page_title: Hockey stick
section_title: Ice hockey
hierarchical_section_title: Hockey stick / Ice hockey
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Crosses des joueurs du EV Zug.
context_page_description: A hockey stick is a piece of sport equipment used by the players in all the forms of hockey to move the ball or puck either to push, pull, hit, strike, flick, steer, launch or stop the ball/puck during play with the objective being to move the ball/puck around the playing area using the stick, and then trying to score.
  Stick is a very generic term for the equipment since the different disciplines of hockey require significant differences in both the form and the size of the stick used for it to be effective in the different sports. Field/Ice/Roller hockey all have a visually similar form of stick with a long shaft or handle which can be held with two hands, and a curved and flattened end; the end and curvature of these sticks are generally the most visible differences between the sticks for these sports. A modern underwater hockey stick bears little resemblance to any field/ice/roller hockey stick since it massively smaller to enable it to be used exclusively in one hand, and it also has to be produced in one of two colours in order to identify which of the competing teams a player is playing for.
context_section_description: Sticks have traditionally been made from wood, but in recent years, sticks made of more expensive materials such as aluminum, Aramid (kevlar),  fiberglass, carbon fiber, and other composite materials have become common. In addition to weighing less, composite sticks can be manufactured with more consistent flexibility properties than their wooden counterparts. They also do not have the natural variations that wooden sticks possess therefore a batch of the same sticks will all perform roughly the same. There are die-hard NHL professionals that still like the feel of wood sticks such as Paul Stastny (Son of ice hockey Hall-of-Famer Peter Stastny). Some of these sticks have replaceable wood or composite blades, while others are one piece sticks without a replaceable blade. Composite sticks, despite their greater expense, are now commonplace at nearly all competitive levels of the sport, including youth ice hockey. Some of the top brands of composite sticks include Bauer, Easton, Reebok/CCM, and Warrior.  
  Many professionals are using composite stick technology rather than wooden sticks.  These new sticks are lighter and provide a quicker release of the puck, resulting in a harder, more accurate shot.  Although the new materials do enable harder shots, the improved durability and lighter materials can make the transition from wooden to composite stick more difficult for less experienced players. A shortcut used by numerous players is to use a weighted system, such as kwik hands, to quickly adjust to the new sticks. More expensive ice hockey sticks (such as the Bauer Vapor 1X, Bauer Supreme 1S, Bauer Nexus 1N, CCM Ribcor Trigger PMT2, CCM RBZ FT1, CCM Super Tacks 2.0,  Easton Stealth CX, Easton Synergy GX, Warrior Covert QRL, Warrior Alpha QX, Warrior Dynasty HD1 ) usually are the lightest sticks on the market (390-470 grams in a senior stick). In addition to the increased torque that these composite sticks possess, the sticks do not warp or absorb moisture like their wooden counterparts.
  When the player is standing on his skates with the stick upright, on the toe, perpendicular to the ice, the top of the shaft should stop just below or above the chin, depending on personal preference. Defensemen tend to use longer sticks which provide greater reach when poke-checking.
  Ice hockey sticks are also used in rinkball.
caption: Ice hockey sticks on a shelf
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