Base Hockey Stick Review

Look and Feel

 

Getting a Base Hockey Stick is unlike your typical hockey stick purchasing experience. The biggest difference is that the stick is customized to you and how you shot the puck. The Base experience includes a fitting with a former NHLer, who helps to analyze and improve your shot. They look at the stick you bring in.
The stick that I brought in was pretty much the stick that I ended up ordering after going through the shot analysis process. I brought my trusty Easton ST 85 Flex Drury into the shooting room and I ended up ordering a Base 100 Flex Drury.
You are able to customize your order in a multitude of ways. The biggest one is being able to choose the right flex for you and then the curve. There are all kinds of aesthetic features to choose from too! You can choose the colour of the blade; shaft and you can even put a logo on the stick. You can choose whether you want grip or not. The possibilities are endless.
In the end, I choose a matte black stick with ‘HGR’ in the logo plate. It’s really hard to say something bad about the stick that you get to design. I really like the matte finish and the all black look of the stick. It is clean-looking and the graphics do not overwhelm the user. Looks great and it feels great.

Performance

 

The stick was more or less tested out during the stick fitting at the Base Shoot Lab. I was given different shaft lengths and flexes to try out. I was eager to try out the actual stick to see if it was remain true to what I ordered.
I am happy to say that the stick was pretty close to what I was trying out at the Lab. Remember that any stick you get, most likely you will have to cut down a little or a lot. In my case, I usually have to cut it down a fair bit. Because of this reason, I usually buy an 85 flex, cut it down and figure that it ends up somewhere between a 95-105 flex. I bought a 100 flex and had to cut it down to the usual length and it created a bit stiffer stick than I would have liked. If you get fitted by Base, make sure to mention that you cut your stick down and they should take this into account when you purchase your stick.
It did take a bit of time to get used to the stiffness of the stick, but it was well within my range. The stick remained stiff yet I was able to shoot well with it. My shot remained heavy and hard, maybe even more so after using the Base stick.
The shaft of the stick seemed to have a bit smaller diameter to it and I could certainly notice it after I went back to my ST. The ST seemed just a little bit larger in my hands and became just a little more uncomfortable.
The blade is able to absorb hard passes than most of the sticks that I have used. Normally when you receive a hard pass, the puck seems to jump off the stick (maybe because I have bad hands!) and then you spend those few seconds trying to recover or corral the puck. With the Base stick, the puck seemed to stay on the blade and those are the few seconds that make a difference!

Recommendation

 

Base Hockey Sticks are made by the same minds behind Innovative sticks, which was bought out by Warrior. That means that these sticks are made some of the best hockey stick making minds in the business. They have created high-end sticks for a much lower price of $150. For the price and performance of the stick, this is a great deal. You get a fully customizable stick for a reasonable price. Hockey Gear Review recommends Base Hockey Sticks to players of all abilities. You will not be disappointed!

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