Sidney Crosby uses a very short stick, only 54 inches long. It suits his style. He can bend low to the ice, drop his shoulder to protect the biscuit and he's able to keep the puck on a leash in tight spaces in the corners, and around the net.
Crosby has used the Ribcor Reckoner as his stick of choice for the past number of seasons, settling in on the model he liked rather than continuing to use the newer version released every season.
Hockey stick shafts can be a maximum of 63". Blades, 12.5" long. Players 6'6" and taller may be granted an exemption upon written request to the League. Even then, the NHL still imposes an absolute maximum length of 65" for hockey stick shafts.
Zdeno Chára, the NHL's tallest player ever at 2.06 metres (6 ft 9 in), has a special exemption to use a 67-inch (170 cm) shafted stick.
A player with as much starpower as Crosby usually gets what he wants though, and he continues to use the Reckoner despite four generations of Ribcor sticks having been released since the Reckoner.
Not only has he spent extra time after practice working with the likes of Mitch Marner and Connor Brown, but Marleau's tried to educate a few others on the tools of his trade. Former Sharks teammate Joe Thornton is believed to be the only other NHLer currently using a two-piece stick.
Sidney Crosby uses a very short stick, only 54 inches long. It suits his style. He can bend low to the ice, drop his shoulder to protect the biscuit and he's able to keep the puck on a leash in tight spaces in the corners, and around the net.
The stick (also referred to as a pusher) for underwater hockey is relatively short compared to that for field/ice/roller hockey, and should be coloured either white or black in its entirety to indicate the player's team. The shape of the stick can affect playing style and is often a very personal choice.
Standing 2.04 m (6 ft 9 in) tall, defenceman Zdeno Chara (Slovakia) of the Boston Bruins (USA) is the tallest player in NHL history.
Control - The Curve of an Ice Hockey Stick Blade greatly increases puck control during stickhandling, especially quick stick handling in tight spaces. It makes it easier to “grab” the puck with your blade without it rolling off. Shot Power - The Curve of an Ice Hockey Stick also helps increase shot power.
If the blade of the stick is flat against the ground, the stick is the proper length. If the toe is up, the stick is too long. If the heel is off the ground, the stick is too short.
Hockey Sticks Length
Hockey sticks are produced in a variety of sizes from junior through to senior with the largest normally being 38.5 inches in length. The average hockey stick size for adults is 36.5 inches.
The straight blade is not common in the NHL because many players, constantly searching for any possible advantage, bend their blades outward from the heel to the toe in order to enhance shooting accuracy.
While American kids might grow up watching LeBron James, Tom Brady, or Clayton Kershaw on the television, Canadian youth are much more likely to be watching Sidney Crosby, or another left-handed hockey player from Canada.
Let's take a look at the seven of the biggest players in the NHL today based on body mass index (BMI), which surprisingly doesn't include Chara—the NHL's tallest player—or Jamie Oleksiak, the NHL's heaviest player.
How are they made? Carbon fiber threads woven together and coated with plastic resin. As many as 15 sheets of carbon fiber fabric are fused together, layered in opposite directions for strength, to form the hollow shaft. Blades begin with a hard foam plastic core wrapped in graphite.
Fleury is one of three goalies in the NHL still using the old blend of wood with foam injected in the paddle and blade, a number that has dropped significantly since 2016. Five years ago, roughly half of NHL goalies were using what they commonly call a "foam core" stick, but by 2019 there were five.
The ice hockey puck is black in color, flat and round, and is made of solid vulcanized rubber.
Even the most durable carbon stick, players note, can break in a week or can last a year. Most people cite frequency and level of play as two central factors for determining the lifespan of a hockey stick. Remember, too, you may want to replace a stick when it's not broken—it may have lost its stiffness, its pop.
How long he's been using it: Ovechkin has been using CCM sticks throughout his career, but the model typically varies from season to season. He used the CCM Vector last season.