Stick Flex in Ball Hockey

[Kulluminati]

I have been playing ice hockey for most of my life and am a seasoned veteran when it comes to most things associated with the sport. Over the last two years however I find my self playing a fair bit of ball hockey as well in adult leagues throughout the summer and intramurals at university during the school year. I usually wear down my $30-$40 dollar ball hockey sticks in a month or 2 and have to fork over some more cash, so I thought it would be a good idea to invest in a 2-piece and just replace the cheap blade when ever it wears out. When I found a shaft I liked online, before purchasing I had to choose a flex but then it occurred to me, does the stick flex even matter in ball hockey? To my knowledge the shoot mechanics differ from ice and ball hockey, and I swear I don't really use the flex of my stick in ball hockey and I don't feel it flex when I shoot a ball anyways. So does stick flex matter in ball hockey?

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[McDugan]

the ball provides so little resistance weight-wise and is so easy to lift and propel that, no, flex doesn't really come into play. may as well buy a shaft of the same flex you usually use for ice, then you can put ice blades in it too if you want/need to.

 

[noobman]

It's still important. I find that in ball hockey I take a lot of quick shots without really loading the stick, but you may encounter situations where you want to take a slapshot, off-balance snap shot, or a full wrist shot. In those situations you'll thank yourself for having the proper flex.

With that being said, I use cheap-o sticks for ball hockey. Usually I'll get the sticks that are fibreglass reinforced with a wood core. The most important thing is the blade, which should ideally be an ABS (essentially a hard rubber) or a fibreglass blade. Wooden and composite (carbon fibre) blades will get chewed up very quickly on most non-ice surfaces.

Canadian Tire has some pretty good ball hockey sticks. There's one pretty cool Bauer stick with a Lindros blade (so you know it's an old model) that worked really well in my garage. I also had an old Koho stick with an ABS blade that felt like it was a 60 flex or so.

 

[Kulluminati]

Yea i guess in those occasions I would utilize the flex of the stick, especially when taking a shot off-balance. I'm just gonna go with the same flex I used for ice hockey (85) and I'll look into ABS blades, thanks for the input guys.

 

[Jarick]

I like to go a little lighter flex and as light a blade as possible.

 

[GLG]

I used a CCM U+10 85 Flex, Tavares pattern this past ball hockey season. I've also used a TPS 100 Flex, Tkachuk pattern in the past.

I like the feel of the 1-piece stick and it doesn't really wear down the blade on the arena surface. Ball flies off the blade & I've scored some pretty nice goals plus the lighter the stick the better I feel.