Cracking the Code of Pro Stock Hockey Sticks
If you’re a hockey player you’ve probably wondered at one point or another about what stick your favourite player uses.
What’s Auston Matthews’ weapon of choice? How does Alex Ovechkin get so much torque on his one-timers?
While you probably won’t be able to rip bombs as hard as Ovi or tickle the twine like Matthews, you can look and feel just like the pros by using the same gear as them. And that’s where pro stock sticks come into play.
What’s a Pro Stock Hockey Stick?
Simply put, pro stock sticks are custom-made twigs created by manufacturers for high-level hockey players - anywhere from the NHL down to major junior. These customizations can apply to features such as flex profiles, blade patterns, shaft dimensions, paint jobs, and almost anything else you can think of.
Generally, pro stock sticks are made with slightly different (and higher quality) materials than their retail counterparts, often leading to better durability and overall performance. Players and resellers alike can get a hold of these sticks - new and used - from pro, college, and junior teams, and many of them end up for sale on SidelineSwap.
Deciphering Pro Stock Codes
If you’ve shopped around on our site, you may have noticed an occasional discrepancy between a stick’s paint job and its actual model as noted by the stick code.
This Sam Steel pro stock provides us with a straightforward example for Bauer sticks. The first row of numbers represents the specific player’s ID, the second row is the stick’s flex rating, and the third row is the stick’s actual build. The item is accurately listed by HockeyStickMan as a 1N despite its 1X Lite paint job.
Whether a brand wants to promote a newer model or a player just prefers a certain paint job, these kinds of discrepancies are quite common among pro stock sticks, especially with Bauers and CCMs. This is why it’s crucial for sellers to provide as much information as possible, and for buyers to be informed about pro stock gear before making their purchasing decisions.
CCM sticks get a bit more complicated, but even that code is more or less cracked. While you will see five rows of code on pro stock CCM sticks, the valuable info is actually found on the barcode sticker near the knob. However, unless the stick is brand new it likely won’t have that sticker, which is why it’s always important to consult sellers first.
To the untrained eye, this Bowen Byram pro stock would pass for a CCM Ribcor Trigger 4 Pro. After all, it has the trademark Ribcor taper and the graphics would lead us to believe that it is in fact a Trigger 4 Pro. However, when we take a closer look at the barcode, the truth is revealed.
The first code (HSMTR3SP) is the stick’s true build, and in this case it’s actually a Trigger 3D! The second code in parentheses (T4R) indicates the stick’s paint job, which is obviously that of a Trigger 4 Pro.
Luckily for all you hockey players out there, most pro stock codes are either pretty straightforward or have already been deciphered. With the help of our Bauer and CCM charts below, you have all the info you need to shop, shoot, and score with confidence.
| BAUER | |
|---|---|
| Stick Code | Stick Model |
| 1X2.0 1X3.0 BR02AI9B BR03LR3 BR05NK S161X |
1X |
| 06D BR04H |
1X SE |
| BR01X BR01H |
APX2 |
| BR03G BR03C BR03N |
APX2 SE |
| FW1K FW21 |
Nexus 8000 |
| FW3D FW3E |
Nexus 8000 SE |
| R27 RB7 RB8 RB8A R32 |
Nexus 1000 |
| G3 | Custom flex profile similar to Nexus 1000 |
| RB10JB | Nexus 1N |
| IN-11 | Nexus 1N SE |
| 1S 01 W05WE |
Supreme 1S |
| C28 C29 |
One95 |
| 2NPROSE | 2N Pro SE |
| 2NPROXL | 2N Pro |
| BGP2B | Vapor ADV |
| CCM | |
|---|---|
| Sticker Code | Stick Model |
| HSMSMPSP | Super Tacks 2.0 |
| HSMSM3SP | Super Tacks AS1 |
| HSMSM4SP | Super Tacks AS2 Pro |
| HSMHK1SP | Jetspeed |
| HSMHK2SP | Jetspeed FT2 |
| HSMHK3SP | Jetspeed FT3 |
| HSMTR2SP | Ribcor Trigger 2 PMT |
| HSMTR3SP | Ribcor Trigger 3D |
| HSMTR4SP | Ribcor Trigger 4 Pro |