The technology in hockey sticks has evolved just as quickly as the technology in your iPod. Just like the price on iPods that continue to rise, the price of hockey sticks has been getting more and more expensive, and some are still climbing.
Years ago, when you purchased a hockey stick, you had two options. These options were the curve of the blade, and whether or not the stick was left handed or right handed. All of these old sticks were made completely out of wood and were extremely heavy compared to the new age sticks.
As technology has improved these hockey sticks have become lighter, stronger, and provide more flex. Hockey stick makers learned that they could make sticks out of other materials, such as graphite or even Kevlar. Kevlar is a lightweight, but extremely strong material, which is used in bulletproof vests. This stronger material made it so the sticks could be hollow, giving them more flex, and essentially more whip on your shot. This flex in your stick and the whip it creates is very important, especially with a slap shot, because this shot cause the stick to bend. Now with this bend you get that little extra whip that I was talking about, resulting in a harder shot. This is the reason many of the professional players today can take shots that rival the 100 mph mark. These types of shots wouldn’t be consistently possible without this new technology, and different stronger materials.
Now that technology has improved, and continues to improve, you get so many more options in your stick, than you got in the past. Not only do you get to choose the curve and hand of the stick, but you have a choice over whether or not the stick is one or two pieces, the amount of flex in the stick, and even whether or not the stick is wood or newer composite material. With all of these options come many advantages.
The first advantage comes with your decision on whether or not you go with a two piece or one piece stick. Simply what that means is a two piece stick is made up of the shaft, and of the blade, while a one piece stick is just that. The big positive to having a two piece stick is that usually when you break a stick it happens in the blade. Therefore all you would need to do is purchase a replacement blade and your stick will be back in working order. Some people however do not like the two piece sticks just because of the different feel that you can get.
Flex is another major advantage you can get out of new technology, which I briefly touched on earlier. When you take a slap shot, if taken properly the stick will bend right before it makes contact with the puck, causing the puck to fling off the stick with extra velocity. With the added strength in sticks these days you can buy a stick with a lot of flex because you know that it should have enough support to be able to handle the strength of your shot. There are even sticks out there with different amounts of flex. The reason is that some people are stronger than others. A 200 pound hockey player is going to want less flex in his stick than a 100 pound hockey player simply because the 200 pounder will have more strength to be able to apply more flex.
These days you can find a stick Taylor made to your type of game. The only problem is that with rising variety and changing technology, the price in sticks has drastically increased. If you happen to be a diehard player, someone that plays hockey more than three times a week, then one of these new age sticks is just for you, if you are willing to pay a couple hundred dollars for one. For those of you there are still sticks out there that can get the job done, and don’t get me wrong there are still excellent sticks out there at lower prices, however you will be giving something up by purchasing a cheaper stick. However you never know, you may fall in love with a twenty dollar stick, and realize that that stick is all you need.
