In the last 10 years, one-piece composite sticks have replacing wood ice hockey sticks, as well as two-piece, shaft-blade combinations, at virtually every level of hockey.

Composite sticks are made with substances such as nannotubes, Kevlar, and graphite. Their construction enables players to shoot harder with a lighter stick, but it also increased the cost. Composite ice hockey sticks cost £60-£200+, whilst wooden ice hockey sticks are still only about £20-£50.

Many find that the most aggravating fact about composite ice hockey sticks is that you can never tell when it is going to break. You could use a composite stick for a whole season without a single problem, or alternatively you could break it in your first session and you would not know how close you are to breaking it until it is too late. However when you use a wooden stick, you can usually tell when it is about to break as there will be splits on the shaft or the blade.

Many manufacturers claim the number of times your stick would break compared to a wooden ice hockey stick is not increasing, it is simply down to the fact that with a wooden stick players can tell when their stick is breaking and either change their stick before it happens or are prepared for it. With the Composite stick it is a sudden event which often catches players unaware.

However, the advantage provided by the composite ice hockey sticks are clear to see as you put your energy into the stick by driving the stick into the ice to generate power in your shot, and the carbon fibre has a great return on that energy.

There is no clear design on what is the perfect stick, which is supported by the fact there are numerous brands, designs and styles of ice hockey sticks to choose from, and the material used are wide ranging too with wooden ice hockey sticks and blades still having a place in the market along with the more advanced composite hockey shafts and one piece hockey sticks.

Although the market has and is continuing to move towards the one-piece ice hockey stick market, we would recommend you try out the wooden blades and Shafts to see if there is a combination that suits you rather than what the latest manufacturers view on what they believe is the best.