How to buy a hockey stick online without holding it first

Buying a stick online comes down to four decisions you can make without touching it: size class, length, flex and handedness. Size and flex follow your body, length you can trim, and handedness is the one to get right the first time. After that it’s a question of what the price includes, how long shipping takes, and what happens if the stick breaks.

Size class first, and it isn’t about age

Three classes, one build each. Senior is 77 flex, 385 grams, about 65 inches (165 cm). Intermediate is 50 flex, 320 grams, about 62 inches (157 cm). Junior is 20 flex, 260 grams, about 58 inches (147 cm). Go by the body, not the birthday. A lighter adult is often happier on an Intermediate than on a Senior. If you’re deciding between those two, we wrote out where intermediate ends and senior starts.

Flex you can work out at your kitchen table

The usual starting point is half your body weight in pounds. A 150 pound player lands near a 77, which is our Senior. We build one flex per size, so picking the size picks the flex, and there’s nothing left to guess. Put your height and weight into the two-question size finder if you’d rather not do the arithmetic yourself.

Handedness is the one to get right

Left or right is about which hand sits lower on the shaft, not the hand you write with. Lower left hand means a left-handed stick. Buying for someone who isn’t in the room? Ask them to pick up a broom and sweep, then look at which hand ends up on the bottom. This is the spec worth a phone call, because a stick can’t be flipped over after it arrives. Buying it as a present? The hockey gift guide covers what you can guess and what you have to ask. Here’s how to tell left from right. Every stick we build comes both ways at the same price: left-handed hockey sticks and right-handed hockey sticks.

Length is the decision you can still change

Stand the stick on its toe. In shoes the butt end should come up around your nose, on skates closer to your chin. When you’re between sizes, order the longer one, because you can cut a shaft down and you can’t put it back. One thing to know before the saw comes out: every inch you take off makes the flex stiffer. Cutting is also on you rather than on the warranty, so measure twice. Here is how to cut a hockey stick down, step by step. There is more on when to go longer or shorter than the standard length if you’re on the fence.

What the price should already include

This is where buying from another country usually goes wrong. Our US prices have duties and taxes in them, shipping to the US is free, and the number at checkout is the number you pay. Nothing arrives at your door asking for more. Every color in a size costs the same, and left and right cost the same, so the fun part of the decision never costs you anything. The shipping page has the rest.

How long it takes, and what turns up

We pack an order in 2 to 4 business days. Then it’s about 1 to 2 weeks in transit to the US, tracked the whole way with DHL, FedEx or UPS. A stick is roughly 1.2 meters long, so it travels in a proper long box instead of being folded into a flat parcel. In the box: the stick, a velvet bag for it, and a regulation-size puck. Every Maila is designed and tested in Finland and ships from there. Three items is the whole list, and what comes with a hockey stick goes through each one.

What happens when it’s wrong

You have 30 days to send an unused stick back for a refund, in its original packaging. Once it has been on the ice it counts as used, so if you’re unsure, handle it on a floor before you take it to the rink. Return shipping is on you, unless the stick arrived faulty or we sent the wrong one, in which case we pay. Breakage is separate: if it breaks in normal play in the first 30 days we replace it once, and manufacturing defects are covered for a year. The returns and warranty pages spell both out.

The two 30 day clocks run in opposite directions

Both of those windows start the day the stick arrives, not the day you order and not the day you get around to opening the box. They run the same length. They want opposite things from you.

The return window needs the stick unused. Our returns page puts it plainly: “A stick that has been on the ice counts as used.” The play promise needs the opposite. The warranty page says: “if it breaks in normal play in the first 30 days, we replace it once. That covers real hockey: slashes, blocked shots, a battle in the corner.” One clock only pays out if you keep the stick off the ice. The other only exists once you take it on.

So the real question in month one is which of the two you want to spend. Not sure about the size? Keep it clean and keep the refund. Sure about the size? Play it like you mean it, because a break in those first weeks is the one that’s on us. Trying to hold both open at once leaves you using neither, and the calendar runs either way. After day 30 the second clause takes over and manufacturing defects are covered for a year from delivery. How long a composite stick lasts works through what those two dates do and don’t promise.

What a wrong guess actually costs

Worth doing this arithmetic before you order rather than after. Send an unused stick back inside the 30 days and the refund goes to your original payment method once we’ve received the stick and checked it, within 5 to 10 business days. The return ships to Finland and that leg is on you. The original shipping isn’t refunded either, though on a US order there was nothing there to refund, because shipping to the US is free and already sitting in the price.

If the stick turned up faulty or we sent the wrong one, the return is on us instead. So the worst case on a guess you made yourself is one parcel back to Finland and the wait for it to get there. That is the whole downside, and it is the argument for settling the size before checkout rather than after.

What a product photo can’t tell you

Some of this you only learn on the ice. How the shaft sits in your hands, whether you like the balance, what a one-timer feels like off that blade. We can give you the numbers we have measured and the specs we publish, and past that it’s preference. Anyone who tells you their stick feels right for every player is selling, not measuring. That gap is exactly what the 30 day window is for.

Here is the other half of it. The one thing a photo is honest about is the thing we are actually selling you, which is the color, and a screen renders that close enough to trust give or take your monitor. A 165 cm shaft is 165 cm whether you are holding it or reading it. Every other number on our spec sheet is one we measured and published. If a number is not there, we have not measured it, and we are not going to put one up to fill the gap.

Common questions

Is it safe to buy a hockey stick online without holding it first? For fit, yes, because fit is arithmetic: size class from the body, length from standing the stick up, flex from the size. Feel is the part you can’t order, which is why the return window matters more than the photos.

How long does a stick from Finland take to reach the US? Two to four business days to pack, then about one to two weeks in transit, tracked. Free, and duties and taxes are already in the price.

What if I order the wrong size? Send it back unused within 30 days in its original packaging for a refund. Return shipping is on you unless we made the mistake. Keep it off the ice until you’re sure.

When does the 30 day return window start? The day the stick arrives, not the day you ordered it. The 30 day play promise runs from delivery too, so both clocks start together.

How long does a refund take? Once the stick is back with us and checked, 5 to 10 business days to your original payment method. Return shipping to Finland is on you, unless the stick arrived faulty or we sent the wrong one.

Then the easy part

Size class, length, handedness. Get those three right and the rest is which color you want to look at all season. How to choose a hockey stick is the long version of the fitting side. When you know your size, the sticks are here, all 100% carbon fiber, and not one of them is black.