Rethink the Rink
Season six of the annual Make-a-Thon focused on “shot blockers” that protect players’ lower extremities from high-speed puck impact
Imagine using your feet, ankles or shins to prevent a 90 mph hockey puck from scoring against your team. While this is a common and effective way to for hockey players to block shots, it often results in injury as the puck strikes players’ unprotected lower extremities.
This problem is exactly what the 2023 Rethink The Rink Make-a-Thon – an annual event hosted by Covestro with help from the Pittsburgh Penguins, Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and Bauer Hockey – aimed to solve.
Carnegie Mellon students – separated into four teams – spent five days brainstorming and ideating around this hockey safety challenge and ultimately brought to life four unique prototypes that could help protect hockey players’ feet and ankles with ultra-light, effective, comfortable and stylish solutions.
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Students were given Covestro materials – from polyurethanes to polycarbonates – as they ideated on ways to solve the problem. Covestro materials experts were on site at CMU to “coach” students on these high-tech materials. -
The majority of the week was spent in the Carnegie Mellon School of Engineering’s Tech Spark Makerspace, the university’s focal point for technology innovation. The facility provides equipment for hands-on collaboration and allowed the students to rapidly prototype designs from idea to reality. -
The week culminated in four teams’ presentation pitches at “The COVe” on Covestro’s Pittsburgh campus. This marked the first year that the wrap-up event and awards ceremony was held at Covestro’s campus, which also provided a chance for students to tour the R&D labs. -
And the winner is… After careful consideration from the panel of judges, the Gold Team came out on top with their idea for a “Shock Sock” that could protect player’s feet and ankles in a streamlined way without impacting players’ movement.
What’s next for Rethink the Rink?
Our world-class partnership is still going strong in its sixth year on the ice. This concept — which began as a “what if,” six years ago, has yielded at least one marketable product and potential revenue stream: an innovative dashboard design to be produced by Athletica Sport Systems.
This year, the research and development team at Bauer Hockey – a leading hockey equipment producer – is combing through the innovative shot blocker ideas to determine if any have the potential to be commercialized.
Stay in the know! For updates on our hockey safety journey, follow the #RethinkTheRink hashtag on Twitter!
