Twenty students at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) participated in the ninth annual Rethink the Rink Make-a-thon, an intense one-week program aimed at increasing safety in hockey using advanced materials from Covestro. With guidance from experts at Covestro, a world-leading supplier of high-tech polymer materials, the Pittsburgh Penguins professional hockey team, and Bauer Hockey, the world’s leading hockey equipment manufacturer, four teams of students competed, each designing a groundbreaking hockey goalie chest protector prototype.

The annual Make-a-thon challenges students to tackle real safety challenges in ice hockey, from the professional level down to youth hockey. In 2026, the goal was to solve issues associated with goalie chest protectors, including impact absorption, mobility, and functionality.

“The Penguins are proud to partner with Covestro, Carnegie Mellon University and Bauer Hockey once again for our annual Rethink the Rink Make-a-Thon,” said Penguins Senior Vice President of Partnerships Steve Kelley. “Initiatives like Rethink the Rink are critical to ensuring that athlete’s equipment not only performs at the highest level but keeps them safe every time they step on the ice, and we’re thrilled to see how the creativity and fresh perspective from Carnegie Mellon University students can push protective equipment standards forward.”

The winning team impressed judges from Covestro, the Penguins, CMU, and Bauer Hockey with their innovative design that incorporated hexagonal impact plates and a unique cooling system—critical areas of focus in hockey goalie safety and comfort. The students also drew inspiration from aerospace and motorsports applications, applying engineering concepts used in high-performance environments to improve protection and breathability for goalies.

“Safety is critical in everything we do, whether it is in sports, at work or in daily life,” said Samir Hifri, chairman and president of Covestro LLC. “The designs the CMU students brought to life during the Rethink the Rink Make-a-thon remind us that there is always room to improve if we think creatively and work hard. This partnership unites future innovators, material science experts, and athletes with the common goal of improving safety. We’re honored to be a part of this collaboration.”

The students’ designs will now be considered for further development. The team of experts at Bauer Hockey will lend their expertise as a leading hockey equipment manufacturer to potentially bring the concept to market in the future.

“The level of engineering thinking these students brought to goalie chest protection, tackling weight, safety and range of motion in the same solution, in one week, is exactly the kind of bold problem-solving our sport needs,” according to Dan Bourgeois, vice president of product innovation at Bauer Hockey. “Partnering with CMU, the Pittsburgh Penguins and Covestro on Rethink the Rink continues to challenge our own assumptions about what protective equipment can be.”

“This make-a-thon provides a unique experiential learning opportunity for our students,” Sandra DeVincent Wolf, CMU’s Manufacturing Futures Institute executive director explains. “It allows them to work in teams across disciplines to solve a real-world problem. In one exciting week, they experience a crash course in engineering design and pitching solutions. We are proud of what they have accomplished and grateful for this long-standing partnership.”

The Rethink the Rink initiative, launched in 2018, has already led to significant improvements in hockey rink design and player equipment. Previous years have focused on safer dasher boards, helmets, gloves and other protective gear.

For more information about the Rethink the Rink Make-a-thon and Covestro’s commitment to innovation in sports safety, please visit covestro.us.