Why Are Hockey Pucks Frozen?

Instead of using a ball like in most sports, ice hockey uses a puck. Before each ice hockey game, the puck is frozen. There are a few reasons for this, but all of them have to do with making the puck easier to control on the ice.

  1. Process

    • Hockey pucks are frozen for 10 days, then an official hits it on the ground to see how high it bounces to decide if the puck is ready to be used.

    Bouncing

    • The reason an official tests how high a frozen puck bounces is because even vulcanized rubber is very elastic and will bounce, but freezing the puck will stop the puck from bouncing as high.

    Sliding

    • Many things will slide on ice, but there are not many things that slide on ice better than frozen things, so freezing the puck will make it slide on the ice better than an unfrozen puck.

    Ricochet

    • An ice hockey puck can be hit at speeds up to 90 mph so a rubber puck bouncing off a wall could do some serious damage. But because the puck is frozen, it reduces how much it will ricochet off other objects.

    Puck Control

    • All of the above factors--less bouncing, less sliding and less ricochets--makes the puck easier for hockey players to control.