Hockey is a game of real men! Of course, what kind of “not real” man will foolishly jump out onto the ice and chase the puck in the hope of throwing it into the opponent’s goal or, in the worst case, getting it in the teeth? This sport is quite tough, and it’s not even how much the hockey puck weighs, but how fast it develops during the game.
A brief excursion into the history of hockey
One of the most contested types of sports began its existence in Montreal in 1763. At this time, Great Britain just annexed Canada, conquering it from France. Initially, British soldiers only practiced field hockey, but since the winters in the newly conquered terrain were very harsh, this sport soon became winter.
The official date for the first ever hockey match is March 3, 1875, when two teams of 9 players came together at the Victoria Montreal rink. Of the equipment they only had gates, wooden washers and a baseball protective uniform. The audience liked the game so much that two years later the first 7 rules of hockey were approved, and soon rubber pucks were launched.
The game, already considered national among the people, fell in love with the Canadian Governor-General Frederick Stanley. In 1893, he invented the legendary cup named after him, for which members of the National Hockey League are still fighting today.
How hockey became the original Russian game
The history of Russian hockey began on December 22, 1946. On this day Moscow, Leningrad, Riga, Kaunas and Arkhangelsk hosted the debut games of the first hockey championship in the Soviet Union. “Ours” already in 1954 for the first time reached the world level and in the blink of an eye became leaders, defeating the team of then Canadians world champions with a score of 7: 2.
The unstable situation of the 90s forced Russian hockey stars to relocate to more generous foreign clubs, where they still show the highest class.
After 1993, when the Russian team once again became the world champion, a series of setbacks followed, and only in 2008 she was able to regain its former glory and rank.
Family Tree Washers
Before telling in full detail about how much a hockey puck weighs and “what it is eaten with”, let us look into the past, in those years when hockey was only gaining momentum. So, the “ancestor” of what we today proudly call the puck was
ordinary ball, which was chased through the grass. Somewhere in the middle of the 19th century, he was replaced by ... a stone, and, you know, such an instrument of the game could cripple anyone. But, strangely enough, people have been going to the lightweight version of the hockey project for almost a century, and somewhere in 1975, wood began to be used as the material for the puck. And only in 1979, one of the fans of this sport, having nothing more suitable at hand, took an ordinary rubber ball and cut it from opposite sides. The resulting disk was even more convenient than its wooden predecessor, and therefore began to be widely used in sports.
Neo washers
Of course, today no one makes hockey shells in such a makeshift way. Technology has stepped far forward, and modern washers are mainly made either from rubber or, as it is also called, vulcanized rubber, or from plastic. The manufacturers did not choose such materials by any chance: such raw materials have advantageous characteristics that prevent the puck from bouncing during the game. Such a projectile, regardless of how much the hockey puck weighs, is very durable and can withstand enormous loads, which are more than enough in hockey: it doesn’t get any kicks with sticks, constant gliding on ice and powerful blows to the fence.
To achieve this density, the puck must be placed in a special refrigerator room at least 10 days before the start of the game. Under the influence of low temperatures, rubber and plastic lose their elastic abilities.
And so that the projectile does not merge with the white surface of the ice, carbon black can be used in its manufacture. Although there are several types of washers, depending on its color. For standard matches, they use the usual black puck, for training players - orange or blue (depending on how much hockey puck is), and for training goalkeepers - white.
Jewelry work
The puck production process itself is quite straightforward, especially since it is almost completely automated. Long rubber bars are cut by the machine into small disks, which subsequently lend themselves to heat treatment and pressing. As a result of all the manipulations, a projectile must be made that meets all international standards: the diameter of the hockey puck must be 7.62 cm, its thickness should not exceed 2.54 cm, and the weight ranges from 154-168 grams. The shell of such parameters is then painted, the necessary logos are applied to it by screen printing.
A correctly made puck can reach speeds of up to 190 km / h, of course, if the hockey player attaches himself to the stick well.
Hand-made-masterpieces
But not so simple. Professional and souvenir hockey pucks need a more careful finish, so they are all done manually. For this, the washer masters mix rubber with their hands (at this stage it looks like granules) with special viscous raw materials. The resulting mixture is filled with two complementary halves of the same shape, and then the standard version of the hockey shell is obtained by cold pressing.
Each club has its own symbolism, which must certainly be knocked out on the puck. Therefore, manufacturers using silk-screen printing methods and multi-colored rubber inks apply the emblems he ordered on previously prepared washers.
Sometimes in the manufacturing process, a defective product is obtained, which is quite easy to determine. All shells pass the rebound test without fail and if the speed developed by the test sample does not correspond to the speed of the reference washer, then it returns for revision.
Unsuccessful modification
In the distant 1994, the FOX-TV television company, which constantly broadcasts NHL matches throughout America, was allowed to create its own modification of a hockey projectile that would be more noticeable to viewers when watching matches. The size of the FoxTrax hockey puck (that’s how they started to magnify the new product) did not change, but a special chip and power supply were placed inside it, and infrared light sources were placed around the perimeter. Along the border of the hockey field, 16 sensors were located, which, interacting with the radiation sources on the puck, signaled to the computer of the TV center about the movement of the projectile.
The viewer really liked this invention, since FoxTrax were highlighted on the screens in different colors: red meant that the puck speed at the moment reached 80 km / h, green - 120 km / h. And everything would be fine if it were not for the high cost of such a device ($ 400) and the need to recharge the device every 10 minutes. And besides, the players began to notice that FoxTrax does not behave on ice like a regular puck. Therefore, since 1998, they have been banned from production.
Death throw
Although the weight of the hockey puck is not so great, it can cause irreparable harm. And not just the players. To protect the spectators from danger, the hockey field is fenced with special high sides made of stable protective glass, and the stands, which are located directly behind the goalkeeper, are also fenced. But throughout the history of this sport, there have been cases when fans became victims of a puck that jumped overboard.
For example, in 2002, a 13-year-old girl named Brittany Cecil, who was following the development of the match between the Canadian Calgary Flames and the American Columbus Blue Jackets, was fatally injured. The zealous blow of Espen Knutsen instantly transferred the puck over all the fences, and she flew to the 15th row, where the unfortunate one sat.
As you can see, it doesn’t matter how much the hockey puck weighs, the main thing is the speed with which it rushes around the field. So take care!