Gait Ice 30" Attack Lacrosse Shaft

Gait lacrosse has released the Ice lacrosse shaft as their lightweight option for up-and-coming players. The Ice is made from one of the stronger aluminium alloys. With a little added touch of Scandium, this shaft really starts to nudge into higher performance categories. How good is it? Let's take a look.

Material & Weight

The Gait Ice is already well known to everyone as the light shaft. As soon as you pick it up you'll without a doubt agree. Made from C555 aluminium alloy, it is slightly stronger than C405/7055 aluminium alloy. The shaft contains a small amount of Scandium which contributes to the extra strength and less weight. Just check out how much these guys love Scandium. Don't it make you wanna get up and lame dance?

Shape

The shaft is a standard octagonal shape. It probably doesn't need a concave design as it does offer a good amount of grip.

Grip

If you look down the shaft, there is a diamond weave pattern along the whole length. The textured diamond grip does run on the planes of the shaft and not so much on the edges, so a concave design would hinder the grips effect.

The grip is quite subtle and strikes a really good balance. Not too much that it'll chew up your gloves and not too little that slips around in your hands. The great thing is if you feel it's not enough, you can always add tape. If you're concerned about whether the grip might be too much, then we'd suggest you look at non textured comparable shafts, like the Warrior Kryptolyte.

General Wear and Tear

Being a shaft made from an aluminium alloy, the Gait Ice will dent a little easier than the higher grade shafts. The colour and grip may fade and wear overtime and the logo may wear off, but these are only aesthetic concerns. And if they don't, then quite honestly you're not playing hard enough!

The Gait Ice is treated with an anodised finish, which adds to its exterior protection. The external surface of Aluminium scratches easily and rough surfaces can wear smooth over time. The anodised treatment helps strengthen the outer layer making the shaft less susceptible to natural wear and tear of Aluminium.

One thing we found a little surprising is that you simply cannot remove the butt end! Well, you could cut it out but what's the point in that? Our advice to you is that make sure you like the butt end before you buy.

Summary

With all the features of this shaft, we don't recommend it for senior players or box lacrosse. Besides, it's targeted to entry level to high school players so that shouldn't be much of a worry. Yes the shaft does include Scandium, but not to the levels where it could reasonably be advertised as a Scandium shaft. So it's does have elements of a high performance shaft, but it's not at the level of a Composite or Titanium enhanced shaft.

Gait seems to change the pattern every year and the 2012 has a great look. But that's if you're into aesthetics. Where you'll see an opportunity is to pick up last season’s model at a discounted price. Why pay full price?