Equipment: Inline Hockey Puck(s)

[Derek Sanborn]

Hey everyone! I grew up playing very high level hockey in Michigan and now I'm down in the DC area playing and coaching.

One of the issues we have down here is there are not enough ice rinks, so a lot of the kids are playing roller hockey. I've been working on creating a better puck and behaves more like an ice hockey puck.

I'm looking for people who play inline hockey to help me test the puck. Here is a little video about the puck:

Thanks for the help!

Click to read more...

 

[Nvxs07]

As someone who plays both. I’d be interested in trying these out with my roller hockey teams. Shoot me a PM!

 

[althoma1]

It's good to see new products and innovation. The new puck looks to have some interesting features and it certainly seems like it would improve upon the local default puck. The standard in the Toronto area leagues is the Rocket puck. That puck definitely rolls on edge fairly often and doesn't glide as well as some other pucks, however; it's the official puck of a lot of the big tournaments that several players in the league play in so that's what they use.

I have tried the Verbero Aero puck and find that to glide better and roll less than the Rocket puck. It's also heavier than the Rocket puck which makes it feel closer to an ice puck. I hear the players complaining about the Rocket pucks bouncing and rolling, but I don't think the ones with a lot of competitive tournament players will change unless the tournaments change their official pucks. I could see some pure recreational leagues making the switch, but the key would be getting your pucks used by the big tournaments like NARch.

 

[Derek Sanborn]

Althomal, you pretty much nailed it in your post. A lot of these tournaments use IDS and Rocket... even though the players don't like it. The reason is Rocket and IDS pay, sorry "Sponsor", the event so they use their puck. I'm not sure exactly how we will get past that, quite yet. We are still working on product development and looking into getting into some newer leagues. Our hope is that the players will start demanding to play with the puck and eventually make our way into some of those large named tournaments.

 

[Ozz]

I play roller in MI. Sent an "I want to test" message to ya on the website. Sounds interesting for sure!

 

[TGWL]

Althomal, you pretty much nailed it in your post. A lot of these tournaments use IDS and Rocket... even though the players don't like it. The reason is Rocket and IDS pay, sorry "Sponsor", the event so they use their puck. I'm not sure exactly how we will get past that, quite yet. We are still working on product development and looking into getting into some newer leagues. Our hope is that the players will start demanding to play with the puck and eventually make our way into some of those large named tournaments.

I like the IDS pucks but really hate the rocket pucks. Because of NARCh, most leagues I'm in have started using these pucks. Can't stand them.

 

[CBJx614]

I play in a roller league that's outdoors and we're always looking for better pucks, definitely down to try it.

 

[TGWL]

I recommend people stay away from this. They want a deposit and claim it cost $100 to produce the pucks. When the puck is returned you'll get your deposit back. They claim the deposit is because people don't send the pucks back. What's the point in sending them back anyway - is there testing done to used pucks to see if anything broke off/ quality inspection, etc?

 

[Ozz]

I met w/the inventor and his son last night at my inline rink, and we got to test them out for 10-15 minutes before our game. You can tell a difference with these pucks immediately, a bit in feel (in a good way) and certainly in its action. Shots, passes, sauce, seemed to lack the bounce that most inline pucks suffer from.

I sent a couple dozen bank passes off the boards/dasher and tried to get it to roll or flop, and it pretty much never did at all. In between I'd compare to our usual pucks, and almost every time it would do so. That alone is a big plus. Pass receipts, kicking it off your skates, etc. were similar in lacking that bounce/flop.

They were slightly larger than the normal pucks we use, but it wasn't noticeable or an issue. I believe they said the final product is planned to be 3% smaller than that, which should make it closer to a normal puck, but still that's negligible if anything.

I recommend people stay away from this. They want a deposit and claim it cost $100 to produce the pucks. When the puck is returned you'll get your deposit back. They claim the deposit is because people don't send the pucks back. What's the point in sending them back anyway - is there testing done to used pucks to see if anything broke off/ quality inspection, etc?

That's not out of ordinary to protect prototypes and their materials. I'm not saying everyone in the world should deal with it and send them $100 to borrow a puck, but imagine how many people would say F it and not send the puck back? The inventor did tell me how they go back to the drawing board, so to speak, to further improve the pucks. The ones I used had been a bit modified to save some weight, for instance.

 

[FFWRX]

I'm looking for people who play inline hockey to help me test the puck.

I have 3 kids who play ice and roller. I might have missed it, but what kind of surface is this good for? My kids play on sport court, tennis court material, and on a concrete driveway. We use different pucks for the different surfaces.

 

[Filthy Dangles]

What kind of surface is this meant for? Asphalt/concrete or SportCourt.

 

[Oak]

My son plays on a smooth concrete court. I'd love to try one of these if it's built for that type of surface.

 

[Oak]

Also you should send one to Pavel Barber.

 

[Ozz]

Fwiw I played with it on Sport Court .