Hockey Stick Kick Points Explained | Twig Hockey Company (2024)

----- Updated 12/2023. Originally post 10/2019 ------

They have different kick points

The kick point is the term the hockey industry uses to identify where the stick is intended to bend and recoil from with standard pressure applied. Hockey sticks are built with many layers of very thin carbon fiber layered alternately in different directions to provide maximum snap and strength with the fewest materials possible, to keep weight down. How these layers are applied stiffens and softens parts of the shaft in order to manipulate where the stick will perform best. You'll see the kick points highlighted in yellow in the images below.

Mid Kick Point

By default, a complete uniformly constructed stick will bend in the middle when pressure is applied. This is known as a mid-kick stick and is the most common style in use by players from the NHL downward, across the board. They are designed to assist shooters who heavily lean into their shots by maximizing energy transfer to get the most power in a shot while maintaining great accuracy.

Some examples of mid-kick point stick lines out there are the Twig Rogue, CCM Tacks, Warrior Novium, True Catalyst, and Bauer Supreme and Nexus.

Low Kick Point

The second most popular kick point stick style in use today is low-kick. It's designed to flex at a lower point (Closer to the ice) along the shaft. This lower kick point allows the stick to flex, load, and release slightly faster than a mid-kick design. Also, because of the lower kick point on the shaft, full player weight is not required maximize possible shot speed, therefore it produces slightly less power on each shot than a mid-kick point stick.

Some examples of low-kick stick lines out there are the Twig Dispatch, Warrior Covert, Bauer Vapor and AG5NT, True Hzrdus, Sherwood Rekker, and CCM RibCor.

Other Kick Point Styles

Listed above are the two most common styles of kick points in use today. Because of the specialization ability in hockey stick manufacturing, there have been a variety of other kick point stick styles out there available that are lesser used and not made by all manufacturers, but they're good to know as they be right for your game. The only one that is commonly seen anymore is listed below.

Hybrid Kick Point

It's exactly what it sounds like. By positioning the kick point directly between the mid and low points of the shaft, the stick has a bit quicker load and release than a mid kick model, but is a bit slower than a low kick. Power generated will be more than a low kick, but still lower than a mid kick design.

The Warrior Alpha, CCM JetSpeed, and Sherwood Code stick lines are great examples of hybrid kick points.

Which kick point do you choose?

Really it depends on how you typically play your game and wish your stick to perform.