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Ben

Death of 2 piece sticks

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So I was at my LHS yesterday to get a couple blades for my nxg and dolomite shafts and the manager told me that within the next year companies are going to cease making 2 piece sticks. Is there any truth to that?

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as long as they keep making blades...

Just bought 3 blades to go with my good two... I expect Sher-Wood will keep making them.

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I don't see all companies stopping at once. A couple of them may discontinue and the Internet may be the only way to get them, but I definitely see 2 piece sticks hanging around a while longer.

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As long as there are enough people like me buying blades, the 2 piece stick isn't quite gone; after all, you can still buy several models of one piece wood sticks.

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He may cease ordering them but I don't think it will be that soon until we see manufacturers stop making them. I could see SKU counts continue to be consolidated however.

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my LHS doesn't stock much. They've said the same thing

I said "they still make them, I guess I'll just buy them online then."

and then I did.

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Shafts are the easiest thing to stock. You don't really have to worry about LH or RH SKUs.

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like everything, there will always be some market for them, so someone will make them. what you will likely see though is less and less, but only to meet demand with supply.

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I would go so far to say that it would probably be the smaller makes that will continue to manufacture blades for a long, long time, kinda like a niche market type of thing.

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I've been using 2-piece sticks since my Easton Ultra-Lite that I got in 1998-99ish (it was the orange-brown one). I switched to 1-piece sticks after Christmas because I was tired of watching blade prices rise & not being able to find them anywhere but the internet. So far I am very happy with both of the new sticks I purchased. I know the LHS I frequent barely carries shafts & blades - one tiny rack, especially when compared to the rows of 1-pieces they have available.

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I think people my age just don't use 2 piece sticks. Nobody on my high school team uses one besides me and I don't remember anybody I've played against using one either

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most people would rather buy a mid level OPS than buy a shaft and blade that costs more.

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most people would rather buy a mid level OPS than buy a shaft and blade that costs more.

exactly. was browsing at a LHS today and I just cant justify the hassle of mixing, matching and installing 2 pieces. the True 4.5 was 139 and the Nexon 12 was on sale for 89. ten years ago it I often had to mix manufacturers to get the flex/curve/feel I want at a decent price, but there's almost no need to nowadays.

EDIT: this makes me feel so old...seemed like just yesturday I was rocking a TPS R2XN10 with a Bauer blade. Was actually 2005

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The 2-piece route is actually the only way to get some decent curves around here without breaking the bank, as most mid-level sticks are only available in P92 with 85/100 flex.

When the "big 4" (or 3 by now) get out of two piece sticks others (Fischer, Sherwood, Christian, Base, TPS, ...) will fill the void.

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We've stopped ordering them and ours all are all on clearance. We didnt order any in 2013 or fall of 2012, and we still have a metric ton of them. About 2 years ago for us at least, we went from everyone buying shaft/blade (even HS kids - they were our biggest consumer with over half the team using them) to virtually no one buying them, and on one in HS using them. Now the only people we sell 2-pieces to are the guys who are in their mid to late twenties who wont give them up.

Whats crazy is, even at 50% off on some old things like EQ50 shaft/blade, guys would rather pay more money and get a 1-piece. Shaft/blade business is dead, there is a reason CCM isn't offering a shaft or top-end blade anymore. Easton has consolidated their stock, I'd expect Bauer to follow suit soon. Its just a dying way of playing hockey.

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I've never had a shaft break. Always the blade. The cost savings for me have been immense.

I snapped 2 Easton shafts in one period a few years ago. That's when I switched to a one-piece. Funny thing is when I was young using wood, I almost always broke blades. Since switching to composites I have only broken shafts.

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