I think Jason Pominville breaks more sticks than anyone on the Sabres. I’ll be honest, this infuriates me. It happens too often and I don’t think it’s just bad luck.
I’m about to drop some serious hockey stick knowledge so strap yourselves in.
When a hockey player takes a slap shot, the moment when the blade of the hockey stick reaches the puck is preceded by a period where the blade is being dragged along the ice. Instead of just striking the puck directly like a golfer would a golf ball on a tee, dragging the blade on the ice gives the shooter a number of advantages. You might need to knock the cobwebs out of the science crevices in your mind to fully appreciate this next part (not really). The friction caused from dragging the blade along the ice and the downward force of the shooting motion causes the composite stick to flex, which slows the time it takes for the blade to reach the puck. That gives the player just a little more time to position the stick in a way that the puck goes exactly where the shooter wants. Then, once the blade and puck meet, the stick restores its shape and, for lack of a better word, snaps the puck forward. Using a composite stick improves the accuracy and the speed of ones shot in compared to that taken with a wooden stick.
For those that don’t know, composite hockey sticks have different degrees of stiffness. This is so that the hockey stick better fits the strength of a given player. The key is to find a stick with a stiffness high enough that is doesn’t easily break but low enough where its flexibility is such that it gives the player the hardest, most accurate shot possible. If it’s too stiff the player doesn’t maximize the benefits of a composite stick but if it’s not stiff enough the stick will break and break frequently.
Player position also matters. A defensemen like Chris Butler probably uses a stiffer stick than say, Clarke MacArthur. That’s because a vast majority of Butler’s shots are slap shots which require more strength to execute. MacArthur shoots mostly wrist shots which of course require less strength. A player that shoots primarily wrist shots will get the most out of his composite stick if he’s using a less stiff stick than a player who shoots mostly slap shots.
I once heard that Brett Hull, one of the hardest shooting forwards of this era, used to switch to a less stiff stick during powerplays. He would barely have to flick his hands and the puck responded as if it were a guided missile. It wouldn’t make sense for him to use that level of stiffness during even-strength play because Hull took a lot of slap shots. But on the powerplay, from in close, using a stick with a reduced stiffness was sensible. Hull was an exception though because no one could manufacture such a hard shot with what seemed like such little effort. But I digress.
As for the durability of composite sticks, sometimes it’s a player’s technique that causes a stick to break. Say, for instance, a player is shooting a slap shot in a way that his blade meets the ice further behind the puck than it does when other players shoot. The increase in drag can put more pressure on the stick than what it’s designed for.
Maybe Pominville asks too much of his stick or maybe the stick he uses is just not stiff enough. I know these sticks can crack and that will certainly lead to some of the breaks we see but keep in mind the sticks that professionals use are well north of one-hundred dollars. They’re not poorly made. Yet they break all the time! Wasn’t it Kovalchuk who a few years ago had broken something like a quarter of a million dollars worth of sticks in just a single season? Dude, more stiffness; you do not have the muscle mass of a fifteen-year-old boy. It seems kind of stupid to me that some players are convinced that the little bit of extra flexibility, which no doubt improves their shot, is worth the countless scoring opportunities gone to waste from breaking their sticks.