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GELSENKIRCHEN – The Green Puck campaign hits Gelsenkirchen where Team USA and host nation Germany will open the 2010 IIHF World Championship in front of an expected world record crowd of more than 76,000 fans.
The messages of the campaign are simple and clear. “Doping is not hockey” and “doping is offside” are the slogans written on the green pucks that will be used for the warm-up and that are supported by prominent players, coaches, referees and other hockey personalities from around the globe that can be seen on the video below this text.
The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) believes in the true spirit of sports and rejects any use of doping and drugs. This message is underlined in the campaign in co-operation with the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA).
Personalities including Zdeno Chara, Peter Forsberg, Wayne Gretzky, Sergei Kostitsyn, Jari Kurri, Kim Martin, Mark Streit, Hayley Wickenheiser and Henrik Zetterberg bring their messages to the future of hockey in different languages to encourage players to stay away from performance-enhancing drugs.
“The IIHF was one of the first international federations to be WADA Code compliant,” IIHF President René Fasel said. “Although doping is a rarity in international ice hockey, we realize that we are not immune to people who want to cheat by taking banned substances. This is why the IIHF, together with WADA, has launched the Green Puck campaign. Our main goal is to create awareness about the risks of doping.”
The IIHF is the first international sport organization to use the concept of green sport equipment for such a campaign together with WADA. Other federations are also being encouraged to adopt idea to promote the spirit of sport without doping.
Marcel Goc from the German national team and the NHL’s Nashville Predators was the first player to get a glimpse of the green pucks that arrived in Gelsenkirchen. The Germans and Team USA will use the green pucks to promote the campaign in the warm-up before playing for the first three points to be given in the 2010 IIHF World Championship.
It is the first time in IIHF history that pucks of another colour than black have been used.
Finland vs. Denmark in Cologne and Switzerland vs. Latvia in Mannheim are the other two games to utilize green pucks.
During the first weekend of the World Championship, there will be an information booth for the spectators in all three venues in Gelsenkirchen, Cologne and Mannheim. When fans visit the booth they can get both educational material and win their own green puck in a quiz. The video messages will also be shown at all World Championship venues.
Click here for the Green Puck leaflet. (PDF, 3MB)
The Green Puck Video