text: Well, hold on a sec.\n\nThe "perfect" stick isn't necessarily a $200+ composite.\n\nLots of guys in the NHL and elsewhere still use wood.  I use wood.  The perfect stick is a combination of a lot of factors.  Flex, weight, length, what kind of blade you have and how the curve works for you.\n\nFlex has to do with how much weight (pressure) it takes to bend your stick.  That translates directly back to how much force it snaps back with when it unbends, which affects your shots in terms of how fast the puck goes when it comes off your stick.\n\nIn both a slap shot and a wrister, your stick is bending right as you collect the puck, and unbendending as it leaves your blade.  That rubberband effect gives the puck that much more velocity, which is why in theory a flexible stick gives a more rocketing shot.\n\nThe thing is, that's not always what you want.  Defensemen tend to like a stiffer stick \n\n(pause to giggle)\n\nand smaller forwards like a more flexible stick, but that's a huge generalization and in the end it comes down to personal preference.  I'm small and comparatively light, so I use an 85# stick.  For a big guy that would be ridiculous whippy, but it works just great for me.\n\nThe other thing to remember is... there's being cheap and then there's being reasonable.\n\nPatrick Marleau can break three sticks a game because the club picks up his equipment tab.\n\nYou buy that $200+ Synergy or whatever and in two months when you break it in a game you're going to be really unhappy.  And honestly, do you play well enough yet to really use a $200 stick to its best advantage?\n\nI use a $30 wood stick.  Bouchard curve, 85#, with a lie that's good for my height (or lack thereof).  I have two.  I know where to get more when they break.\n\nMost of the guys I play with out here on the east coast play with wood sticks, and have all their lives.  \n\nSo, you know.  More in this case isn't necessarily better.\n\nOn the other hand, maybe you're good enough that a $200 composite stick will really do something for you, who knows.\n\n**  \n\nTo clarify, although I did say -- the numbers have to do with how much force it takes to bend your stick.  100 flex means it takes 100 pounds of pressure to bend your stick 1 inch.  85 flex means it takes 85 pounds.  The higher the number, the stiffer the stick.  The lower, the bendier.  \n\nAnd... FYI when you cut length off your stick you change the flex. The more you cut, the stiffer you make it.