Top shelf idea

It is six ounces of Canadiana that has been there for every important moment in hockey history, from Wayne Gretzky’s 50th goal in those 39 games to Sidney Crosby’s gold-medal winner in Vancouver.

But the humble hockey puck is as devoid of pretense as a fourth-line winger or a seventh defenceman. They may be vessels for a sport’s collective history, but mostly are after-thoughts in equipment bags and sheds across the nation.

As long as someone has one when it’s time to play and no one gets it in the mush, they are rarely given a second thought.

But what if that black rubber bullet could help lift a nation from war-torn poverty? What if that frozen disc could help communities have access to fresh water and kids to proper schools?

Is hockey ready for a socially responsible puck?

George Roter thinks so. The chief executive officer and founder of Engineers Without Borders came up with a new concept for a Canadian icon, one which he believes will help develop a sustainable rubber industry in Liberia, the West African nation recovering from 14 years of civil war, while putting Canadian-manufactured pucks back in hockey bags across the nation.

"We think the sustainability of the materials inside the pucks and the social justice values they represent will bring some good karma," said Roter, who came up with the idea after hearing about fair trade chocolate and fair trade coffee and figuring there had to be a socially progressive product for those who drank their coffee at Tim’s and ate Mr. Big bars.

"I figured, why not a hockey puck?"

Investigating further he learned that a significant number of the frozen Canadian rubber that gets put top-shelf aren’t made of rubber or made in Canada. About half of game pucks and virtually the entire souvenir market – about 10-million pucks combined annually in North America – are manufactured in Eastern Europe and often made of synthetic rubber, an oil-based product.

He also learned that Liberia’s rubber industry had been decimated by years of conflict with the majority of its citizens getting along via subsistence farming, often earning as little as $1 a day.

Through other projects with EWB he knew that entire communities could be turned around through simple innovations and modest economic interventions.

By creating a demand for Liberian rubber – it’s tapped from trees the way we would harvest maple syrup – he was convinced he could establish the kind of social and commercial win-win EWB has at the heart of its mandate.

"A tapper can make $8-10 a day compared with maybe $2 farming," says Roter. "They can use that money to send their kids to school or a community can come together to invest in building a well as a source of clean water. It can give them a chance."

Roter and EWB have teamed with Public Inc., a Toronto-based marketing agency focused on socially beneficial causes to establish the pucks under the Rubr brand and hopefully create a market for Liberian-rubber pucks manufactured by Viceroy Rubber and Plastics Inc. in St. Catharines, Ont.

They are in talks with a major Canadian retailer to get them into the hands of the hockey playing public, but in the meantime have teamed with 64 CIS hockey-playing schools to have the pucks used in conference play beginning this weekend.

"Normally a puck is a puck is a puck," said Ward Dilse, executive director of the OUA. "But this is something different."

The hurdle may be cost.

Hockey pucks are a price-driven commodity. According to Todd Bruhn, president of Viceroy, retailers will typically tolerate a two or three-cent premium on a puck made in Canada compared with one imported from Eastern Europe.

Will retailers – and the hockey-puck buying public – get behind a puck that might be more expensive if it means having pucks made at home that help a war-torn nation find its feet?

If they do they’ll get a product that plays the same and looks the same but just might make a difference.

Michael Grange will provide insight and analysis on all the top stories in sports.