Before the puck drops, a parent must drain their pockets to outfit their child from head to toe. Skates, a helmet, shoulder pads, elbow pads, shin guards, gloves, hockey pants, neck guard, a stick, a mouth guard and a bag large enough to hold it all, is just the beginning. Even modest equipment purchases can reach $600 to $1,500 in the first year alone.
Jack Hughes's overtime goal to win Olympic gold is hockey history, maybe the single most important physical object in American hockey history. The Hughes puck is a pure distillation, the sudden-death difference between defeat and world-champ status in one small, black disc of vulcanized rubber and entrance-fee bait.
