Compare Hockey Sticks of the 2020-2021 Season

Our last article covering this market comparison was for the 2018-19 season. It proved wicked popular, so we decided to create the updated version for this weird COVID-19 era season. We expanded the list a bit this year to include not only the top-of the-line elite level sticks from each manufacturer, but also performance level builds and even a few that sit on the boarder of performance and recreational level.

This season's stick lines have brought us nice improvements from the biggest manufacturers like CCM, Bauer, and Warrior, but also some dandies from True, Sherwood, and others. The great news is that, like nearly every year, nothing monumental has changed in hockey stick construction. We still see plenty of gimmicky marketing attempts to shift preference like Bauer's ADV sticks with a hole in the blade or revised geometric shapes on the lower part of the shaft, first by Warrior and now by Bauer. If you've tried it any of these out on the ice, you'll see that the stick might feel a bit different than a standard shaped stick, but the overall difference is pretty minimal so it's more of just a judgement call on whether you like them or not for the price. Speaking of price, the large manufacturers also continue to test the market for higher price thresholds for their products. You don't have to look any further than the previously mentioned $360 limited production Bauer ADV for an example of that. We wrote a whole piece on it when it hit the shelves a while back. You can check out here: The Bauer ADV Hockey Stick is Here. Let's Break It Down.

The constant each year is that construction methods are being continually refined to yield better performing and lighter sticks. Most of us understand that a stick can be built of a variety of products. Typically, the less carbon fiber there is in a stick build, the cheaper and heavier a stick becomes. Each year there has been more advances in carbon fiber fabric production which allow for flatter laying carbon sheets to be produced that yield the same or better strength attributes. These flatter layers reduce the amount of resin needed in a stick and allow for more carbon layers to be used in its place. This makes for a lighter and better performing build. In general, the weight class of the stick is an easy identifier as to the level of carbon included in its construction. This is also the primary reason why you see multiple varieties of a stick line from each manufacturer. Elite/Pro-level sticks are 100% carbon-fiber with the highest amount of carbon layers in the manufacturer's product line. It’s the best stuff out there and really gives the stick that pop it needs, but it's also the most expensive to produce, thus yielding the highest price tag. We also need to understand that each manufacturer has a stick line to appeal to flex profile preference. Make no mistake, the flex-profile doesn't make one stick better than the other. it's just a player preference. Most brands have a mid-kick, a low-kick, and then either a high or hybrid-kick or both. If we eliminate flex point and artwork out of the comparison because both are just player preference, we're really left with build quality/stick weight as the primary differentiator between hockey stick models. To get a good snapshot of what's on the market, we took the elite model stick from each of the manufacturer's product lines and did a weight versus price comparison. All weights are based on an 85 flex senior size build and prices are regular retail as of 1/19/2021.

Here is a complete list of each model evaluated, the retail price, and the stick weight in a fancy table.

Okay, that make sense, right? To make it really easy to understand, here is a super fancy graph plotting the elite stick data.

Pretty interesting when you look at price versus build quality, eh? Keep in mind, like we said before, there are some subtle differences between each stick (Kick point, grip level, shaft texture, blade stiffness, etc), but in reference to performance quality, these differences are small in nature and affect only player preference.

With that said, we'll just leave this data here to sink into your brain. What are you really getting in a hockey stick for the price you're paying? Be sure to check out the rest of our blog.

Happy hockeying!

-Joe