How hockey equipment changed.

Pucks and sticks

The puck at the 1875 Montreal game was a flat, round piece of wood, according to the Dictionary of Canadian Biography. McGill Athletics reports, from a single account, that the first game under the 1879 McGill rules used a square puck cut from a rubber ball, and Queen's University's encyclopedia says the 1886 Kingston game used a lacrosse ball and sticks about a metre long. Today, under the IIHF Official Rule Book 2026/27 (Rule 13.1), the puck is vulcanized rubber or another approved material, 2.5 cm thick and 7.6 cm across, weighing 156 to 170 g.

The stick's history rests largely on Wikipedia. It says wooden sticks were first mass-made in the late 1800s, an all-aluminium one-piece stick appeared in the early 1980s, and aluminium shafts with replaceable wooden blades were popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The first one-piece composite stick is disputed: Wikipedia credits Composite Busch SA of Switzerland with the first successful one-piece carbon-fibre stick in 1992, while a retailer's guide places one-piece composites in the early 2000s.

The curve of the blade was limited from the late 1960s. The Hockey News says the NHL capped it at one inch in 1969 and at half an inch in 1970; Scouting the Refs, a site that covers officiating, describes staged limits from 1967-68 reaching half an inch in 1970-71. Under the NHL Official Rules 2026-2027 (Rule 10.1) the limit is three-quarters of an inch, and under the IIHF Rule Book 2026/27 (Rule 10.1) it is 1.9 cm.

The goaltender's mask

Benedict's date comes in several versions: search summaries give 20 February 1930, ESPN refers to two games in January 1930, and one outlier source places his experiment in the 1920s.

Plante's story is the best known. On 1 November 1959, Montreal's goaltender was cut in the face by an Andy Bathgate shot. After being stitched he refused to go back in without the mask he had been wearing in practice, and coach Toe Blake, who had opposed it in games, gave way. Wikipedia says Plante left the mask off for one game in March 1960, then wore it for the rest of his career, and he is generally credited as the first goaltender to wear one full time. By late 1969 only a few NHL goaltenders played without one. Andy Brown kept playing maskless in the World Hockey Association until 1977. Wikipedia also notes that Vladislav Tretiak's helmet-and-cage style drew attention during the 1972 Summit Series, and that Gerry Cheevers painted stitches on his mask where pucks had struck it.

Helmets

On 13 January 1968 Bill Masterton of the Minnesota North Stars, who was not wearing a helmet, struck the back of his head on the ice after a check in a game against the Oakland Seals. He died on 15 January 1968, aged 29. ESPN calls him the only NHL player to die from injuries suffered in a game. ESPN reports that the autopsy found evidence of an earlier blow and that experts later linked his death to second-impact syndrome; other outlets, in search summaries, gave different medical causes. The league approved the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy in 1968, honouring perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication.

Helmets were not required for another decade. From 1979-80 the NHL required them for players entering the league, while players who had signed professional contracts before 1 June 1979 could opt out. ESPN says full compliance took 18 more years. Craig MacTavish, grandfathered because he signed with Boston before the cutoff, was the last NHL player to play without a helmet and retired after the 1996-97 season, according to Wikipedia. Under the NHL Official Rules 2026-2027 (Rule 9.6), players who entered the league in 2019-20 or later must also wear a helmet in the pre-game warm-up.

Visors

On 4 June 2013 the NHL Players' Association told the league's competition committee that players favoured grandfathering visors: those with fewer than 25 career NHL games at the end of 2012-13 would have to wear one from 2013-14, subject to approval by both sides. That rule stands in the NHL Official Rules 2026-2027 (Rule 9.7): every player with fewer than 25 games of NHL experience must wear a visor properly attached to the helmet. The Hockey News reported in July 2026 that four NHL skaters played without visors in 2025-26: Jamie Benn, Ryan O'Reilly, Zach Bogosian and Ryan Reaves, who was unsigned for 2026-27.

Other bodies set their own rules. Under the IIHF Rule Book 2026/27 (Rule 9.7), every player born after 31 December 1974 must wear at least a visor. In Canada, the Pashby guide from the Hockey Development Centre for Ontario credits ophthalmologist Dr. Tom Pashby's campaigning with making CSA-certified face protectors mandatory for Canadian minor hockey players; it does not give the date, and the claim rests on that guide alone. Today, Hockey Canada's 2026-28 Playing Rules (Rule 3.6(b)) require every player, goaltenders included, to wear a CSA-certified helmet with a CSA-certified facial protector attached.

Neck guards

Wikipedia says Clint Malarchuk's neck injury in 1989 spread the use of neck guards. Most of today's mandates came much later, after English Elite Ice Hockey League player Adam Johnson died in October 2023 when an opponent's skate blade cut his neck during a Nottingham Panthers game. AP also notes the death of Connecticut high school player Teddy Balkind, aged 16, from a skate cut to the neck about two years before USA Hockey's vote.

Daily Faceoff reports that the NHL change came out of collective bargaining with the players' association, and that the WHL, OHL and QMJHL had made neck guards mandatory after Johnson's death. NHL players with at least one game before 2026-27 are grandfathered. Detailed requirements by age and level are on the neck guards page.

Certification stickers

Certification rules have their own history. USA Hockey's 26 September 2013 memorandum says HECC added an expiry date to its helmet sticker, and that a helmet past that date is no longer HECC certified for USA Hockey games where HECC helmets are required. Hockey Canada's 2022 reminder says CSA certification has no expiry, and that the date on the CSA sticker is the year the helmet was made. Check the sticker on your own helmet and your association's current rules before you play; the helmet sticker checker walks through both systems.