Stick Work: Players making switch from traditional wood to space-age composites

Sunday, January 22, 2006

By SCOTT MARTIN
Staff Writer

Staff photo by Jeff Pouland
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A wide variety of hockey sticks are sold at Sukee Arena in Winslow.

By SCOTT MARTIN

Staff Writer

Surrounded by teammates using high-tech, state-of-the-art hockey sticks, Jon Hart remains old school. While his teammates use lighter, more powerful sticks, the Waterville Senior High School senior forward bucks all the latest trends.

Hart is a rare breed in central Maine high school hockey -- a player who still uses a wooden stick.

"My Montreal seems to last the longest for me," said Hart of the brand of stick he uses. "I personally like the wooden stick."

Like aluminum bats which replaced wooden bats at the lower levels of baseball and graphite shafts which have replaced steel shafts in golf, there are many alternatives threatening to replace traditional wooden hockey sticks, like the Montreal brand stick Hart uses. Those alternatives arrived on the hockey scene more than 20 years ago when aluminum shafts were introduced. Most Maine high school players today use either one-piece composite sticks or two-piece sticks that feature composite shafts and wood or composite blades.

Wooden sticks are practically extinct in the professional game as well. Among NHLers, Boston Bruins defenseman Brad Stuart and Vancouver Canucks captain Marcus Naslund are among the few who still use wood.

"I really barely ever see anyone use a wooden stick," said Winslow High School coach Corey Lessard, who himself uses a wooden stick in practice. "Almost all of them use composites."

Sticks continue to change as more technology is introduced. Composite sticks -- made of, among other things, kevlar and graphite -- were introduced in the early 1990s, with composite shafts taking the place of aluminum shafts. Most recently, one-piece composites have been introduced, with an eye toward lighter and more durable sticks.

With the improvements in sticks, prices have skyrocketed. While wooden sticks still retail for as little as $19, composite sticks can cost as much as $225.

No matter what type of stick a player uses, most of them are pretty particular about the make of the stick, the curve of the blade and how they tape both the blade and the handle. Much like baseball players with their bats and their gloves, many hockey players are obsessive about their sticks.

A LIGHTER, MOREFLEXIBLE STICK

Technology continues to change the world of sports. Be it moisture-wicking undergarments, lighter padding or more supportive footwear, the athletic equipment industry is a rapidly changing one.

"The increase in technology is not as quick as it is in the computer industry, but it is pretty close," said Dave Richard, who runs Instant Replay, the hockey pro shop at Sukee Arena in Winslow. "Everything is lighter."

Hockey players have benefited greatly from this new technology, especially when it comes to hockey sticks. First, in the early 1980s, aluminum shafts were introduced. Aluminum was used because it offered players a lighter, stronger shaft.

With players seeking lighter, more durable sticks, composites, made out of space-age materials like graphite and kevlar, were introduced in the 1990s.

"The biggest advantage is performance," Richard said. "They give you a harder shot and a lighter weight."

As bigger name companies like Reebok and Nike get involved in the hockey equipment industry, more money gets invested into research and more technology becomes available. Reebok recently bought CCM and Nike now owns Bauer, two hockey equipment powers.

Composite sticks are more flexible than aluminum and wood sticks, therefore, players who use them can shoot the puck harder. When a player winds up for a slap shot, the stick makes contact with the ice, and the shaft flexes. As the player hits the puck, the flex releases, creating energy, and increasing velocity.

"The goalies say the puck flies so much faster," said St. Louis Blues defenseman Eric Weinrich, a Gardiner native. "It doesn't matter if you shoot the puck hard or not, everyone shoots it pretty hard (with composites)."

Weinrich has used a one-piece Mission composite stick since about 1999. He said the biggest benefit he notices is the stick is much lighter and more consistent.

"Every one out of the rack is the same," said Weinrich of composite sticks. "With wood, it depends on how good the wood is."

Wooden sticks, these days made primarily of white ash, tend to go "dead", i.e. loose their stiffness and feel, a lot quicker than composite sticks.

The advances in technology are not cheap. One-piece composite sticks sell for between $140 and $225. Durability is also an issue. Messalonskee High School senior Ted Fabian, who uses an Easton Stealth one-piece composite, said he broke five in a span of about two weeks two years ago.

"Composites are really expensive and not really durable," Richard said. "They do a great job with shooting. They do a terrible job with deflecting a slash."

FINDING THE RIGHT STICK

Sticks vary in length, curve of the blade, weight and how the blade lies on the ice. The average hockey stick is between 50 and 60 inches long and weighs between 400 and 500 grams. Players have different preferences depending on what position they play and what skills they excel in. For example, defensemen tend to have longer sticks to give themselves a longer reach. Some forwards like a shorter stick, because they can stick-handle better with it, but others like a longer stick because it gives them a harder slap shot.

With wooden sticks, players have the ability to change the curve of their blade. That is not an option with a one-piece composite. Instead, manufacturing companies have sponsorship deals with individual NHL players and create sticks to that player's specifications.

Fabian's Stealth has a "Modano" curve, fashioned for Dallas Stars forward Mike Modano. He likes the blade because it doesn't have much of a curve.

Meanwhile, Winthrop graduate Nate Frechette, who played last season for the Winthrop/Hall-Dale cooperative team (Win-Dale) and spends part of the winter playing junior hockey in Vermont, has a pair of composite sticks. One, the CCM Vector 130 has a Vincent Lecavalier curve. The other, an Easton Synergy SL (super light) has a Joe Sakic curve. Frechette uses the Synergy while playing defense because it has a flatter blade, which is good for puck handling. He reaches for the Vector while playing offense because the bigger curve allows him to lift the puck.

"The Lecavalier is a longer blade with an open face, so when I'm up close in front of the net I can pick it up and go top shelf," Frechette. "As a forward, it also gives me a better wrist shot."

OLD SCHOOL

A big, power forward, Hart isn't terribly worried about having a stick he can stick handle with, so he doesn't care how light it is. He wants something that is nice and stiff, in other words, less likely to break when he rips off a slap shot.

"I personally like to use the slap shot a lot, so for me, the stiffer the better," Hart said.

Hart has tried composite sticks in the past and has actually used a few teammates' composites this season because he's had trouble getting his usual wooden Montreals. Most of his teammates have two-piece sticks, with wooden blades provided by the team.

"I don't really like them," Hart said of composites. "I feel like I'm going to break them."

The stiffness and extra weight of wooden sticks that makes them so attractive to Hart have another benefit: Feel. Since the sticks are a little heavier and solid, it is easier to feel the puck on your stick then with lighter, hollow composite sticks.

Fabian used only wooden sticks early in his career, until he learned how to stickhandle.

"I was 9 when I first started out and my father always made me use wood sticks because you feel the puck so much better with a wood stick," Fabian said. "He wanted me to get used to that and once I got my stickhandling down, I switched to a composite."

Lessard continues to use wood for one simple reason, composites cost too much money.

"I go through them too quick," Lessard said. "For $120 to $140 bucks a pop, they go too quick."

Goalies are still, for the most part, using wooden sticks. Composite goalie sticks were introduced about three years ago, but most high school players have yet to make the switch. The NHL just recently allowed its goalies to use composite sticks.

"Most of (the companies) don't offer warranties for goalie sticks," said Matt Ayer, who runs the Kennebec Skate Shop. "I have a hard time selling someone a stick for $150 if they can't get a warranty."

With most regular composite sticks, companies offer a 30-day warranty.

Winslow goalie Devon Grenier used a composite stick last season and loved the durability. As a sophomore he broke 14 wooden sticks during the high school season. Last year, he busted just three composites.

SUPERSTITIONS

AND RITUALS

Another reason Hart has hung onto his wooden sticks is pure superstition. As a junior, using his favored Montreal wooden stick, Hart had 18 goals and seven assists. In his eyes, if something works, why change it.

"I'm kind of superstitious and I had a pretty good season scoring goals with it," said Hart, who also asks Waterville assistant Troy Martin to wax his blade on occasion, hoping for a change of luck.

During his NHL career, Weinrich has witnessed a few weird rituals. Some slumping players have been known to throw their stick in the garbage can before a game, hoping it will bring them a "garbage goal," i.e. scoring off a rebound or a deflection.

Winslow goalie Devon Grenier painted his goalie stick black this summer while playing junior hockey and played pretty well. To this day, his stick is still painted solid black, with the exception of the white tape he uses to tape his blade.

One season during the late 1990s, current Waterville head coach Dennis Martin got stuck taping a lot of sticks. During a game, a player broke the blade of his stick and didn't have another to take onto the ice. Martin, then an assistant, taped up the blade and the player went on to score two or three goals. For the rest of the season, Martin not only had to tape that players blade before each game, but everyone else's.

"I was taping like 16 sticks a game," Martin said. "Those guys were pretty superstitious."

OLD FAITHFUL

Fabian isn't superstitious, but he hates having other players use his stick. He is also faithful to his Easton Stealth. He has tried other sticks; last year he played with a Bauer Vapor 20 and liked it, but he went back to an Easton this year because he just loved the stick.

"The feel of the Easton stick, when the puck is on your blade, is like nothing else," Fabian said.

Frechette is also faithful to his stick, though when he started playing defense he switched to a different stick. Throughout his high school career, Frechette was faithful to the CCM Vector.

As technology continues to change sticks, it becomes harder to stick with the same thing year after year. Old school guys like Jon Hart are constantly presented with lighter, stronger, more flexible alternatives to their favored wooden sticks.

And still, Hart sticks with old faithful.

Scott Martin -- 621-5618

smartin@centralmaine.com