What Flex Do Women's Hockey Players Use?

Flex is how much force it takes to bend a stick. The number is roughly the pounds of force needed to bend it one inch, HockeyMonkey explains, so a higher number means a stiffer stick. The question for women players is where to start.

The general rule

Bauer’s buying guide recommends starting with a flex a little below half your body weight. Minnesota Hockey says experts often suggest about half your weight once a player reaches senior sticks. For a 140 lb player, that points to roughly a 65 to 70 flex.

One thing moves the number after you buy:

• Cutting. Bauer says cutting a stick raises its flex number, and an extension lowers it. In a 2012 article, Base Hockey owner Ron Kunisaki estimated about 3 to 4 flex points per inch removed.

What the experts said about women

In January 2012, women’s coach Amey Doyle published interviews on this exact question. She wrote that she often felt female players, young and old, use sticks that are too stiff.

Joel Bergeron, then Bauer’s manager of pro custom products, told her that women should generally use lower flexes, and that only a few women should go stiffer than 80. He also noted that flex choice is subjective. For young female players, Doyle’s own rule of thumb was 55 to 65.

What national-team players used

Doyle’s article listed the flexes of several Canadian national-team players at the time:

Player	Height and weight listed	Flex
Marie-Philip Poulin	5’7”, 145 lb	67
Sarah Vaillancourt	5’6”, 135 lb	67
Catherine Ward	5’6”, 137 lb	65 to 67
Caroline Ouellette	5’11”, 169 lb	80
Gillian Apps	6’0”, 178 lb	85

Ouellette found the 80 worked better than an 85 for her one-timers, the article said. Apps was the only player listed above 80. Bergeron put the average NHL flex at about 95 to 100 at the time.

These numbers are from 2012. Sticks and players have changed since, so treat them as a reference point, not a current spec sheet.

More recent examples

• Brianne Jenner: HockeyStickMan’s 2022 spec check lists a 67 flex with a P88 pattern for the stick she used at the World Championship in Calgary.
• Natalie Spooner: HockeyStickMan has listed a pro stock True Project X under her name, labelled PWHL Toronto, at 70 flex, right-handed, TC3 curve and 59 inches.

Both are from a retailer, not from the players. They line up with the 65 to 70 range above.

For more on what pro women’s sticks look like, see PWHL and national-team sticks and the women’s hockey stories.

Women’s-specific flex ranges

CCM’s Jetspeed FTW Pro, which CCM markets for women, comes in:

• Intermediate: 50, 55, 60 and 65 flex.
• Senior: 65 and 70 flex.

That range, 50 to 70, sits well below the 95 to 100 that Bergeron gave as the average NHL flex in 2012.

Where tape fits in

Tape does not change your stick’s flex rating. What it changes is the top of the stick. If you cut a stick to get the length right, your flex goes up, and you also need to recap the end and rebuild the knob. Hockey Canada and USA Hockey both require the end of a hollow shaft to be covered.

See choosing and taping a stick for women’s hockey for sizing, and how big should a hockey stick knob be for the knob.