvious and making assumptions on products you haven't tried (Hex-1 and SL) and from the sounds of it don't intend on buying. Just because you don't feel its a worthy cause you should not put down the "toolse who buy them, especially without knowing the backround or thought process that has led up to the purchase of that particular stick.

Excellent response. And never apologize for going on a rant . . . especially to me of all people!

[Modo9 0]

No Stick Will ever improve your game. 

Easton took an intermediate Synergy, stretched it out, added some stiffness and you guys all think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread.  Somebody, (I don't have my Stealth anymore) measure the circumference of the Stealth and then the circumference of a standard stick.  I think you'll all be surprised to see you are using a very long intermediate stick.  That'll prove the fact and prove my opinion. 

And by somebody, I mean somebody competent enough to measure precise to the millimeter.

All my good mic's and everything are at my garage, but with a good engineers ruler the difference in width between an iggy stealth and a Z-bubble grip is around 1.5 MM at the top of the shaft. You can't say it's a streched out intermediate synergy, because it's not. The blade feel is completely different from a Synergy, and anyone who has used one is going to tell you that. It's a lot thinner, it feels better (IMO) and is stiffer.

I disagree with you that any stick won't improve your game. Physically the weight and balance and what not might not make you a better player, but think about it. Why do people go on a "hot" streak, why do people go into slumps? Because a lot of how well you do in hockey is in your head. When you're doing good, you feel like you're the best out there, it gives you a ton of confidence and you play like it. Opposite happens for when you're playing poorly. The same thing happens for a lot of people I know with sticks. They think they are a better player with a composite, it gives them added confidence, and that can make you a better player.

1.5mm total - - all four sides, or just across. I am looking for total circumference.

I agree wholeheatedly with the mental thing of using different sticks. Look at Brett Hull.

[sherwood21 0]

For me (even though I'm not paying), composite is cheaper. Synergys are the best sticks that I have used and if I could get a wood stick that lasts 4 months then I would use it, probably...?

[GTHL_AAA_HOCKEY 0]

modo, didnt you just get some new xn10s from peranis? lol

[tanguay40 0]

My opinion may be bit on the biased side since the only time I tried Stealth and Sicore was in my LHS. However, the reg. Synergy still impressed me a lot, durability and performance-wise. I only used regulars since Drury only came out with Regular Intermediates, but they're quality sticks. The only problem I had with them which isn't really actual product flaw, but sometimes I'd get INT synergies that were like 55flex or like 85-90 flex. Honestly, I like the regular Synergies better, but it may be just the fact that I'm used to it.