One of hockey’s distinct features from other team sports – such as basketball, baseball, and soccer – is the use of a non-spherical object to score. The hockey puck may be round, but it’s flat on both sides like a coin. Its shape can result in strange bounces.
While a hockey puck’s shape is apparent to the eye, many people are unaware of its exact weight. In this article, we’ll take you through how much a hockey puck weighs, its size and dimensions, what goes into making one, and its history throughout the game.
The Weight of a Hockey Puck
Based on the NHL’s regulation standards, a hockey puck weighs approximately six ounces. Under the metric system, this converts to roughly 170 grams. The Olympic Games – and other international hockey competitions – also use a six-ounce puck.
There are other types of hockey pucks used for different purposes, including youth pucks weighing around four ounces, heavier training pucks at 10 ounces, and roller hockey pucks weighing about six ounces. These pucks also come in different colours.
The Size of a Hockey Puck
As for the size and dimensions of an official NHL puck, it features a three-inch diameter and contains one inch of height. Similar to the hockey puck’s regulated weight, all skill levels within the sport have standardized its size and dimensions around the world.
If you convert a regulation hockey puck to the metric system, it comes out to be 7.62 centimetres of diameter and 2.54 centimetres of height. Perhaps surprising is that youth pucks, training pucks, and roller hockey pucks are the exact dimensions of NHL pucks.
The Making of the Hockey Puck
Interestingly enough, hockey pucks are currently made exclusively in Canada, Russia, China, and the Czech Republic. Sher-Wood is the NHL’s official game puck supplier, with the company’s Quebec factories producing 300,000 to 400,000 pucks each year.
The first step to making a hockey puck is mixing granular rubber and a bonding material within a machine. Carbon black – which is a type of coal dust – is also combined with the rubber and bonding material. This mixture is moulded together and compressed.
The History of the Hockey Puck
It took some experimenting to get to where the hockey puck is today. Initially starting with a ball, hockey players found it difficult to control it on the ice. The first puck was a square, but people began cutting the top and bottom of rubber balls to create flat pucks.
In the early 1900s, people were gluing layers of rubber together. A few decades later, the hockey puck finally resembled its size and shape we’re using now with synthetic rubber. By the 1990s, the NHL had standardized official pucks for its league’s games.
Final thoughts on the Weight of a Hockey Puck
Despite a relatively small number of official manufacturers, the hockey puck’s unique shape, size, production, and history is unlike any other team sport. This six-ounce object of vulcanized rubber – typically coated in black – is recognized around the world.
We hope you’ve learned something about the weight, size, making, or history of the hockey puck. If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments! Let us know which types of hockey pucks you use for practice, in roller hockey, or on the streets!