Help with Skates/Stick

[YNWA14]

I know there are topics on this, but this is a more specific one to me.

I'm 5'10, 150 lbs and I'm in my second season ever of playing hockey. I was hoping to get a new stick and pair of skates with my birthday money this year, and I've got a budget of about 60 - 80 for a stick and 125 - 160 for a pair of skates.

Just looking for suggestions on what are good quality skates/sticks for that budget. A lot of stuff from last year is on sale/marked down I know.

I play defence, and I'm looking at moving to an intermediate stick with low flex because my shot is terrible. If it helps I'm from Ottawa so I do tend to go to Pro Hockey Life or Source for Sports.

Thanks!

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[Stickchecked]

I know there are topics on this, but this is a more specific one to me.

I'm 5'10, 150 lbs and I'm in my second season ever of playing hockey. I was hoping to get a new stick and pair of skates with my birthday money this year, and I've got a budget of about 60 - 80 for a stick and 125 - 160 for a pair of skates.

Just looking for suggestions on what are good quality skates/sticks for that budget. A lot of stuff from last year is on sale/marked down I know.

I play defence, and I'm looking at moving to an intermediate stick with low flex because my shot is terrible. If it helps I'm from Ottawa so I do tend to go to Pro Hockey Life or Source for Sports.

Thanks!

Funny, we're the exact same size and we both live in Ottawa.

Can't speak to skates but for sticks, I use the Bauer Vapor X 4.0 Intermediate 67 flex P92. Nice and whippy, looks like there's a clearance on them right now at Hockey Life:

I really stalked the sales last year and if you can wait Boxing Day is the day to get your deals. Hockey Life had loads of deals that morning. Valiquette's was 40% off all Bauer sticks until 2pm which got extended til the end of day. That's where I got the above stick for $60. (Previously I was using the senior version.)

But if you find deals on last year stuff, they're probably worth jumping at. (I'm going to look into them after writing this.) Personally, I'm looking to try out a non-Bauer stick. I'm not unhappy with mine but would like to try something else. So I'll be curious to hear other people's stick suggestions for a player of your size.

 

[AIREAYE]

Check out the Stick and Skates guide that are stickied.

I would go on the low end of your budget range for a clearance stick and put more money towards a better pair of clearance skates. It's tremendously important to get the best fit for skates, so don't settle for a pair that is merely OK.

 

[jazzykat]

Check out the Stick and Skates guide that are stickied.

I would go on the low end of your budget range for a clearance stick and put more money towards a better pair of clearance skates. It's tremendously important to get the best fit for skates, so don't settle for a pair that is merely OK.

I have to agree. A nice stick feels great and ideally you probably should get an intermediate 70 flex, but bad skates will make you want to quit. If your current skates are insufficient find the best fit/support you can afford. Then worry about getting a new stick or trading a team mate or something.

Skating is number 1. I try to practice just skating once a week outside of my 2 hockey practices, I think it is so important.