What is there to know about hockey pucks?  They are little black discs of vulcanized rubber, you can’t play hockey without it, and boy can they hurt if you get in the way of one. You probably wouldn’t think that lots of thought or even regulations can go into something so simple, but lo and behold, the puck gets just as much attention as any other part of hockey. Here are some interesting things about our favorite piece of hockey equipment.

The Hockey Puck became standardized and made of vulcanized rubber in 1886. Prior to that, Hurling/Bandy balls (a variation of field hockey) were used. The tops and bottoms of the ball were cut to reduce bouncing and lay flat on the ice. There are other accounts of wooden discs being used or even frozen cow droppings that have circulated in tales of Hockey’s debatable origins.

A Hockey Puck is 1” thick 3” in diameter, and weighs 6oz. The NHL did not require teams to supply “Regulation” pucks until the 1990/91 season.  Art Ross promoted the use of synthetic rubber for the manufacture of pucks to be used in the NHL in 1940, claiming that the pucks would be more consistent in play.

Here’s another fun fact: Remember to freeze your pucks before you get out on the ice! All NHL Arenas have puck freezers and coolers in the penalty box for the pucks. Pucks are usually changed every few minutes to make sure a nice frozen puck is in play. A puck that is not frozen will bounce, break apart faster, and move slower on the ice.

“What do you mean you can’t see it?” We’ve all said this to our non-hockey friends who claim they don’t see goals get scored, they don’t know where the puck is etc… Did you know that hockey clubs and organizations have been polite enough to reach across the aisle and help them follow along?.  Sadly, all of these attempts failed miserably, aggravating both the players and hockey purists. The first attempt, the “Firepuck” was very short lived and barely remembered (or worth remembering). The Firepuck was more a logistical and mechanical nuisance than an innovation. The Firepuck was outfitted with reflective material laminated onto the flat surfaces, a spotlight was then mounted to the TV camera that would be following the puck. It was actually tested for use and used in a handful of IHL games and the 1997 EHL All Star Game. The only time it ever got close to the NHL was a Video Demonstration of the Minnesota North Stars using it that was played between periods at the 1993 NHL All Star Game. The Firepuck met its end from complaints that the laminated surfaces led to more bouncing, the spotlights were reflecting off the ice, making it distracting for players, and most of all, the spotlights were useless when the camera view was of the whole ice (the most common camera shot).

Next came the “FOXTRAX Smart Puck”?  If you are too young to remember it, it is probably a good thing. It was only in existence and use from the All Star Game in 1996 and ended after the 1998 Playoffs. The Smart Puck was born out of the complaints from FOX’s American Hockey TV audience, claiming they couldn’t follow the puck. So they did the only logical thing you can think of…They sliced open a regular puck, threw in a circuit board, battery, and infrared (IR) Emitters, glued it back together and sent it on its merry way. The engineers ensured that it maintained the same weight and activity on the ice. The rink was set up with IR capturing sensors and cameras along the perimeter and in the rafters. A complex navigation network, and character generating truck worked together to make the puck glow blue on screen. The FOXTRAX Smart Puck was a success as the FOX sports survey results showed,  7 out of 10 respondents approved of the puck. Unfortunately, it faced backlash from the old-time hockey fans, and the NHL players, and countries like Canada have teased the American FOXTRAX Smart Puck invention ever since (e.g. in Molson commercials and shows like “This Hour Has 22 Minutes”).  The FOXTRAX Smart Puck was also very expensive to produce.  FOX was only able to supply 30 pucks per game, but not for practice because of the cost. The puck’s battery only lasted 30 minutes, and on average only used on the ice for 10 minutes. The puck would have a little blue comet tail with every pass, and would get a red comet tail when it traveled over 70MPH.