Hockey puck

A puck is a vulcanized, hard rubber disk used in ice hockey, one inch thick (25.4 mm) and 3 inches in diameter (76.2 mm), and weighing between 5.5 to 6 oz (156-170 g). It is frozen a few hours before the game to prevent bouncing. Pucks can reach speed of 100+ mph (160 km/h) when struck and are potentially dangerous to players and spectators. Puck related injuries at hockey games are not uncommon. The most tragic incident was on March 18, 2002 when a thirteen year old girl, Brittany Cecil, was killed by a hockey puck at a Columbus Blue Jackets game.

Related Topics:
Vulcanized - Rubber - Ice hockey - March 18 - 2002 - Columbus Blue Jackets

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The origin of the word is obscure, but evidently not connected to Shakespeare's Puck or the mythical Puck. The Oxford English Dictionary suggests the name is related to the verb to puck (a cognate of poke) used in hurling for striking or pushing the ball.

Related Topics:
Shakespeare's Puck - Mythical Puck - Oxford English Dictionary - Hurling

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The phrase "dumb as a hockey puck" was once somewhat common; in an ironic twist the smart puck was developed in the late 1990s, which had integrated electronics to track its position, letting TV stations highlight it on the screen.

Related Topics:
Smart puck - 1990s - TV

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Ice hockey evolved from field hockey played on ice surfaces in Canada. The early players found that the rubber ball used in field hockey was far too active on the hard ice surface, so they cut off the top and bottom of the ball to form the hockey puck.

Related Topics:
Field hockey - Canada

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Some variations of the black, 6 oz. hockey puck exist. One of the most common is a blue, 4 oz. puck that is used for training younger players who aren't yet capable of hitting a heavier puck very hard.

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"Hockey puck" is also a derogatory name for the small, round, unergonomically designed mouse included with the original Apple iMac

Related Topics:
Mouse - IMac

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Underwater Hockey Puck:

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A puck is also used in underwater hockey. See seperate entry.

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Whilst it essentially looks the same as an ice hockey puck, the underwater hockey puck varies in that it has a metal core under the plastic coating of approximately 1.5kg. This enables the puck to have enough weight to sink to the bottom of the pool. The game is then played by 2 teams of 6 manoeuvring the puck along the bottom of the pool with submerged goals at either end of the pool.

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