A standard hockey puck consists of six ounces of black vulcanized rubber. It is round, with a three-inch diameter
and is also one inch thick. Youth players (Mite level, or 8-years-old and under) sometimes use blue pucks which weigh
four ounces to be able to aid in their early skill development. These pucks are simpler to stick handle, shoot, and
lift for younger players. There's also training pucks which are ten ounces or even more, approximately two pounds. This can
vary colors, typically orange, and so are used to build wrist strength and puck handling speed. Street and
floor hockey make use of a large selection of colors, materials, and puck designs with regards to the surface being played
upon or perhaps the rules of every game. All of these different pucks have a very important factor in accordance, however. All of them evolved
from your same simple origins ages ago.

The first hockey pucks were stated to be slices cut from tree branches. These pucks didn't have standard size or
diameter requirements. Ice hockey is assumed to get started out various early games, one of them similar
to field hockey, called hurley ball. Ice hockey and it is precursors for example hurley continued to use balls until
the late 1800s. The ball was later adapted right into a puck following the game gone to live in the ice. Players cut the ball on
each side to make a flatter puck-like contour around make the ball more manageable around the ice surface. The first
vulcanized rubber flat hockey pucks were chosen for 1886. These early pucks were more crude than modern pucks,
because they was without the same smooth, round circumference. Improvements to those first vulcanized models
continued through the years, until they attained the proper execution we all know today.

The cause of the word puck is uncertain. Some believe that the phrase relates to the verb ” to puck,” which is
utilized to describe the act of striking or pushing a hurley ball. This word, produced from the word poke, might be
related to the Scottish Gaelic word “puc,” or even the Irish word “poc,” meaning to poke, punch, or deliver a blow.
It really is believed that Halifax natives, lots of whom were Irish and played hurley, could have originally introduced
the word in Canada. The initial known printed reference to the word puck was in Montreal in 1867, a year after
the very first indoor game was played there.