What is a hockey puck?
Unlike many popular sports, ice hockey does not include the use of the ball today. Instead, sport uses a hockey puck, a vulcanized rubber disk that players send ice using hockey sticks. The hockey puck is used in a similar way to the balls in other sports, but because the ice hockey is played on the ice, the shape of the puck hockey is easier to control over the smooth surface of the ice than moving the ball. The hockey puck is usually about three inches on average and is almost always black, with the exception of puck training and special newspaper pucks. Because the ball was too active on the surfaces on which they played, the players started cutting the top and down from the ball to reduce jumping. As the game progressed, a hockey puck was born. To discourage excessive reflections during the games, today the hockey pucks are frozen a few hours before playing the game.
hockey puck usually weighs about six ounces, although there are other massof the way. The training puck can be a few ounces lighter to discourage injuries during practices. Due to the shape and weight of the hockey puck, players can move the puck with their stick up a hundred miles per hour (approximately 160 km/h). This has led to the development of safety equipment for use in ice hockey, specifically a helmet that protects players from head injury - and in many cases face injuries. The goalkeepers wear special protective masks that cover their heads, ears, face, chin and neck.
There are also variations of conventional ice hockey puck. For example, street hockey - hockey played on the sidewalk - uses the use of a puck that either has smooth balls built into the puck base to help overflow the surface or small ribs or holes that help in movement. They are often made of plastic rather than rubber. Hockey hockey hockey pucks also have cylindrical balls at the base of the puck, but usually have a similar weight to a conventional ice hockey puck.