As the calendar year winds down, lacrosse manufacturers are gearing up for the 2008 season with a bevy of new heads that are sure to be popular and get the message boards buzzing.  Rock-it Pocket will do its best to stay on top of all the new releases and keep you informed of what we think of each head.  Below is an overview of what to expect from each company.

Brine will finally be introducing the Voyce after a year of tinkering and fine tuning.  While it won’t have the two colored mold that they were hoping for last year, it should still be a solid contributor to Brine’s first full season under New Balance. The Voyce feature Brine's “maximum offset” and will likely feel a lot like the old Edge when it first came out.  Cyber fans will be excited about the introduction of the Cyber Pro, which is essentially the Cyber retooled with “professional” specifications.  We're huge Cyber fans, so this should be a nice addition. For those who haven’t noticed, anything that says “Pro” will be manufactured to the MINIMUM dimensions for legality, so care for these heads wisely to avoid stick penalties.  Brine’s other new entry will be the Franchise, and it will be the company’s high-end item for 2008.  We haven’t seen it up close yet, but expect the Franchise to be a popular, though slightly pricey, option for this season.  It looks to have tons of stringing holes, giving you and our stringers plenty of options to get the pockets just right. 

Gait/deBeer is a company making huge waves with its head line in 2008.  Four new heads highlight the group, including several innovative ideas.  Gait/deBeer is following the lead of STX into the offset handle market, mostly to avoid paying Warrior any royalties from using the offset head.  Three of Gait’s four new heads are meant to be assembled on what they call the “Transfer Offset System,” or TOS handles.  We have not been a fan of carrying heads with this technology before because we don’t like anything that forces the consumer to have to buy a specific sort of handle to go with a head.  Unfortunately, the competitive lacrosse marketplace is such that manufacturers don’t have a choice if they want to make money – and as always, the consumer ends up footing the bill.  We like Gait/deBeer heads enough to carry the line, but it will mean specializing in handles that are offset. 

At any rate, the Gait/deBeer Quad is a four piece lacrosse head infused with carbon for durability.  We’re not sure about the Quad yet as our rep didn’t have one on hand to show us, but be assured that we will have our crack team of testers ready and waiting to give this one a go.  The Quad is Gait’s only new head for 2008 not designed to use the TOS.  The Recon Ti will be one of two heads released this season with Titanium infused in the head.  While Warrior’s Stiffi will have one long piece throughout the throat, the Recon Ti has four strategically placed “bars” of Titanium meant to increase strength.  The bars will be interchangeable and replaceable.  Gait is also releasing the Torque Pro with an updated lifting system for shooting strings and a slightly more pinched face.  The only downside to this is that the original Torque will begin to phase out. Finally, Gait’s Thrust will be an extremely good value as it will be sold only as a head/handle combination with a TOS handle called, appropriately, the Thrust.  The Thrust will come in at a nice price point, especially considering what some of the heads will cost this year and that you get a handle with it as well.  One thing you can say for Gait/deBeer is that they keep the stringer in mind with a multitude of stringing holes throughout the head.

STX is not releasing anything particularly groundbreaking in 2008, but for Rock-it Pocket, we will be getting in on the “10 degree” technology that we avoided last season.  In addition to the K18, Kannon and X3, we will also be carrying the STX G22, Gary Gait’s personal entry into the foray.  The G22 is purported to be one of the lightest heads ever made and we are excited to get our hands on it to try it out.  As we said before, we’ve never been a fan of heads that force customers to buy a specific handle, but it appears that both Gait/deBeer and STX will be going almost exclusively that way for all new heads in the coming years.  STX has also retooled the Excalibur and are re-releasing what used to be the X2 as the Xcalibur.  The X2 was one of the best heads around for some time, so look for this head to be competitive as well. 

Finally, Warrior hits the shelves with several additions that are sure to be popular as always.  Their headliner is the new Stiffi, a head with a Titanium rod running along the front facing rail around the throat.  Having seen the Stiffi in action in several MLL games, this head will be a solid contributor.  It’s not as crazy as the Helix in terms of shape and should therefore perform a little better by comparison.  The Blade also makes a triumphant return in two forms – the Blade 2.0 and the Blade Face-Off.  The 2.0 version will be similar to the older version, but not quite as flexible and a little less pinched.  The F-Off has two different sidewalls to make clamping easier and faster.  While the original Blade was one of the most popular face-off heads ever, Warrior took it one step further with the F-Off. 

For what it’s worth, even the Warrior reps can’t stand the names of the equipment their company is putting out anymore.  While we think Warrior’s heads and handles are as good as anyone’s, if not better, you just have to look past the names to get to the quality products - just tell your mom to ignore them.

Don't despair, we didn't forget the goalies in our 2008 preview! Neither Brine nor STX have any new goalie heads coming out, but Gait/deBeer will release the Quad Goalie and the Sentinel Pro, neither of which we have seen yet. Warrior's new entry is the ODB, which is essentially the old Big Nasty without the wings. We will have to see these heads to formulate a more accurate opinion.

There will be several new handles to the market this year and Rock-it Pocket will be increasing its line to accommodate the TOS by Gait/deBeer and the 10 degree offset system from STX.  Look for full reviews of each head and handle as they come in and we get a chance to test them in the field. Release dates will vary, but we will be sure to get these products out to the public as quickly as we can.