Youth Stick questions

[ranole]

Hi everyone. My girl has been playing hockey for a year and a half now. She is finally really getting into it a lot and is now asking for a lighter stick like the one piece composites. Right now she is using a wood sherwood and I think it would benefit her to get a lighter stick. We looked at a few and ofcourse she likes the Warrior Widow which is $80. I found others for 40-60 dollars and would much rather spend that much on a stick im gonna cut in half anyway. The problem is that the Warrior has the more narrow shaft and the others have the standard shaft.

Can anyone who has dealt with this before give some suggestions on which stick would be best or is it worth it to spend the money on the Warrior. Thanks in advance.

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[krax]

The Warrior Swizzle Jr stick is around 60$ at hockeymonkey.com. Rather high-end for a Junior stick, lightweight.

 

[Jarick]

How old is she?

 

[johnny1976]

As a father that has bought many sticks for my son (who is 9 and has tried every youth stick) the best advice is save your money, and buy lower end sticks. The reason is 1) I learned on here that the stick companies paint their youth sticks to look like top of the line stick, but you don't get the technology in the youth sticks. 2) kids grow so fast that odds are she will out grow the stick in a year. 3) she will not get the flex out of the stick if you are cutting alot the stick off.

If you are looking for a stick with a narrower, smaller shaft look at a ccm. By far my sons ccm stick had the smallest shaft (grip wise to fit in smaller hands) out of all the stick companies.

Again my son has tried them all Warrior, Reebok, Easton, CCM and Bauer, and he really liked the ccm to start because it fit his hands better and it was one of the lower price sticks out of the bunch.

 

[Stickmata]

You can get an intermediate or youth shafted stick in any brand, so I'd suggest looking around. Unless she's a really advanced player, I would simply focus on shaft feel (let her hold the sticks and tell you which feels best in her hands) and the curve/lie of the blade. I wouldn't worry too much about trying to get the absolute lightest stick out there.

All that said, I disagree with the above poster as it relates to intermediate sticks. The high end intermediate models are the same construction as the senior stick of the same model.

 

[neksys]

What is your girl's age, weight and height?

I'm a 30 year old man using a 67 flex intermediate stick (its a Vapor 4.0x). Its cheap and durable.

The Widow is a good stick but unless she is going to quit playing unless you get it for her, you probably aren't going to go wrong with the 40-60 sticks at this level either.

That said, if you can spring for the $80-100 stick, there is superior puck feel etc. at that level. Going from a wood stick to a cheapy composite might set her back if she can't feel the puck.

 

[ranole]

Thanks for all the replies.

She is 6 years old, today .

She is about 4 feet and weighs about 37 pounds, she is very tiny.

I agree about the flex being cut off. Its more about the weight of the stick as she tends to drag the wooden stick.

 

[krax]

My boy is 13. Started at 4. He went through a lot of sticks. We started with wooden sticks and cheaper composites. Those didn't last long. At age 6 he needed 5-6 sticks per season (wood blade wearing out). We started to buy high-end composite sticks (ccm vector, mission hex, etc.) which we usually found on sales (never paid more than half of the original price). Some of those sticks held on for two seasons.

Today he's back at wooden sticks (Bauer One 80), because they score better ;-)

 

[Jarick]

Wow that is tiny! My boy is 3 and 28 points and underweight

Definitely get the smallest blade you can find for a youth stick, that seems to make a difference. My kid used one of those $20 "toy" composites for a year and that worked excellent for him. Moving him up to wood was tricky as it was twice as heavy, and he keeps going back to the old plastic stick. Keeping the size of the blade small will reduce the weight and improve the balance.

On the down side, with a light blade, it tends to reduce the puck feel, which can make receiving passes harder. So keep that in mind if she has trouble catching the puck.

Don't worry about the flex now, and likely until she's nearly a teenager.

My guess is, if you spend about $50 and get something she thinks looks good and feels light, you'll be fine for the year.

 

[Stickmata]

Thanks for all the replies.

She is 6 years old, today .

She is about 4 feet and weighs about 37 pounds, she is very tiny.

I agree about the flex being cut off. Its more about the weight of the stick as she tends to drag the wooden stick.

She should be using a youth stick (the really thin shafts), not an intermediate or senior stick. You don't need to spend more than $50 to get a good composite youth stick.

 

[jsykes]

Yes, get a youth composite, NOT a jr.

In youth, Warrior actually has one of the largest diameter shafts. Look at the Bauer and CCM/RBK or even Easton for a smaller diameter youth shaft. All are less expensive than the Warrior as well.

Youth sticks are all basically the same for all intents and purposes so just get the one she likes the best and feels the best in her hands.

 

[AIREAYE]

If there is ever confusion between a JR and YTH, check to see how well her hands wrap around the shafts. Ideally, you want her hands to be nearly touching or even skimming the palm of the thumb and that will vary as mentioned here, shaft by shaft in YTH and even JR. Like Jarick said, until she can get some elevation and some basic shooting technique, at her age, the shaft size should come first rather than flex.

 

[ranole]

Wow great info guys.

Now im deciding between these two.

Sherwood T90 Youth

and

Bauer Vapor X:15 Jr Composite Hockey Stick

She has been using a Jr. wood stick and I dont know if I should go down to the smaller shaft as I dont want it to negativly effect her. Im sure im thinking way too much about this but you guys have been so great so far. Anyone who has gone through this can you tell me how much it will effect them? Thanks again in advance.

 

[jsykes]

How well does she grip the jr? I would think at her age, the yth would be a better choice, but without seeing her its impossible to say. Just make sure she can wrap her hands around the shaft well and have a good grip. Either stick will serve her fine if it fits her properly.

 

[Jarick]

Yeah at 6 years old go with the youth stick. Especially as small as she is.