Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images

Toronto Maple Leaf’s Joffrey Lupul carries the puck last night against the Minnesota Wild. Toronto took down the Wild by a score of 4 – 1. Both teams have had unexpected success this year. The Wild jumped out in front early but has seen a slow and painful fall as of late, currently sitting in 9th place. Toronto has followed the same path, currently in 9th place in the Eastern Conference.

Lupul currently leads the Maple Leafs with 51 points, a combination of 20 goals and 31 assists. His career high is only 2 points away. Last night alone he had 3 assists. Rocking the Reebok swag and Easton stick, Lupul is going to break his career high point total and possibly help take the Maple Leafs to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

While the Easton Stealth RS skates will not be ready for a launch with the rest of the protective gear, you can bet they’re going to be a pretty slick skate. Easton has been making strides with their gear as of late, and the release of a Stealth RS skate should help them even more. We will keep you updated with release date information as we find out more, but for now, check out the image below and let us know what you think of the Stealth RS skates.

Easton Stealth RS Skate

Just like the Easton Stealth RS pants, the Stealth RS shoulder pads are going to be really light and are designed to provide the player with maximum mobility while wearing them. The adjustable bicep protectors will help to give you more range of motion when moving. The Stealth RS shoulder pads will also be using griptec to help keep the pads from shifting and moving around during and after collisions.

Easton’s Stealth RS shin guards look a little more on the narrow side, for players that prefer a lean shin guard over a bulky one. The Sling Tec technology will help to keep your shin distanced from the point of impact on the shin guard, while a removable liner will keep your lower legs comfortable. Like the rest of the line, expect these guys to be on the light and mobile side as well.

With the Stealth RS elbow pads, look for more of the same. You’re going to get a light, comfortable elbow pad that will provide great protection by dispersing impact over the entire pad.

Take a look at the Easton Stealth RS protective line below and let us know your thoughts. Will you be purchasing any of these in the near future?

Update: The new Easton Stealth RS protective shoulder pads, elbow pads and shin guards are all available now at Pure Hockey. Check out the Stealth RS protective line today and use the coupon code HOCKEYWORLD to save 10% on select items!

Easton Stealth RS Shoulder Pads

Easton Stealth RS Shin Guards

Easton Stealth RS Elbow Pads

Let us know what you think of the new Easton Stealth RS hockey pants in the comments.

Easton Stealth RS Pants

Easton Stealth RS Hockey Pants

Visually, the Easton Mako design is starting to grow on me. The black shaft with grey Easton graphics looks nice but the fade to white in the lower half of the shaft, along with the white blade, are a bit unique. The lower half of the design is a bit reminiscent of the Easton S19 Pure which was released last year. It’s widely known that a lot of pro’s will spray paint the lower portion of their stick black, but there are some that paint it white too. The black paint and tape will help to hide the puck on a shooter’s blade, while the white shaft and blade will make the stick itself, especially in the flex zone, blend in with the ice. The different options will have varying effects on different goalies, but it definitely looks like Easton is trying to give any advantage it can to the player’s with their sticks.

Take a look at the Easton Mako stick below and let us know your thoughts!

Easton Mako Hockey Stick

November 9, 2011; (Van Nuys, CA) – – Easton-Bell Sports, Inc. – a leading designer, developer and marketer of branded sports equipment and accessories under the Easton, Bell, Giro, Riddell and Blackburn brands  – today announced its largest and most aggressive commitment in skate innovation through its recent purchase of  MLX Skate’s technology. The newly created Easton Speed Institute will combine MLX’s innovative skate insights with Easton’s design and engineering prowess, leading to a new skate concept expected to be in market for the 2013 hockey season.

“As a brand, Easton is at its best when it reinvents categories with game-changing innovation,” said Chris Zimmerman, president of Easton brands.  “We believe there is a unique opportunity to provide a new approach to the art and speed of skating.  I am excited that Easton is committing to the skate category in a way that parallels our leadership in hockey and lacrosse sticks, baseball and softball bats, and helmets.”

Dave Cruikshank, four-time Olympian speed skater and founder of MLX, has joined the Easton Speed Institute as Chief of Speed, bringing with him a lifetime of work, skate research and development, and a new approach to making hockey players faster.  As an international skater for 16 years, Cruikshank has achieved numerous skating accomplishments including:  Junior World Champion 500m; Olympic Trials Gold Medalist; World Cup Medalist; and four-time USA Olympic Team Member.

“The Easton Speed Institute is about innovating a fresh approach to hockey skate designs that speaks to optimizing speed and creating the ultimate skater’s skate.  The Easton Speed Institute will reinvent how a hockey skate performs, and I am thrilled to be a part of this new team that will create game-changing products,” said Cruikshank.

“Bringing Dave and MLX’s technology into the Easton family gives us the ability to reinvent skates in a way no one has before.  Dave’s remarkable insights into the world of power skating are an exceptional compliment to Easton’s expertise in performance engineering and design,” said Zimmerman.

Cruikshank founded MLX to optimize the potential of both National Hockey League players and grassroots athletes by designing superior equipment with the key elements of comfort, protection and performance.  The company’s roots are based in using a powerful new approach to skate performance that has been known to speed skaters for the past two decades.  With the development of Easton’s new skate, the MLX skate brand will no longer be marketed.

Cruikshank will be joined by Easton veteran Dmitry Rusakov, who will lead a team of designers, engineers, developers and biomechanical experts to drive innovation.  The Easton Speed Institute will be located at Easton’s headquarters in Van Nuys, California and in West Allis, Wisconsin.

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Unveiled for the first time at the Let’s Play Hockey Expo in Las Vegas, Easton Hockey introduced their brand new Easton E700 helmet. This new lid has a very stealthy look from the picture, and even incorporates a matte black finish – which is be a cool new look for hockey helmets. The Easton E700 helmet is scheduled to be released on December 1st, 2011, which is coming up quick. This could make for a great product to be added to those holiday wishlists.

In terms of specs, here’s what you can expect on the Easton E700 helmet:

• Full coverage EPP foam liner with PC shell to provide multi-impact durability all in a low profile look
• Giro inspired fit system combined with plush for excellent stability and best in class comfort
• Lightweight helmet design with excellent crush resistant properties
• Available in matte (black or white) and regular finish
• Colors for the regular finish include: black, forest green, maroon, navy, red, royal, white, yellow

Head over to the Easton E700 helmet website for more info.

Check out the Easton E700 below and let us know what you think!

Easton E700 Helmet

Specs: Easton Stealth RS, Grip finish, Iginla curve, 100 Flex

Modifications: Cut two inches off the butt of the stick

Appearance and Design: Plainly put – this stick is sexy. Perhaps no Stealth model to this point has so successfully implemented such a “stealth” look. The stick is almost completely black on the outward-facing side of the shaft while the inward side has blocks and lines of yellow graphically implemented throughout. The butt-end of the stick also features yellow with white letters spelling “Easton Stealth RS.” The blade is mostly black with a strip of yellow beginning on the bottom of the blade at the heel and fading as it moves toward the toe.

Like most one-piece sticks now, the Stealth RS features a tapered shaft. And like sticks in the Stealth line, the RS includes the elliptical TORX shaft on the taper to help improve durability at the lower end of the stick where it’s most susceptible to breakage from serious slashes. The RS also presents newer materials throughout to help maintain durability while decreasing the overall weight of the stick.

The RS also has a dual finish. Most of the shaft is the normal glossy finish, but the gloss fades into a matte finish on the lower-third of the stick and even onto the blade.

A small manufacturing blemish on the blade of our new Easton Stealth RS

Unfortunately, my model had a few manufacturing flaws on the lower portion of the shaft and the blade. The toe of the blade had a raised bump of excess material dried on. It could easily be sanded off no problem, but still a minor flaw that I didn’t expect to see. There also appeared to be some small holes on the bottom of the toe of the blade presumably from popped air bubbles. Most of them are pretty small, but hopefully it doesn’t affect the blade’s durability in the long run.

Balance: The RS has real solid balance with very even weight distribution throughout the entire shaft. In fact, the weight distribution is so good that after using the RS I picked up another stick that I took with me to the rink and could feel a noticeable difference in that stick’s balance compared to the RS. Plus, the balance and even weight distribution help give the RS a more “solid” feel where the shaft doesn’t feel like paper mache that could break on the first hard slash.

Feel: The light weight and even weight distribution allows for a pretty good feel for the puck on the blade. Honestly, I didn’t feel like stick handling ability was the best thing about this stick and I’ve played with other sticks that I think offered a better feel for the puck during stick handling and passing – especially some sticks that are a little more blade-light and seem to send more vibrations up through the shaft when the puck impacts the shaft.

One real positive was how the blade absorbed the energy while receiving passes. I was very impressed with the RS’s ability to take a hard pass. We all know how to cradle a pass, but for testing’s sake I allowed a few hard passes to smack into a firmly held blade and the stick absorbed the pass very well without the puck bouncing all over the place. It was a pleasant surprise.

Bear in mind that for this initial review I was using roller hockey pucks which are incredibly lighter than ice hockey pucks. I think most anyone who purchases the stick will be happy with how it feels stick handling, passing and shooting.

Shooting and Accuracy: Let me preface this section by stating that my only prior experience with Easton’s Stealth line was with the S17 a few years back. While I liked the feel for the puck the stick provided, I had a lot of issues achieving fast, accurate shots with the S17. Comparing that stick to the RS, the RS is a huge improvement.

A lot of people have already described this stick as having a lot of “pop.” This is a pretty apt description. The puck seems to release from the stick quicker and faster shots can be achieved with seemingly less effort. I was really impressed with the stick’s performance on wrist shots. Again, pucks seemed to release quickly from the blade with more energy. Sometimes I had trouble placing my wrist shots high in the corners with the S17. That wasn’t an issue at all with the RS. The solid build of the stick allowed me to place shots high or low with ease.

My accuracy was solid with wrist shots, but less so on slapshots. I was generally able to get my wristers where I wanted them without any trouble. Any issues that I did experience I chalk up to the curve on the stick, which is an Iginla when I am used to using something closer to the Cammalleri curve. Still, I was generally pleased with the accuracy of my wrist shots.

My slapshots, however, were a little tougher to control. I had the same issue with the S17 when I used that stick. Although I can’t be certain of the cause, I attributed my issues to the elliptical TORX shaft on the stick. The RS has the same elliptical shaft, and I experienced some of the same issues. Initially, everything seemed to go about six inches left of where I was aiming. As my session on the rink progressed I found myself better able to control my shots without a loss of power, but it still wasn’t to as high of a degree of accuracy that I have experienced with other sticks. This is definitely something that I will keep an eye on for future reviews to see if it improves as the stick breaks in a little more.

Overall Impressions: After my previous experience with the S17, I was cautiously optimistic about the Easton Stealth RS. Needless to say, after about two hours of messing around with the stick on the rink, I’m impressed. The RS feels solid in your hands and offers a good feel for the puck. But this stick really excels at shooting where the puck really pops off the stick. Accuracy is good on wrist shots but less so on slapshots. Overall, I think most hockey players will be pleased with this purchase.

Although our review starts here with our initial impressions, follow us in the weeks to come as we put this stick to the test in game situations to see how it holds up as we continue to put it through the grind. We will continue to assess many of the areas we have covered here and also get a better feel for the durability of the stick. Keep checking back for more!

If you’re thinking about purchasing the Easton Stealth RS, head over to Inline and Ice Warehouse to grab one. You can get the clear or grip Stealth RS version for only $249.99.

Take a look at the pictures of the new Stealth RS gloves below and share your thoughts!

Easton Stealth RS Hockey Gloves

Easton Stealth RS Gloves

Take a look at the pictures below and let us know what you think of the Easton Stealth 85s ice hockey skates. Will they help Easton gain market share for skates?

Easton Stealth 85S Ice Hockey Skates