My Most Prized (and perhaps silly) Posession

Literally my most prized posession. Game used. 1996 playoffs, Detroit vs. St. Louis. Brett Hull scored a goal with it. It’s signed by Mike Vernon and Sergei Fedorov. I paid $230 on eBay for it. I've had a search running on eBay for one for the past three years, and this is the ONLY one I've seen come up. I was willing to bid TRIPLE what I paid for it. Question: WHY would you sell such a RARE thing during the NHL hockey lockout???

But more importantly, you might be wondering WHY (or you might have deleted this already and moved on with your life) I'd even consider paying such silly $$$ for something like this.

A few reasons why I had to have this:

1) I have no common sense. Let's get that one out of the way right now.
2) It's a gadget. I love gadgets.
3) It's extremely unique. Due to its technical complexity and short duration of use (limited use between 1996 and 1998), not many were made. In fact, rumour has it that, due to each puck's expensiveness, FOX officials would offer cash or team merchandise to bribe/buy back any pucks which entered the crowd.
4) Unlike its dumb rubber cousins, the puck was smart. For instance, it could tell announcers how fast a shot was, and with a little digital magic, TV viewers could even track the puck while it was obscured by the near boards.
5) It's guaranteed to be game-used, in a playoff game.
6) Mike Vernon, a hockey god of mine, signed it.
7) This is a piece of hockey history, however, not just because it was used in a game, but because it was a genuine attempt to improve the game.
8) It failed (hence, its further value to me)

This puck also has cultural significance, not just owing to the fact that it is a hockey puck. It's goes beyond hockey. It's also about the USA vs. Canada, something I have a special sensitivity to. From the 'net:

"Get the Puck Outta Here!": Media Transnationalism and Canadian Identity In 1994, Fox television entered into a network broadcasting agreement with the National Hockey League (NHL). To make hockey more viewer friendly for new audiences in underexploited U.S. media markets, the FoxTrax puck debuted during the 1996 NHL All-Star Game. The puck enjoyed a brief and controversial existence and was widely vilified by established hockey fans.

More specifically, response to the puck in Canada was framed within a broader discourse that Jackson described as a "crisis of identity," as the FoxTrax puck became a vehicle to articulate Canadian concerns related to the economic and cultural influence of the United States.

This article reviews the design and implementation of the puck, the conditions relating hockey to Canadian identity, and the reaction the puck engendered in popular media coverage. In doing so, reaction to the FoxTrax puck provides an example of the contestation of global-local relations in a sporting context.

In my imagination, if you added up all the time all these Canadians trapped in all the American bars somewhere and having to watch FOX's playoffs coverage (CBC's broadcasts did not show the puck's special abilities), I bet it'd add up to thousands and thousands of hours. I was there watching, too, holding my Sam Adams. And I loved the puck. I hated the little "ZING" line, but loved the data it would give (speed of puck being shot, shot release time, and so on). I was sorry to see it go.

I intend to frame it and hang it in my living room. I have this very cool idea for how to display it. I want it to be two-sided, glass on both sides with the puck squished in between. I have photos of the puck in use all ready to go. It’ll look very cool. The guy emailed me, actually, and said he thought the puck would go for around twice what I paid for it.

MORE INFO: Here's an excerpt from a converation I had with the guy that sold it to me on eBay:

Here’s what he told me.

"Well, first, me and my brother have been avid hockey fans since we were kids and started attending games and practices in the mid 60s. We both have extensive collections of numerous things (pucks, sticks, jerseys, autographs, etc.). As we got older we went our seperate ways but we both stayed close to hockey. I started working at Joe Louis arena as a second job in the mid 90s and still do. My brother was a photographer for awhile and then later got a job at Fox sports,and was working for Fox at the time they introduced the tracking puck. During the 96 playoffs he aquired this puck after the overtime game against St. Louis and actualy Brett Hull scored a goal with this puck. I did not mention this in the listing because I have no way to verify this fact. And having been a photographer he was able to get to the Wings locker room and had the puck signed. The only reason he is parting w ith it is he needs the money for his sons college. He has several more signed pu cks for sale as well as signed sticks, and a couple of jerseys. I seriously thought this puck would bring in a bigger number but thats the way it goes sometimes. I know you'll enjoy owning this puck, I wish I had the extra cash to buy it from him myself, since it was the only one he had. I hope this info was helpful. Keep in touch.

I think the pucks will always be active and work with the corresponding cameras (they were battery operated, I believe). They were very limited in production, cant give you the official count though, I dont know it. I do know that arena personal used to ask for the return of the ones that would go into the crowd. My brother also said that NHL officials would periodicly come into the Fox trailer and take all the pucks they had on hand. What they did with them is a mystery. Fox would take regular game pucks made by Inglasco and do their thing to them, drill out the holes for the sensors and such. 95/96 the NHL had the same pucks for every team (no team logos). This didnt go over well with the fans and the league reverted back to game pucks with each team having their own logo on it.