In downtown St. Paul, world’s largest hockey puck seeks sponsors

As thousands of hockey players fans scouts press and vendors from around the world descend on downtown St Paul this month for the -day World Junior Ice Hockey Championships how will the capital city greet them Visit St Paul the city s official convention and tourism bureau has skated out a plan to assemble the world s largest hockey puck a -pound testament to the excitement around the international round-robin style tournament The puck will anchor Rice Park s outdoor Fan Fest activity zone for all days serving as a photo opportunity throughout the World Juniors which are bringing together the best hockey players ages - from countries Made in St Paul Oakdale The puck which is being made at the Wonder Studio fabrication shop on St Paul s old Hamm s Brewery campus and at TC Rigging Allied Productions in Oakdale will be displayed as part of the Bold North Breakaway Fan Fest from Dec to Jan Visit St Paul is asking sponsors including everyday residents and small businessowners to donate between and to help roll out the giant puck which will be in a word large Donations of any amount will be accepted and sponsors will be recognized on a webpage Hall of Fame which is coming soon The webpage will include an option to donate on behalf of a youth hockey participant which earns the player a commemorative vinyl sticker The puck does not already exist disclosed Jaimee Lucke Hendrikson president and chief executive officer of Visit St Paul in an email on Tuesday It s being built right here in St Paul This is a region pride project and we welcome assistance at any level For now donations are being accepted at TinyUrl com StpPuck When completed the lb -puck composed of aluminum wood steel and vinyl will measure feet across and feet in height For reference the typical hockey puck is inches in diameter and inch thick and weighs about ounces This one will be a lot bigger Previous title holders That s a hip check to the current record-holder a hockey puck with a -foot diameter weighing more than pounds that was created in December for the New Year s Eve celebration in Allentown Penn the home of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms hockey group an affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers Prior to that the puck attached to the world s largest hockey stick which was measured at feet long according to the Guinness World Record held the title in Duncan British Columbia Composed of steel-reinforced Douglas Fir wood beams the combined structure of stick and puck weighed about lbs but Cowichan Valley Regional District publicized last year that the poorly-aging installation would be transferred to a sports memorabilia company which planned to cut it up and convert the pieces into keychains Eveleth Minn indicates to be home to the world s largest free-standing hockey stick known as The Big Stick which is feet long and weighs lbs according to Eveleth gov It stands next to a puck that is feet in diameter and weighs pounds What happens to the St Paul puck once the World Juniors skate to a close Related Articles St Paul World Juniors hockey event brings Bold North festival downtown Lino Lakes woman is named Hockey Mom of the Year Hockey World Juniors pre-tourney schedule distributed Hendrikson noted there s no plans at this time to make the puck a permanent part of the downtown landscape but she didn t say that Visit St Paul couldn t be lobbied to change its mind From Dec through Jan the round robin-style World Juniors tournament will feature games showcasing the best players ages under age from the U S Canada Sweden Switzerland Germany Czechia Denmark Finland Latvia and Slovakia Practices will not be open to the inhabitants