A hockey stick is a piece of equipment used in field hockey, ice hockey, or roller hockey to move the ball or puck. Field hockey is a Team sport in which players attempt to score goals by hitting the Ball across the pitch with a stick Ice hockey, often referred to simply as hockey, is a team Sport played on Ice. Roller hockey is a form of Hockey played on a dry surface using skates with wheels

Contents 1 Field hockey 2 Ice hockey 3 Roller hockey 4 In culture 5 References 6 External links

Field hockey

Main article: Field hockey stick

Field hockey sticks have an end which varies in shape, often depending on the players position. Field hockey is a Team sport in which players attempt to score goals by hitting the Ball across the pitch with a stick In general there are four main variations on head:

The 'shorti' is used mainly by players wishing extreme control over the ball, and increase their maneuverability. This specific head is most associated with the mid-field position.

The 'Midi' is used by players who will be hitting the ball often and need to be strong on their 'reverse side'. This specific head is most associated with the striker, or 'up-front' position.

The 'Maxi' is similar to the 'Midi' as it has an increased surface area which is useful for hitting. However its strength allows it to be used much more effectively for stopping the ball. This head is used by 'defenders' and 'attackers'.

The 'J Hook' again has a large surface area. However does not have the effectiveness of the 'Midi' for striking the ball, it has an increased thickness making it ideal for stopping the ball. This head is most commonly used by 'defenders'

Field hockey sticks vary widely in length, ranging from 26" to 38. 5", and from $30 (Australian) to $580. The main brands of sticks include Grays, Mazon, Voodoo, Gryphon, IHS, Kookaburra, Mercian, Malik, Dita, TK and Slazenger.

The size of the stick that is most effective for a specific player is judged by that players height. A 28" stick would be used by a player under 4' most commonly, where as a 38" stick would be used mainly by players over 5'10". However 'defenders' often like to have a longer stick than 'attackers' as this can be used for a greater reach when stopping a moving ball. The 'attackers' prefer a shorter stick as it allows greater control of the ball.

Ice hockey

Main article: Ice hockey stick

Ice hockey sticks are approximately 150-200 cm long, composed of a long, slender shaft and a flat extension at one end called the blade. An ice hockey stick is a piece of equipment used in Ice hockey to shoot pass and carry the puck The curved part where the blade and the shaft meet is called a taper. The blade is the part of the stick used to contact the puck, and is typically 10 to 15 inches long. Stick dimensions can vary widely, as they are usually built to suit a particular player's size. Taller players usually use longer sticks. There is some variance on the height of the stick in preference of the player. A player favoring fast stick handling and good puck control would opt for a shorter stick, while a player wanting a harder, faster shot would opt for a longer stick. A puck is a disk used in various types of games serving the same functions as a ball in ball games The blade's angle depends on the height of the stick, but is usually positioned around 45 degrees. The blade is often curved in the direction toward which the skater moves forward, to aid in retaining or lifting the puck off the playing surface. This curvature of the stick greatly increases the speed of the player's shot. The more curve the stick has, the harder shot a player has. The downside to the increased curvature is that shots on the backhand side of the stick more difficult to execute and are less accurate and/or not as hard. The shaft of the stick is fairly rigid, but it has some flexibility to benefit some shots. A shot in Ice hockey is an attempt by a player to score a goal by striking the puck with their stick in the direction of the net Common ice hockey shots include: wrist shot, slap shot, snap shot and backhand.

Ice hockey sticks have traditionally been made from wood, but in recent years, sticks made of more expensive Aluminum, Aramid, fiberglass, carbon fiber, kevlar and other composite materials have become common. WikipediaNaming Aramid fibers are a class of heat-resistant and strong Synthetic fibers They are used in aerospace and military applications for ballistic rated body armor Fiberglass (also called fibreglass and glass fibre see Spelling differences) is material made from extremely fine Fibers of Glass. Carbon fiber reinforced plastic ( CFRP or CRP) is a very strong light and expensive Composite material or fiber reinforced plastic. Composite materials (or composites for short are engineered Materials made from two or more constituent materials with significantly different physical or chemical In addition to weighing less, composite sticks can be manufactured with more consistent flexibility properties than their wooden counterparts. They also do not have the natural variations that wooden sticks possess therefore a batch of the same sticks will all perform roughly the same. There are die-hard NHL professionals that still like the feel of wood sticks such as Paul Stastny (Son of ice hockey Hall-of-Famer Peter Stastny), Jason Spezza and Sandy Getrayer. Sidney Crosby, one of the best players in the NHL, uses a composite shaft to get the performance of composite and a wooden blade to get the advantage of the wood feel. Some of these sticks have replaceable wood or composite blades, while others are one piece sticks without a replaceable blade. Composite sticks, despite their greater expense, are now commonplace at nearly all competitive levels of the sport, including youth ice hockey. Some of the top brands of composite sticks are Warrior, Easton, CCM, Nike Bauer, Mission and Rbk. Many professionals are using Composite stick technology rather than the old wooden sticks. These new sticks are lighter, and provide a quicker release of the puck, resulting in a harder, better shot. More expensive ice hockey sticks (such as the Vapor XXXX, Supreme One90, Rbk 9kO or O-Stick, Rbk 7k Sickick, Beaster Illusion II PRO, Beaster Predator, Stealth S17, Synergy Elite, Warrior Kronik, and the TPS Response R8 lite) usually are the lightest sticks on the market (390-470 grams in a senior stick). In addition to the increased torque that these composite sticks (carbon fiber, kevlar and probably magnesium soon) possess, the sticks do not warp or absorb moisture like their wooden counterparts.

Roller hockey

Roller hockey sticks are essentially the same as ice hockey sticks.

In culture

In business a "hockey stick graph" ^[1] is an absurdly optimistic projection of business growth which is flat for a long time like the handle of a hockey stick and then suddenly turns upward like the blade of the stick.

In the dances Cha Cha and Rumba, a "hockey stick" is a figure in which the woman moves along a straight line, with an angled turn at the end. Dance (from French danser, perhaps from Frankish) is an Art form that generally refers to movement of the body usually rhythmic Rumba is a dance organically related to the Rumba genre of Afro-Cuban music. ^[2]

References

External links

• How hockey sticks are made video

© 2009 citizendia.org; parts available under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License, from http://en.wikipedia.org
Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic