The effect of shaft stiffness on the performance of the ice hockey slap shot /

The purpose was to examine the effect of shaft stiffness on puck velocity and response characteristics of the stick during performance of a slap shot. Six elite male ice hockey players performed 6 slap shots with 4 sticks of different shaft stiffness designated as medium (13 N/m), stiff (16N/m), extra (17 N/m) and pro stiff (19 N/m). These four levels represent the range in stiffness of sticks available to hockey players. The mechanics of the slap shot were evaluated by recording ground reaction forces and kinematics from high speed filming and a radar gun. Data were analyzed with a 3-way repeated measures ANOVA for 7 dependant variables---puck velocity, peak Z force, peak Y force, time to achieve peak Z force, time to achieve peak Y force, peak deflection and time to peak deflection of the shaft. Results indicated: (1) the stick with shaft stiffness of 13 N/m produced the highest puck velocity, the greatest amount of shaft deflection, the longest time to peak deflection and the lowest peak Z forces; (2) time to obtain peak forces in the Y and Z directions were similar across level of shaft stiffness; (3) puck velocity was influenced by the interaction of subject and stiffness; (4) variability in performance measures across subjects was greater than the variability across stiffness