Sherwood T120 Stick Review

In recent years, Sherwood Hockey has started to regain a bit of the popularity that they once had when they were prominent manufacturers of wood hockey sticks. In the early days of composite sticks, Sherwood struggled to maintain buzz. But within the past couple of years, they have released a few high quality sticks at more wallet friendly prices when compared to the big manufacturers. These new sticks, coupled with the signing of a high profile NHL player in Bobby Ryan, and Sherwood is back to making a name for itself once again.

We are grateful to Sherwood Hockey for sending over their latest offering, the Sherwood T120 stick, for us to put through our review process. Read on our thoughts on their latest elite level stick.

Specs: Sherwood T120, 85 flex, Stastny Pattern

Design and Construction:

The Sherwood T120 stick is designed using EKORE technology. According to Sherwood, this is an extremely sophisticated manufacturing process where the stick is entirely handcrafted. This process requires precision and attention to detail, resulting in an a very light weight product and one that has improved durability. The process is also unique to Sherwood and helps to distinguish their products from the competition.

The stick itself is constructed with an ultra resistant carbon fiber which weighs approximately 30% less than regular carbon fiber. After the handcrafted construction process, the completed T120 stick which weighs in at only 395 grams which makes it one of the lightest on the market today.

In terms of shaft design, the T120 is built with square double concave walls. This allows you to maintain a secure grip on the stick, and provide less torque when shooting. While the shaft is a bit bigger than the Sherwood Rekker EK15, the T120 has a stronger core due to the manufacturing process.

Sherwood’s T120 stick is also designed with a mid-kick flex profile. According to the Sherwood website, the T120 “is ideal for the power play artist that is looking for a balanced feel and unloads heavy slap shots and one-timers.”

Down into the blade, Sherwood has used their VRF.2 technolgy where the blade construction process was revamped and now each step of manufacturing the blade is done by hand. Again, these new manufacturing processes are unique to Sherwood and something you can only get with their products. The blade uses high performance foam to improve durability and provide a better feel for the puck. Sherwood has also added an additional carbon bridge into the blade in order to increase stiffness and help minimize stress on the blade. This also helps to stabilize the blade and create less torsion when shooting.

Feel:

The Sherwood T120 stick has a nice and solid feel to it. It felt quite light upon initially picking it up, but it was not really distinguishable between other top end sticks as far as I could tell, despite weighing in under 400 grams. For example, the CCM Tacks stick weighs in closer to 430 grams, or nearly 35 grams heavier than the listed weight of the T120, but both feel light and well balanced.

With that said, for being so light, the Sherwood T120 feels like a rock. It is a sturdy stick, and you don’t get this sense of it being too fragile as you take it out on the ice. I felt confident that it could hold up to the rigors of competitive game play and the hacks and slashes that go along with it.

Puck feel out on the ice was nice, and on par with other top end offerings. The stick doesn’t blow your mind with over the top puck feel, but it does give you exactly the type of response you would expect out of a stick at this level.

Shooting and Accuracy:

The Sherwood T120 stick excels with exactly the type of shot the manufacturer says it will, slapshots. I don’t mean to imply that wrist shots or snap shots are terrible with this stick, because they’re not, but slap shots are definitely the bread and butter of the stick. Once I really started to let loose with the T120, I was surprising myself with the power I could generate on a slapshot. The mid-kick flex profile allows the shaft to adequately load up and still quickly release the puck with plenty of oomph. If I played more on the blue line as a defenseman, I would be even happier with the T120 for that reason.

However, as a player who primarily plays forward, I was still pleased with the sticks shooting ability. Both wrist shots and snaps seemed about as quick and accurate as you would get with other top end sticks. The puck certainly will not pop off your stick quite as fast as its low flex point counterpart the Rekker EK15, but it’s still quick enough to be dangerous out on the ice.

Durability:

The Sherwood T120 stick remains strong and break free after a couple solid months of usage. There are the standard blemishes and marks on the lower portion of the shaft, much like you would see with any other composite stick. However, the stick does not seem to be losing any of its pop, nor is the blade getting soft.

I’m still impressed at how well the stick has held up despite how light it is. My expectation was to not have a long life on this stick for that reason. It goes to show that Sherwood’s new manufacturing processes are pretty rock solid.

Overall Impressions: 

Sherwood’s T120 stick has some great features, but besides being handcrafted there is only one thing that really distinguishes it from the competition and that is price. While most premier level hockey sticks are now coming out with a price point around $259.99, it’s impressive to see Sherwood release a stick manufactured in North America at a price of only $219.99.

From my time with the T120, my biggest takeaway regarding the sticks performance was that there was no one stand out feature that blew me away. That is not meant to be a knock against the product though. In fact, just the opposite. The T120 performs well in a lot of different areas. It quietly did its job night in and night out, and was a stick I would definitely have to strongly consider if I were in the market for a new one. With the combination of performance, good looks, and terrific price, Sherwood is once again making a name for itself in the hockey community.

Interested in purchasing the Sherwood T120 stick? Head over to Ice and Inline Warehouse where you can grab one today for only $219.99!

Have you used the Sherwood T120 stick? Leave a comment below with your personal review and experiences with the T120 stick!