From Moravia to Milan: The Czech pucks powering Olympic ice hockey
In just over two weeks, the 2026 Winter Olympic Games will get under way in northern Italy. The Czech Republic is pinning its hopes not only on its skiers, snowboarders and speed skaters, but also on its ice hockey team. Hockey fans will be interested to learn that the pucks used at the Games are made in the Czech Republic – in a small town in Moravia.
The family-run company Gufex, based in Kateřinice, is no newcomer to puck production. It began manufacturing ice hockey pucks in 1994 and, just four years later, its products were selected for the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano. Since then, Gufex has become a long-standing partner of the International Ice Hockey Federation, and its pucks have been used at the Winter Games in Salt Lake City or Turin.
For the Milan–Cortina Olympics, Gufex warehouse staff are currently packing boxes containing 10,000 black discs that will soon be sliding across the ice alongside the world’s top players. And this is only part of the production, as Gufex managing director Kateřina Zubíčková explained to Czech Radio:
“For this year’s Olympics, we are producing not only the pucks that will actually be used in the games, but also those that will be sold in shops or used for promotional purposes.”
Preparations for this large-scale order began a year and a half in advance. Once the initial arrangements were finalised and the pucks manufactured, the final step is printing them with logos. On this, Zubíčková noted:
“There are several logos. When it comes to the official game pucks used in matches, there are five or six different logos, I think. And when it comes to souvenir pucks, there are really a lot of options – we’re talking about roughly twenty different designs.”
Souvenir pucks
Interestingly, souvenir pucks sold to fans – including those featuring the Olympic mascots, the friendly stoats Tina and Milo – are made from exactly the same material as the pucks used during the matches.
“They are all exactly the same, the only difference is the print. That means that even children who receive a puck with the mascots have the very same puck that the top players use in the Olympic tournament.”
They are made from a high-quality rubber compound developed over several years, then carefully moulded and polished to glide smoothly across the ice. According to Gufex, the pucks are designed not to leave any marks on the rink’s boards and will not damage the protective Plexiglass panels, even when travelling at speeds of up to 180 kilometres per hour.
Czech ice hockey hopes
Expectations are particularly high for the Czech ice hockey team this year, as NHL players will be allowed to compete at the Olympics for the first time in 12 years. This opens the door for stars such as Boston Bruins forward David Pastrňák, about whom Czech head coach Radim Rulík said:
“David is extremely dangerous in the offensive zone. He has a natural scorer’s instinct, he makes quick and intelligent decisions, and he is our best player. All I can do is hope he stays healthy until the Olympics, because we will definitely need a player like him.”
With not only Pastrňák but also Martin Nečas of the Colorado Avalanche in the squad, the Czech team could boast considerable attacking strength and could be well positioned to end a long wait for an Olympic medal.
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The highlight of Czech ice hockey success at the Olympics remains the gold medal won at the 1998 Nagano Games, where NHL stars were allowed to compete after many years. The second and most recent medal came in 2006, when the Czech team came third. Whether this year will bring new medals, remains to be seen.
