Editing Hockey puck (section)

====Firepuck====
The use of a "Firepuck" in the early 1990s was the first attempt to improve the visibility of hockey pucks as seen on television. This invention incorporated coloured retro reflective materials of either [[embedded lens]] elements or prismatic reflectors laminated into recesses on the flat surfaces and the vertical edge of a standard hockey puck. Yellow was the preferred reflected colour. A spotlight was required to be positioned on the TV camera and focused at the centre of the viewing area.

A short demonstration tape of the [[Minnesota North Stars]] skating with the Firepuck was shown during the period break at the [[1993 NHL All-Star Game]] in Montreal. The [[International Hockey League (1945–2001)|International Hockey League]] (IHL) pursued testing the Firepuck with its inventor, Donald Klassen. The next television viewing was the IHL All-Star Game in [[Fort Wayne, Indiana]], January 1994, where the Firepuck was used for the entire game. The IHL tested the Firepuck in two more games, and finally the [[East Coast Hockey League]] used it January 17, 1997, for their all-star game.

The use of the Firepuck was discontinued because of these reasons:
* The slight structural change increased the tendency for the puck to bounce on the ice. This made it more difficult for the goaltender and resulted in increased scoring.
* The skaters objected to the use of camera spotlights which reflected off the ice.
* The television viewing contrast of the Firepuck was not noticeably enhanced when the camera view was of the entire rink, this being the most common camera shot.

The Firepuck name was branded during the 1990s but has since been discontinued.