What a great stick!  Its not the lightest stick that I have ever felt, but it plays very well.  Best value if you are looking to get a composite stick.

I have bought 3 of these so far.  I paid about $65 for my first one in October of 2008.  I played on it a total of 15 times before breaking it last night (on accident, of course).  Luckily, I had bought a pack of 2 from HockeyMonkey.com for $65 the week before.

How did it break?  Well, I was chasing a puck straight into the boards while being pursued by an opponent.  I guess I wasn’t quick enough as I jammed one end of the stick into the boards and the other into my gut, and SNAP.  I remember the guy at the store telling me that if I broke the blade, it could be replaced.  Not sure how, but I think I’ll figure it out.

Overall a great stick.  Totally pleased with what you get for the money.

Just received my first order from HockeyMonkey.com this morning.  Today is Thursday, and I placed my order on Monday evening.  Pretty fast shipping if you ask me.  However, I do live about 5 hours north of their warehouse (Santa Ana, CA) so I figure it was a reasonable time to wait to get my equipment.

Prices and selection were amazing, and I was able to find some great deals on base-model equipment.  I usually the cheapest stuff since I am not a very serious player.

I ordered 2 sticks and a pair of gloves.  My existing stick, a Rebok 4k, put me back about $65 from the Hockey X-sport up in Oakland last year.  I was worried about it breaking, so I wanted to get the same stick again as a backup.  I got a 2-pack of the exact same stick from Hockey Monkey for $60.  I was afraid of ordering sticks online since I thought the shipping would kill me, but it was only an extra $5 for over-sized shipping.

I also bought a pair of base-line hockey gloves.  I have had my existing gloves for nearly 10 years, and they were hand-me-downs when I first got them.  They developed large holes and left blisters on my thumbs each time I played.  I had been searching around on ebay, but didn’t really want to get a pair of used gloves for $40+ with shipping.  I think the ones I ordered from Hockey Monkey were $29.99.  I’ll test them out this weekend and write a review on them.

I also saved an extra 10% on my order by using coupon code adwsave10.  It worked at the time of writing this post 6/8/2009, but I don’t know how long it will last.  The total order, including shipping and tax set me back just over $100, but for two composite sticks and a new pair of gloves, I thought that was a steal.

Will be posting reviews on the equipment soon.

(Oh, and a bit of shameless self promotion: If you’re looking for a hockey forum, check out The Faceoff Boards, another site run by me . Also, a wicked writeup by Steve Dangle, he’ll have an awesome video for you guys tommorow that I’ll edit into here)

Steve’s Video, as I said I’d have:

GAME SUMMARY

Karlsson gets the player of the game for the Swedes.
Dustin Tokarski, who was shaky the last few games, finally stepped up and got the player of the game, after stopping 39 out of 40 shots.

Coaches Choice for Swede’s Top 3: Markstrom (who gets heavily booed for his diving), Karlsson (who gets cheers yet again, as he’s a Senators Prospect), and Backlund (who’s rumored to be going to the CHL tomorrow instead of returning to Sweden).

Coaches Choice for Canada’s Top 3: PK Subban (Plenty of cheers, nearby Montreal Canadiens prospect), John Tavares (who’s quickly become a legend in Canada), and Jordan Eberle (who scored the biggest goal in Canadian History since Gretzky to Lemieux or Paul Henderson’s Goal).

Top Goaltender: Markstrom (Should’ve gone to Slovakia’s Jaroslav Janus)
Top Defenseman: Karlsson
Top Forward: John Tavares (the easiest decision since comparing Gretzky to Tie Domi)

Videos (TONS COMING!)

Lets start with the most controversial event so far tonight: A vicious bite by Jokarim Andersson on Tomas Hickey, which better get reviewed by the IIHF.

Now, PROOF that Markstrom is the worst diver I’ve EVER SEEN.

And the final moments and celebrations!

[Videos are coming - Request them on Faceoffboards, Digg, or in the Comments]

So, it looks like Detroit’s only thing close to a scapegoat, Jiri Hudler stole the show when it was needed.

The guy that Wings fans don’t seem to like at all for some reason stole absolutely pounded on everyone, getting two goals an an assist to help the wings remind millions of people why they won the Stanley Cup this year.

Yes, it was another great Winter Classic. The air was cold yet nice, the sky was overcast in just the right way, and Ty Conklin was in net (how the heck he’s pulled off being the starting goalie in all 3 outdoor games the league has had to date is beyond me, especially since he himself is usually the backup).

The two teams looked fantastic in their vintage uniforms, both from the early days of the NHL (Detroit’s from the 20’s, the Hawks’ from the 30’s). The crowd, while 32,000 smaller than last years due to the size restrictions of Wrigley Field, was loud and energetic, and it was just a great time.

On top of Hudler, four other Wings scored (Mikael Samuelsson, Pavel Datsyuk, Brian Rafalski, and Brett Lebda) to take the team even further ahead in the Central Division standings.

Kris Versteeg, Martin Havlat, Duncan Keith, and Ben Eager scored for the Hawks, but it just wasn’t enough (but it was enough to bring the Hawks to 0-4-0 against the Wings this year, which is odd, because the much worse Hawks of last year went 6-2-0).

Now, this brings up the question that everyone’s asking - where next?

Personally, I’d go with one of the following.

Montreal Canadiens vs. Boston Bruins @ Fenway Park (Boston)
New York Islanders vs. New York Rangers @ New Yankee Stadium (New York)
Philadelphia Flyers vs. Washington Capitals @ FedEx Field (Landover, Maryland - Near Washington)

All and all, it was a great game, and I’ll have more info and video for you guys as we go.

UPDATE: VIDEO TIME!

The Anthem Extravaganza:

Take Me Out To The Hockey Game:

Datsyuk Is The Man: