Andrew Bershaw/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images (Corey Perry)

The Science of Slap Shots

Discover the slippery science behind this high-speed sport.

By Maggie Mead | Illustrated by Graham Murdoch

From the December 2025/January 2026 Issue

Learning Objective: Students will ask and answer questions about the forces involved in hockey based on an article and their own observations.

Key Focus Area: Forces and Motion, Energy,

Other Focus Areas: Matter, Measurement & Data

Standards

Shoot Your SHOT!

In ice hockey, five skaters work to move a small rubber cylinder, called a puck, into their opponents’ net. A goalie guards the team’s net. But there’s a catch—it all happens on ice! The oval-shaped hockey rink is made up of 12 or more sheets of ice, which sit on top of a concrete floor. Ice rinks contain about 10,600 gallons (40,120 liters) of frozen water!

Players glide over the ice on skates—special boots balanced on a metal blade. The downward force of the blade causes a small amount of ice to melt. Ice has very little friction compared with other surfaces, and this layer of water makes it extra slippery.

To move the puck, players push it with sticks made of a mix of bendable materials. The most forceful way to move the puck is with a slap shot. Players use it to zip the puck toward the net at up to 100 miles per hour (160 kilometers per hour)!

To start his slap shot, pro hockey player Corey Perry raises his hockey stick high in the air. In this position, the stick is full of potential energy.

As he swings his stick down toward the puck, it gains kinetic energy, or energy of motion.

The stick strikes the ice with great force, causing it to bend. As Perry pushes the stick forward, it straightens, flinging the puck like a slingshot!

PASS the Puck

Players don’t move the puck down the ice alone. They use their sticks to pass it to their teammates. Smart passing helps keep the puck away from the defense—and gives the offense a better angle at the goal.

Hockey players are almost always moving—and often at high speeds! To pass the puck successfully, you must push it where the receiving player is headed. If you push it to the spot where the player is at the moment of the pass, you’re bound to miss. The player won’t be there anymore!

Unlike with a slap shot, players don’t always move their sticks back before they pass. Instead, they may twist their wrists to flick the puck or push their stick against the ice to fling it. A harder push against the puck results in a speedier pass!

To pass the puck, Peyton Krebs aims for a spot ahead of the target player.

He flicks his wrists to transfer energy through the stick to the puck, pushing it to where the receiver is heading.

As Jack Quinn receives the puck, he moves his stick slightly back to absorb its kinetic energy.

Sweet SAVE!

A rubber puck zooms through the air toward the goal faster than a car speeding down the highway. It’s the goalie’s job to stop the puck with their body—no matter what!

Goalies have special equipment to help them. Their skates have extra-thick blades to keep them stable as they guard the net. They also have wider sticks than other players to help them block shots. All hockey players wear pads, but the goalies’ pads are extra wide and thick to absorb the force of the flying puck. Thick gloves protect their hands when they snag a speeding puck out of the air.

Goalies are known to react much faster than the average person. That helps them stop a puck in the blink of an eye. Nice save!