Puck (sport)

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A puck is the game device used in ice hockey , inline hockey , underwater hockey , table hockey and air hockey .

ice Hockey

specification

Standard pucks

The puck is a hard rubber disc, is exactly 1  inch (2.54 cm) high and has a diameter of 3 inches (7.62 cm). The weight can vary between 5.5 and 6 ounces (approx. 156 and 170 grams).

Since the pucks can reach speeds of 170 km / h when shot with blows , serious injuries can occur. Since the introduction of compulsory helmets for players, these have become quite rare for players; however, it has also happened that pucks have left the field of play and hit spectators who could no longer protect themselves in time. On March 18, 2002, a 13-year-old girl died in Columbus ( USA ) after she was hit by the puck in a Columbus Blue Jackets game. Ever since then, ice hockey rinks in the USA have had to be secured with wraparound nylon nets.

The puck was invented in 1877 by William Fleet Robertson by simply trimming the rubber balls used up until then so that only a disc remained.

The Mitteldeutsche Gummiwarenfabrik Louis Peter AG in Frankfurt-Sachsenhausen produced ice hockey pucks and ice hockey balls in the early 1920s (balls were also used).

The mascot of the ice hockey world championship in 1993 was called “Puck”, as was a series of woodcuts by Georg Baselitz for the same event.

Pucks as a collector's item

Official game puck of the 2004 World Cup

Collectors differentiate between official game pucks (the "Official Game Pucks") and souvenir pucks. Both are normal ice hockey pucks and only differ in their imprint. Game pucks are released for play by the respective league or the IIHF (International Ice Hockey Federation) and are usually provided with unmistakable imprints. Often the print on the back decides on a game or souvenir puck . There you can often find the imprint "Official Game Puck" and the respective logo of the league or the IIHF. This is the rule in North America, but not yet in Europe, to the chagrin of puck collectors. Ordinary black pucks without imprints are often used here and are of no interest to collectors. Another unmistakable indication of the difference between souvenir and game puck is the country of manufacture of the disc. In the NHL, only pucks from Canada are used as game pucks. Reprints on Eastern European pucks are not used there.

Official game pucks from World Championships and Olympic Games are very popular among collectors and are generally not available for purchase. As a result, they are correspondingly rare, as they are produced in smaller numbers, and they achieve high prices at auctions. The company GUFEX from the Czech Republic is currently the official and licensed supplier of all tournaments that run under the supervision of the IIHF.

InGlasCo / Sherwood has been producing the game pucks since the 2010 Olympic Games. The discs come from Canada, which can also be read on the page. For the 2014 Olympic Games, the game pucks were also produced by Sherwood, but have no notices on the side. Caution is advised for collectors, as there are also pucks in circulation that have been printed on Gufex or Rubena discs. The Rubena pucks were used to present the game pucks, the Gufex pucks are simple reprints of no great value.

The puck, which fatally injured the 13-year-old girl in the USA in 2002 (see specification ), was also bought at auction from an unknown person for $ 1,000 and thus set the record for the highest ever price for a hockey puck.

Game pucks from the North American leagues, however, are often available for purchase. Current models are therefore not necessarily to be described as rare. The situation is different with pucks from earlier decades, they can achieve top prices and are not available very often in very good condition. Souvenir pucks are usually produced in large numbers and in a wide variety of variations. This means that they do not have the exclusivity of the official game pucks and, although they enjoy a certain popularity with collectors, they are nowhere near as popular as the game pucks.

Leuchtpuck

In 1986, Eberhard von der Mark from Hückeswagen near Radevormwald developed the so-called light puck (pulsar puck with light-emitting diodes ), which emits a flashing red light signal for several seconds when hit. The light puck was patented in Europe under the number EP0273944 (USA: 4,968,036; Canada: 1305734).

Inline hockey

Inline hockey puck

The puck is similar to the ice hockey puck, but is provided with 6 sliding cams on both sides to reduce friction on solid surfaces, which wear off over time. Although this is available in different colors, red pucks have prevailed in the European leagues. The weight is approx. 100-120 grams.

See also

  • Bully (ice hockey) , kick off in ice hockey and inline hockey, as well as Bavarian for puck.

Web links

Commons : Puck  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Puck  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. Gummi-Zeitung and Kautschuk, No. 36/1922, p. 229