I would imagine with more holes on the shaft it would be more prone to break during a slapshot

Posted by PuckHound61 from Speckville USA on 12/02/06 at 10:21 AM ET

Yeah...I’m sure you’re an engineer (wink).Many stuctural materials have holes incorporated into them, sometimes making them stronger.

Posted by johnnygloveside on 12/02/06 at 10:37 AM ET

Datsyuk will try anything to start scoring!

Posted by w2j2 on 12/02/06 at 11:07 AM ET

Many aircraft structure parts are engineered in this fashion. There may be some actual soundness to this style of stick.  The whole wind drag things is a bit much, but from years of tried and tested engineering this has almost always be the norm.

It eliminates weight, and for some reason gives soundness to the structure.  But hey, I am just a dumb cop, not an engineer.

Posted by Tony from Mid-Michigan on 12/02/06 at 11:16 AM ET

The “I-beam” structure gives the stick some redundancy, but the structure may also compromise stick performance as the geometry of the shaft structure is compromised to accomodate the holes.  I’m iffy on its effectiveness.

Posted by George James Malik from South Lyon, MI on 12/02/06 at 04:24 PM ET

I’m no engineer, but I’d think that leaving the ‘wind resistance’ (a normal shaft) would provide an extra “snap” to a snap shot.  The blade bends a bit in relation to the shaft. 

Sticks like these—with the air going straight through the holes in the lower shaft—I’d think they’d be better for the slap shot.  The player can drive the stick harder through his swing, making for a harder shot.  (Just a thought, anyway.)

Posted by Alanah McGinley from British Columbia on 12/02/06 at 06:13 PM ET

If I learned anything on Thursday, it’s that sticks are generally still shaped as they are because the pro-radius shape (rounded corners on flat shaft sides) maximizes energy transfer for the amount of material used. 

I wonder whether the holes produce spots where the stick doesn’t flex like a bow.  Graphite’s used because if its shape is deformed by bending to take on pressure, it recovers its shape tremendously quickly.  Ideally, the blade face itself should recover with as little deflection as possible, so that’s the issue.  I’m not sold on it.

Posted by George James Malik from South Lyon, MI on 12/03/06 at 01:32 AM ET

pavel datsyuk is awesome and he got an assist the first night he used that stick.Coincidence??i think not.keep it up pavel

Posted by Anonymous on 12/03/06 at 11:19 AM ET

You’re all gay datsyuks the shit n his new twig is a beaut

Posted by Yee from Yee on 12/04/06 at 12:51 PM ET

its not halo its hockey get real what are the next sticks going to shoot for you this is ridiculous go back to the good ol wooden there the real beauts (just a fact )

Posted by uhh from prince george B.C on 12/13/06 at 10:51 PM ET

its just a way to sell more product kids are going to see the new stick and get there rich parents to buy it for them,,, the best sticks are the wooden blades and the carbon shafts,,, go sherwood

Posted by STEVE from CANADA EH on 12/21/06 at 12:56 AM ET

As a kid who plays highschool hockey which is pretty good hockey level,, ive bought the most expensive sticks on the market which have broken faster then the cheaper ones,,, unless ur an NHL hockey player you can not tell the difference betweenwind drag and *#$%@& shit like that,, kids these days should find a shaft and a wooden blade and stick with one pattern how did the great one do it

Posted by steve from winnipeg on 12/21/06 at 12:59 AM ET

Everyone has their preferences, but NHLers really use sticks that are specifically tuned to their preferences.  They’re really works of art.

One broken composite definitely gets you going back to two-pieces fast, but there’s something to be said for a stick that feels right and is extremely light. 

I’ve been using a Louisville Kevlar with a Jofa/Koho blade for ten years, but I’d switch to a TPS R8 easily, nad if I could have my druthers, I’d go for a Busch from Switzerland because they’re true one-piece sticks.

Pavel’s got to use what’s right for him, and you’ve got to use what’s right for you.

Posted by George James Malik from South Lyon, MI on 12/21/06 at 02:48 AM ET

according to my scientific calculations this new stick even though it has hole in it is going to be quite stronger then the average stick these days.technicly speaking.

Posted by jdtyjdtj from djytjd on 01/18/07 at 05:34 PM ET

At this point, composites have what’s called an “extreme concave” shape shaft, where the stick’s sides and top and bottom, if you were to look at the shaft stick-on, bow inward to both reduce impacts from slashes and also provide an I-beam-like support structure for the stick.  Adding a few holes in the shaft geometry doesn’t provide much more durabilty at this stage of the game.

Posted by George James Malik from South Lyon, MI on 01/18/07 at 06:58 PM ET

actually most sticks dont have extreme concave, only some TPS who introduced it in the XN10 and the new CNT Stealth, but other than that i cant think of any other stick that has it and i work in a proshop.  how do you know if the 9KO has extreme concave, it might just have a slight dish like the 7K.

the holes must be beneficial to shot power and strength, otherwise i they wouldnt have spent all that time researching and engineering the stick

Posted by pat on 01/22/07 at 02:18 PM ET

Hey, Pat.  I’ve been working with TPS and Easton of late, and they talk about Extreme Concave like it’s old hat, so I’ve got to admit a “mea culpa” there! 

If the shaft holes have a purpose, it’s in reinforcing the structure of the stick near the blade hosel (it’s most likely still a fused stick) to allow for a more aggressive shaft tapering to enhance shaft loading and energy transfer.

Posted by George James Malik from South Lyon, MI on 01/22/07 at 05:43 PM ET

The drag is a joke… sure it may be 20% less than in a wind tunnel but the airflow during a game over the stick would hardly be in such a manner to even make a difference. The Reynolds number is so damn low it’s a joke to make such claims.

Besides, the absolute total drag on a stick is minimal.. .so 20% reduction of near zero is near zero. It’s meaningless BS. And yes… I do aerodynamics for a living on aircraft. This goes for the damn jerseys they are talking about too. It works in cycling but hardly at all in a sport like hockey where you are constantly turning and twisting. It works in a wind tunnel but that’s now how we play.

Posted by maroons on 01/28/07 at 05:39 PM ET

Well, Maroons, I’m glad that we finally got someone with an engineering background to weigh in!

In Reebok’s case, it’s just another statistic to throw out, and it’s also a status-marker--most equipment companies don’t have access to wind tunnels--and a departure from what has become a “traditional geometry” for stick design shows how much they can invest in R&D. 

They’re probably leaving their claims of increased energy transfer and responsiveness for the release date, but it’s pretty obvious that you’re not going to shoot faster because your stick has less drag.  The 9K0 only has holes toward the very bottom of the shaft, above the blade hosel.

In terms of uniform technology, the water-repelling and moisture-wicking fabrics are much more important to players than anything else. 

Ten years ago, guys wore long underwear beneath their jerseys; now everybody wears Underarmour-style, tight-fitting garments that remove moisture (to some extent) and “breathe” more to allow heat to disperse.  As Brett Hull said on the NBC broadcast today, the end to heavy knit socks is about reducing moisture buildup, not making you faster.

Posted by George James Malik from South Lyon, MI on 01/28/07 at 06:51 PM ET

GAY STICK

Posted by CUCO from WPG on 02/06/07 at 10:31 PM ET

its new, its cool, and the holes are enough to make me want to buy it. Aerodynamics doesn’t apply to hockey sticks, assuming you aren’t playing with a canoe paddle. Most kids buy certain equipment because of their own personal taste, in other words, for the “not-so-serious” hockey player, they will buy it because it looks sweet.

Posted by kevroy from timmins on 02/07/07 at 02:44 PM ET

this stick is the illist shit ever

Posted by flames on 02/17/07 at 04:57 PM ET

its so frickin light i held it today at a store and the new rbk 9ko skates

they skates are at this link http://www.totalhockey.net/tab3.asp?item=3824

Posted by Grahm from reppin 603 bitch on 02/21/07 at 03:39 PM ET

its just a marketing ploy with hopes of getting young people to waist their money. It’s obvious a few holes will not make any significant and apparent differences. SCAM

Posted by Leafs from calgary on 03/12/07 at 03:16 PM ET

I just got this at the minnesota hockey expo and it is very light and still strong even with the holes in it.

Posted by zack from bp on 03/14/07 at 04:24 PM ET

Crosby still uses a two-piece stick. With a wood blade. Its the best way to go.

Posted by floppa on 03/23/07 at 04:20 PM ET

wasnt it only a decade or two ago that everyone used wooden sticks?

Posted by Zack on 04/04/07 at 04:07 PM ET

no, by the mid-90s (about 15 yrs ago) most players were using 2-piece sticks: aluminum or composite, and wood/fibreglas or composite blade.

then the “1 piece” composite sticks started to take over in the NHL like 5 years ago.  the transition only took about a year

Posted by bri from OC, Ca on 04/14/07 at 12:23 AM ET

Busch Composites in Switzerland actually started making one--piece sticks using a foam core and an entire stick-blade mold in 1992, and they’re still the Cadillacs of the industry.

Aluminum sticks actually were patented in 85 or 86 by Easton, and guys used Aluminum or wood exclusively until Fontaine came out with a graphite stick wrapped in a Kevlar sock in 93 (I have one, it’s lasted forever), but the Easton A/C (aluminum and graphite) really started the transition to composites.  By 1996, full composite shafts became relatively popular with guys who were stick picky, but bri’s got it down pat--it took until 2001 and 2002, when the Synergy came out, that one-piece composites took off.

They’re not *really* one-piece sticks per se because the blade and shaft are manufactured seperately (it’s bloody expensive to make shaft-and-blade molds, thus, Busch) but are fused with glue that’s similar to the epoxies used to laminate the graphite, and some companies have gotten to the point where the shaft almost extends to the blade itself, so there are true one-piece sticks are becoming more commonplace in the industry.

If you picked up a fused composite and a true one-piece, you probably couldn’t tell the difference...which is a good thing.

Posted by George James Malik from South Lyon, MI on 04/14/07 at 01:18 AM ET

Well guys, I actually am an engineer specializing in plastics and composite materials and the holes actually do add strength.  As with any plastic or composite material, geometry of the design has much more to do with the product performance and strength characteristics than the material thickness (thickness can actually decrease strength in some applications). 
The key thing with this design is as the stick flexes, especially in this area for snap, slap, and wrist shots, the shaft is loaded and bends.  While one side is in tension, the other side is in compression (try it with a piece of gum or cheese - one side stretches and the other wrinkles - same principle) and because of the design of these holes, the material inside the holes acutally tries to ‘snap’ the stick straight again, increasing the amount of energy a shot can produce.

The only question I have is this - wooden sticks can produce shots of +100mph already and they cost less than $50.  Do we really need a stick that is $300-350 and produces shots that are marginally faster (less than 10mph gain)?  Seems like a cool idea but an incredible waste of money.

Posted by BChaz from Detroit, MI on 04/26/07 at 02:00 PM ET

I agree. But I am a goalie and i think it is worth it to buy a carbon fibre or at least a more reinforced stick than wood sticks (like bauer 4500 and 1500 which are wood) because no matter how much tape you put on it the bottom will splinter away and eventually you will have to buy a new one or else you cant handle the puck. A wooden goal stick costs aroun 40-60$ for an okay one, but I have gotten decent player sticks (wooden) for 15$. So if you’re a goalie a carbon fibre stick works

Posted by Zack from Norway, for now on 04/26/07 at 02:07 PM ET

The big, bad myth about composites is that they supposedly allow anybody to shoot like Al MacInnis.

There is some truth to that in that composites do allow you to get a decent shot off when you might not hit the puck in the sweet spot or can’t get all your weight behind it, but the actual transfer of kinetic energy, on a wood vs. composite basis, is only slightly better than wood. 

It’s about the recovery rate of graphite allowing for a faster *release* that is the biggest selling point, and after that, the obvious--composites degrade at an exponentially lower rate than wood, so you’re liable to get off thousands of shots before you need to replace your stick, as opposed to a few hundred before a wood stick broke--if you were lucky--and those thousands of shots will be much, much more consistent than those few hundred shots you could get off with your wood stick when it was too stiff, just right for a few dozen shots, and then too mooshy. 

It’s the release giving you a few extra hundredths of a second, and the fact that you’ll consistently get that small advantage over the life of the product, which make composite sticks a superior product.

As far as cost, that’s up to the person buying the sticks.  Wood sticks are still readily available, so wood sure as heck isn’t dead by any means.

Posted by George James Malik from South Lyon, MI on 04/28/07 at 02:07 AM ET

this stick is only 230$ SO NOT THAT MUCH OF A DIFFERANCE BETWEEN MY ONE90 WHICH WAS CLOSE TO 200 AND ITS THE BEST STICK IVE EVER HAD

Posted by cam from dover nh on 05/25/07 at 10:28 PM ET

All this hype about the new one pieces, but theyre so friggin stiff its like stickhandling with a ceramic baseball bat....  But then again, it is possible to have too much flex, too, where it gives too much whilst puck handling.  Overall, more whip might give you a better shot, but less stickhandling, same with it beign too stiff in which case you would need to take a slap shot. and catching passes is like , the baseball bat analogy again.. Overall, one needs to find ones own happy medium with flex, even if it costs you a few hundred bucks to do it (it’s 2 bad u can’t test drive these things.) Later all.

Posted by mark from hopkins mn usa on 06/28/07 at 05:14 PM ET

Duuude, the stick is snappy snizzle yo.  I diggs was its gotts.  I’m all in, this stick is straight up gansta!  Lastnight down in the street,, shot a pizzle straight through da nig.  Motha never knew nuthin.

Posted by Dylan Dizzle Dolla Bill Millz from Kenosee Lake, Sasky on 08/06/07 at 01:53 PM ET

The stick is bush. I broke mine 42 days after in bantam aa, the blade snapped off. Not the shaft like i thought though.

Posted by Cody B. from Canada on 03/23/08 at 04:16 PM ET