| As a sport, hockey can be a very exciting and | | | | hockey sticks, including how much flex should be |
| demanding activity but is also simultaneously something | | | | present in a stick, how long the stick should be, and |
| that needs to be respected for the kind of equipment | | | | how the hockey stick should "lie." For starters, it's |
| that it will require in order to play it well. That's why | | | | important to realize that a stick being used in ice |
| learning about ice hockey sticks can be so important, | | | | hockey is built with certain flex characteristics. Some |
| because next to a good pair of hockey skates, the | | | | experts say that flex is also how stiff a stick is, and |
| stick itself will probably matter the most to any player. | | | | they are correct. |
| Like any other tool, it's highly critical that the right one | | | | This sort of flex is especially important when a player |
| be selected for the right job. This is just as true of a | | | | lines up a puck preparatory to engaging in a slapshot, |
| hammer as it is of an hockey stick. In fact, if the stick | | | | for example. It's a kind of bending and snapping that will |
| that is being used is poorly made or incorrect for the | | | | help to propel the puck, once it struck by the ice |
| style of ice hockey being played by a particular player | | | | hockey stick, at a nice speed. It will always be a |
| the stick can end up doing more harm than good, if -- | | | | balance between having a stick that can flex as |
| for instance -- the player is left handed but the stick is | | | | completely as possible while also being as strong as |
| right-handed. | | | | possible, which might seem contradictory even though |
| There are several different things to understand about | | | | it's not. |