Green Biscuit

[AIREAYE 248]

What is it?

Developed independently by former NHLer Tom Pederson, the Green Biscuit is an off-ice training tool aimed at helping players develop better passing and stickhandling skills. The Green Biscuit is a two-piece puck supported by three ‘posts’, which gives it a better central balance.

Positives

The biggest selling point on these guys definitely has to be the stability and slide. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I could send you a hard 100 ft pass on reasonably flat concrete/asphalt without it flipping or rolling over. Despite being lighter than a regulation puck (perhaps necessary to achieve its level of glide on outdoor surfaces), the friction from the ground translates into the GB mimicking very accurately the glide of a puck on ice. I have had no problems transitioning my passing motions (touch-passes, snap/slap passes, saucer passes occasionally, backhand passes etc.) onto outdoor surfaces.

An interesting little behaviour quirk (not really a feature per se) that I’ve noticed is that the rebound qualities of the GB are actually very substantial. I’ve occasionally had my pass miss my target and ricochet off the brick/concrete wall of the school field I play on with almost the same velocity that it impacted with! The GB would often rebound right back to my stick like a regular pass and remain perfectly flat as well.

Stickhandling is the other strong point offered by this product. Since it can remain flat and can closely approximate the glide and behaviour of a puck on ice, it is good for practising off-ice stickhandling and puck carrying. Overall, the level of glide is done well enough that one can approximate it to your average sheet of ice after a couple hours of drop-in.

Before going into the negatives, I would like to stress that this product is NOT meant to be shot; it wasn’t designed to sustain such heavy impacts and will likely shatter over time as a result. That being said however, I believe that the GB is tough enough to be shot by weaker or lesser-skilled players who do not put the same velocity into their shots as others. With that, the GB can serve as very beneficial off-ice or off-season option for younger/beginner players to practise and learn basic hockey skills.

Negatives

After understanding that this puck isn’t meant to be shot, there aren’t a whole lot of negative aspects to it. One aspect that could bother some players would be the weight difference. I personally do not find this to be a drawback because I believe that an outdoor puck (like roller pucks) must be lighter to compensate for the greater friction of outdoor surfaces. However, if I might add one small complaint, I would say that if the GB ever starts to roll on its side, it is somewhat difficult to render it flat again, especially if there is no stick impact to help it along. Perhaps future GBs could incorporate some kind of sidewall or corner texture to prevent this.

Overall

Although I have mainly used this product for outdoor street hockey and fooling around (mostly on roller skates), the benefits and characteristics are all too apparent. An excellent product for anything from a light street game with friends and off-ice puck training, to teaching younger/newer players some of the basic stick skills of the game. Well worth the $15-$20.