Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Michael Frolik Tries A Wooden Stick After Practice

12/23/2019 at 12:41pm EST

from Eric Duhatschek of The Athletic,

For a while now, I’ve wanted to conduct an experiment — to see how a player who’d grown accustomed to the new stick technologies might react to using an old-fashioned wood stick. I’d had a couple gathering dust in my garage, sticks that Nike made for Mario Lemieux to use at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Lemieux was a right-handed shot, but Nike manufactured the sticks in both left- and right-handed versions, and I’d saved one of each....

Good-naturedly, Frolik agreed — quite interested to see how Mario Lemieux’s old stick pattern felt in his hands.

“The new technology is all about making it lighter – and this is a heavy wood stick, heavier for sure,” reported Frolik. “But it felt good. I mean, it’s no mystery why the wood stick was a long time in the league – and in the hockey world. They were good. Probably one of the greatest players ever played with that – so it must have been good.”...

“Obviously, the curve is way different than from what I use,” he said. “It’s straighter – and the blade is shorter and the shaft is really stiff – but good for sauces and passes. Even receiving the puck from the boards, it was solid. It stays on your stick. When you’re trying to get a feel for the puck, the wood stick has a pretty good feel. You can really feel the puck. But obviously, the shot is less hard for sure.”

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

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