Wonder if hockey will either go the way of Tennis (where technology has rapidly changed how the game has been played) or baseballe - where the bats are always wood.
As an example of this (other than the new sticks being tested in the article), prior to the pandemic the NHL was set to introduce a new puck for the playoffs that would "will transmit data 60 times per second, including location, speed, acceleration and deceleration and distance travelled." There's similar tech ready to be rolled out for jerseys. The end goal being for advanced analytics to be able to map how fast everything is going and how the game moves, as well as to possibly aid in goal review (which is difficult with the shape of a puck, unlike say soccer/football with its round ball). They tested it at the All-Star game and teams have been practicing with it, but the league decided to hold off on it to reduce the potential point of failures during their return to play.
Source: https://www.tsn.ca/nhl-s-new-puck-will-premiere-on-opening-n...
If you haven't noticed, pro baseball players have mostly switched from ash to maple. Maple bats now fail more often and they fail catastrophically, with sharp fragments flying at high speed. Players and fans are getting injured far more frequently, such as a Cubs player getting impaled [1].
At least baseball is starting to catch up with hockey in terms of nets that prevent objects flying into the fan areas.
[1] https://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/20/cubs-bizarre-injur...
> Cubs rookie Tyler Colvin remains in the hospital Sunday night after a shard of teammate Welington Castillo’s maple bat punctured his chest during Chicago’s game against the Marlins. Colvin was on third base when Castillo broke his bat on a double down the left-field line. A larger piece of Castillo’s bat hit Colvin in the chest, with a sharp edge piercing his chest wall.
> Colvin is in stable condition at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. There was minimal bleeding, but doctors were trying to prevent a collapsed lung, according to MLB.com. If Colvin had been hit or cut in the neck, his injury could have been much more severe.
I am a retired college hockey player who transitioned to officiating at the NCAA level.
Aluminum and corked bats would ultimately give an unfair advantage to the user as compared to a wood slugger. It’s fine in minor league and collegiate sports as they do not follow the MLB’s stricter regulations but if they plan to aim for the major leagues, they should start training with wood.
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On second thought, I think the only time there would be a change is if there were a noticeable impact on the environment and the amount of word being cut to produce bats. But since America’s trademark sport is baseball, I do not see this happening any time soon.
Edit: maple is also one of the most prevalent commercial timbers in USA, is native in most parts of the country and bat usage is so small a percent of maple consumption as to be effectively 0.