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Stick Selection: Choosing Your Twig Wisely

By Mike Doyle, Special to Minnesota Hockey, 09/08/16, 8:15AM CDT

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Hockey stick technology has come a long way since Stan Mikita’s got caught in the bench door to form the first curved blade.

Sticks have gone through many incarnations over the years, from the first lumber logs to aluminum shafts up to today’s carbon “one-pieces.” For parents new to the sport, or parents who grew up with wooden sticks, helping select a stick for their child can be a daunting task with seemingly endless options.  

Heck, since the Minnesota Wild’s first year as a franchise in 2000, hockey stick technology has advanced about as much as the cellular phone.

Flex

Wild Head Equipment Manager Tony DaCosta has had a firsthand view from the bench in the evolution of the hockey stick, beginning as a 13-year-old stick boy in his hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba.

“There are a lot of kids who have never seen a wood stick,” joked DaCosta, who has been with the Wild since the team’s inaugural season. “When [one-piece sticks] first came out, they had maybe three flexes: 85, 100 and 110.”

The “flex” DaCosta is referring to is the amount of force measured in pounds it takes to bend the shaft one inch. A 100-flex stick requires 100 pounds of force to flex one inch, while an 85-flex shaft requires 85 pounds of force. The higher number flex (typically printed near the top of the stick), the more difficult it is to bend the shaft.

“Now you can get these things dialed in for kids at 40 or 65 flex,” DaCosta said. “Even pros, we have a guy using 75 flex, which is unheard of for a guy who is 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds.”

While there is no set answer when it comes to choosing the “right” stick flex, the general rule for youth players is for the flex to be less than half the child’s body weight. If a child is having trouble lifting the puck, there’s a good chance that the stick is too stiff.

Changing the length of the stick significantly can also affect the flex. So before you buy an 85 flex for your youth player and cut multiple inches off, remember that stick may end up closer to 100 or 110 flex by the time he or she hits the ice.

Length and Kick Point

While technology has moved the composite stick light years ahead of its wooden ancestors, selecting the length hasn’t changed much over the years. For many youth players, cutting the stick to the height of their nose when they’re standing up in sneakers is still a good starting point. However, today’s sticks have come so far, the veteran of NHL equipment rooms said changing the stick’s length can impact a player’s shot.

Cutting down a stick will alter its “kick point,” the spot where the stick flexes when a player passes or shoots. Sticks off the rack are made with a predetermined kick point designed to optimize performance, so players will want to avoid selecting a stick they’ll have to cut down dramatically.

“If you’re cutting your kid’s stick down four or five inches, it’s really changing the kick point,” DaCosta said.  

Technology and Fit

Take a stroll down the stick isle of your local hockey shop and you might notice different patterns adorning the blades, like they were house crests on Game of Thrones. Reality is, a company might use distinguishing blade patterns to separate its product from competitors, but sticks today are pretty much made the same way with the same materials.

“The technology is very similar throughout [the industry],” DaCosta said. “The reason a kid is going to use Reebok is because he sees Sidney Crosby using it. That’s the marketing side of it. I couldn’t tell you one is better than any other. That’s why one kid will wear Nike shoes and another will like Adidas.”

For DaCosta, the most important thing about selecting a stick comes down to fit.

“Picking a stick is a lot like picking a skate,” DaCosta said. “If the skate doesn’t fit, the kid is not going to be able to skate. The stick has got to fit the kid or he’s not going to be any good with that stick.”

This includes selecting the correct shaft size, so it fits in the child’s hand, and weight.

“You want to make sure your kid can hold onto the stick,” DaCosta said. “Don’t go get a stick at a pro game that a player hands over and think the kid is going to use the same stick Zach Parise uses.”

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