Dallas....
Good information here ! PLease read if you have the time....
A lot has been made about these new sticks that the Stars are using, thought i would post some info on it...
DallasNews..
The advancement that has made the most difference over the past three years is the
one-piece composite stick, particularly the Easton Synergy...
"It's just a little bit of everything," said Stars defenseman Sergei Zubov, one of the latest
Synergy converts. "The material is harder and stronger. The kick point [where the shaft
bends during the swing] is different. The stick is lighter, and the puck just seems to bounce
off of it."
With the Synergy stick, convenience is a key point. But even more key is performance.
Because the stick is lighter, players can generate more stick speed. Because the stick is
stronger, players can generate more torque. Because the composite blade is harder than
wood, more energy is transferred to the puck when shooting, making it go faster.
** Have heard Langenbrunner's shot has increased almost 10 mph with the new stick**
"I don't know how it does it, but it makes your shot harder," said Stars defenseman
Richard Matvichuk, who switched to the Synergy stick this year. "Look at me, I'm not any
different than I was last year, but the puck is coming off harder."
Stars winger Pat Verbeek, who has his own version of a carbon fiber blade made by
Mission, said he notices the difference with the graphite technology.
"There just seems to be more energy, and the puck really does jump up. I guess the
equation would be the way a golf ball jumps off a titanium driver," he said. "It has to do
with the kick point of the shaft and the hardness of the product and the lightness of the
stick. It's all of the different technologies working in unison."
Goalies are already complaining.
"I think they should be banned," Stars goalie Ed Belfour said, only half-jokingly. "They cut
down the size of our pads, and they give them these new sticks. It's all about helping the
goal-scorers."
Chicago backstop Jocelyn Thibault said the sticks definitely make it tougher on the
goalies.
"I'm not a big expert on what they put in sticks, but there's definitely more power," he
said. "It's mostly the way the puck explodes from the blade of the stick. It comes at you
harder and is a little heavier."
That said, NHL scoring isn't increasing (5.1 goals per game), and Easton has said its tests
show that the puck doesn't really come off the stick faster, the stick is simply lighter and
more durable than others.
Some players have tried the sticks and changed back to their old ones. Detroit winger
Brendan Shanahan, one of the original five patterns for Easton, has since said the
composite blade is too stiff. He said passes bounce off the blade and make the puck more
difficult to handle.
Joe Nieuwendyk experimented with the sticks in preseason and then went back to wood.
"I like a heavier stick. I like the feel and the control," he said. "The new ones shoot the
puck harder, but there's more to the game than shooting the puck hard."
Anaheim's Paul Kariya tried the stick at the beginning of the year and scored one goal in
11 games. He quickly went back to his old sticks.
That said, 177 NHL players now use the Synergy stick, and several others have switched
to other composite blades.
It's hard to understand until you actually use one," said Mark Parrish of the Islanders, who
is in the Top 10 in goal-scoring this season. "Certain sticks, when you shoot it, don't feel
like they're helping you at all. But this one has a real low kick point, so it's close to the ice,
close to the puck. Therefore you use less effort to get a harder shot."
Of the NHL's 690 players, 177 use the new Easton Synergy sticks. That's
25.6 percent. However, more than half of the league's leading 25
goal-scorers use the sticks. Here are Easton's "best" clients entering
Wednesday's games:
Jarome Iginla
Jeff O'Neill
Mats Sundin
Mike Modano
Daniel Alfredsson
Keith Tkachuk
Mark Parrish
other Dallas players using them....
Pierre Turgeon
Jamie Langenbrunner
Sergei Zubov
[This message has been edited by wigs (edited 12-20-2001).]
