Hockey and STEM The fans in the hockey arena jump to their feet as the forward streaks toward the goal His skates cut into the ice and he pushes the puck along with his curved stick As he nears the goal he pulls the stick back and then whips it forward Wham The puck smashes into the goalie's pads What a save The fans scream and cheer But do the fans know the whole story With players zooming along the ice hockey is a fast sport and STEM is a part of all the action SCIENCE Thanks to physics players can make the puck glide across the ice or fly through the air at amazing speeds TECHNOLOGY Video recordings and wearable tech have changed what players coaches and fans can learn ENGINEERING Amazing arenas and smooth ice rinks are designed with engineering MATH Information about teams and players is gathered as numbers called stats A winning score is just the beginning
Goalie Sergei Bobrovsky makes a save
SCIENCE Hockey's Famous Puck The referee waits at center ice for a face off When the two players are in position he holds out a flat round disk the puck As the referee blows his whistle he drops the puck onto the ice The players sticks crash together They push the puck back and forth until zing One player slides the puck across the ice to a teammate The action is on Two players go head to head in a faceoff
Cold and Flat For more than 140 years ice hockey players have used flat rubber pucks The flat sides help pucks glide easily across the ice But hockey also has a chilly secret to help pucks move they are frozen when they enter play A frozen puck doesn't bounce as much giving players more control As the rubber warms up it gets energy from the heat The more energy in a puck the more it bounces Today's pucks are 3 inches 7.6 cm across and weigh about 6 ounces 170 gm National Hockey League NHL pucks have a logo printed in ink that changes color when frozen As the puck warms up the logo changes from purple to black This means it's time to change pucks
