Battleaxe BX10 Hockey Stick Review – Part One

If you’re not familiar with Battleaxe Hockey or the BX10 stick, I recommend you read my initial impressions post about our first experience with the BX10.

Since then, I have been using the Battleaxe BX10 game in and game out for roughly a month now, probably about 10 sessions on the rink. I will be the first to admit, I was a bit skeptical that this stick could perform along the same lines as a Bauer One95 or Easton S17, but after every game I walk away very impressed.

Performance

The feel I get for the puck has been pretty remarkable, and I would put it right on par with the S17. My biggest problem with that stick, however, is how quickly that great feel went away. But after a number of games with the BX10, the feel is just as great as it was on day one.

I’ve also noticed my passing has been pretty spot on recently as well. Great puck feel really allows you to keep your head up and see the rink, and your teammates, better. All passes, sending and receiving, have been pretty crisp with the BX10. Collecting passes seems to be especially smooth, so the puck doesn’t bounce away from me.

When it comes to wrist shots and especially snap shots, the BX10 has been a beast. When I’m skating in on a goalie, my favorite place to shoot has always been high glove. Sniping that spot with this twig has almost been too easy sometimes. Slapshots have not been so kind to me, but that has more to do with technical aspects of the stick, so I’ll get into that later.

Durability

We’re around 10 games in and so far Battleaxe has kept their word on durbality of their sticks. I have had an ice skate blade cut into the BX10 blade, with no noticable difference besides a scratch. We’ve put this thing through slapshots, wrist shots, grinding face offs, stick lifts, tough board battles and so on, without seeing any negative changes. As far as I’m concerned, it still looks pretty new. You can only see minor paint chips in the stick, but that is to be expected with whatever stick you may be using. Besides this, the Bauer One95 has been the toughest stick I have owned, but the BX10 is certainly holding its ground thus far.

Technical

To touch on the slapshots again, that has nothing to do with the quality of the stick. Our review unit is a 105 flex, which is a stiffer flex than I’m used to using. That being said, I do typically use a 100 flex, and the 105 does cause a pretty noticeable difference in my slapshot. If I were to get another one, I would definitely drop to the 90 flex.

The sort of bumpy grip that the BX10 has in the shaft has been a pleasant surprise. It provides just enough grip to keep my hands still when I need to, but its also smooth enough that I can slide my bottom hand along the shaft without having to take my hand off and reposition it completely. It has been a great bonus to the feature set of the stick.

Comparisons

As I said before, we will be comparing the BX10 to sticks like the One95 and S17. Thus far, the BX10 has held its own against these two. It’s performing along the same lines as my One95 and S17, but definitely holding up better than the S17. I have not noticed any decline in performance or feel like I did in my initial time using an S17. Bauer One95’s are tough, but so far this guy is too. When it comes down to it, I think price is going to matter a lot. Knowing you can perform just as great on the rink with a stick that costs only $160 instead of $200+ is pretty great.

If you’re on the edge thinking about getting one of these, or looking into trying something new, then hopefully this review has helped a bit. We’re going to continue to put the BX10 through everything we can think of, and let you know how it stands up when we finish. If you have any questions for us about the BX10, or want to share your experiences, we encourage you to let us know.

For more information on Battleaxe, head over to their site at BattleaxeHockey.com. Check out their contact page to order any one of their sticks.