Bauer AG5NT Stick Review

October 14, 2022 || Written by Katie Lakusta

Bauer’s had a strong year with the release of the Mach, SYNC, and KONEKT equipment—but their mission is far from over. They’ve been teasing us with this new AG5NT stick for the past year, and the Hockey Shop has finally received a batch of this mysterious gear. You’ll notice on the side that it warns: “May Cause More Goals.” Let’s take a look at why that could be a concern for your adversary.

Low Kick Profile

Like the Sling was a variation of Bauer’s mid kick Nexus, the AG5NT is a variant of the low kick Vapor line. This means the stick is designed to bend closer to the hosel rather than around the middle of the shaft like in a mid kick. Something much of our team noticed when shooting with the AG5NT is the slightly stiffer feel. The effect is a harder, whippier release on snap and wrist shots—and there is a reason for this, which we’ll delve into next.

A good thing to note is that the stiffness should not change the flex you’re currently using; the stiffness rating only describes the durability, behaviour of the low kick point, and strength on the shot. If you are using a 70 flex right now, stay with the 70 flex.

New Top Secret ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ Material

Bauer not only puts a lot of thought and research into the overall construction of their equipment, but they also go all the way with names, numbers, and logos. In the AG5NT, they debut a new material into the game of hockey—and as some may have guessed, that “5” in the name is a major clue as to what that element is: the 5th element on the periodic table, boron.

Boron fibre has traditionally been used in aviation and the military for its compression strength, stiffness rating, and amazingly light weight. With the strategic placement of boron fibre throughout the stick, Bauer is able to configure quite a few metrics of the AG5NT stick.

Lightest Stick to Date

In addition to the other performance enhancements that boron fibre has to offer, it is also much lighter in weight compared to carbon. This property, along with the lighter grip and XE taper, allowed Bauer to reduce the weight to a whopping 335g, making the AG5NT the lightest hockey stick on the market today.

XE Taper

Tapers are very important in low kick sticks since the stick is built to bend lower on the shaft. The XE taper is a returning tech that you can also find on the Hyperlite and other previous high-end low kick sticks from Bauer. Originally a descendant of the elliptical taper from Easton, this innovation is round, thin, and more compressed than a standard taper. The design effectively reduces weight further while preventing unwanted torsional flex. It also makes the middle portion of the taper more flexible for greater load potential for shots. Combined with boron, the XE taper now has the potential to be tougher than ever.

Grip

I wanted to go a bit more in detail about the grip that the AG5NT has since it sparked an interesting conversation in the Shop. Most of Bauer’s top-of-the-line hockey sticks, such as the Nexus SYNC and Vapor Hyperlite, all have the same kind of soft, smooth grip all the way across the shaft. With the AG5NT, Bauer took another direction.

The grip on this stick is milder and smoother, which helps reduce weight and allows for more freedom of movement when adjusting your hands. It also ends earlier down the shaft, around where the XE taper starts. If you find grip on high-end sticks today to be a bit overwhelming, the AG5NT could very well be the perfect next upgrade for you.

Graphics

Like all special edition sticks from Bauer, the AG5NT uses a new colour scheme, has its own logo, and includes multiple unique accents over the shaft. The stick is mainly black with dark key lime green accents, in addition to some iridescent colouring. The AG5NT’s techy aesthetic is similar to that found on the Mach series of gear.

Final Thoughts

When the Shop was teased about this stick about a year ago, we eagerly anticipated the release of even just a tidbit of information about what it would do and look like. Now that it’s here and snuck its way into our inventory, all we can say is it’s even better than we could've thought. It’s actually kind of hard to put into words just how clean and light this stick feels in your hands when shooting and handling the puck. It’s definitely a stick you just have to hold and try out yourself for the full experience.