I am surprised that our resident physicist, John Whelan did not bring this 
up...

It may have started at MIT

F = G*m1*m2/d^2

Since we know that a large object (goalie) will exert an ever increasing 
gravimetric force on the smaller massed puck as the distance (d) gets 
smaller and smaller, it stands to reason that all pucks should end up stuck 
to the goaltender.  Hence the term "black hole".

The fact that some pucks end up in the net is attributed to Zappia's 
Collorary to Fudd's First Law -- If you shoot something hard enough, it will 
go in.

Since F = m*a, we have m*a = G*m1*m2/d^2.
Cancelling out the m's we get
a = G*m1/d^2
Since a = v*t
we can substitute
v*t = G*m1/d^2
or
v = G*m/(d^2*t)

Given that, the larger the goalie, the harder you have to shoot it.  Then 
time becomes quicker which says that no matter how large the goaltender, a 
shot of sufficient speed will beat the goalie every time.

This is proven in space where objects of a sufficient velocity are not 
sucked into a black hole, but are spun out in a different direction.  In 
hockey, this is known as a rebound.

Joe

-----Original Message----- 
From: Pamela Sweeney
Sent: Monday, February 28, 2011 12:11 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Black Hole Cheer

A quick search of the hockey-l archives shows various postings put it at 
Cornell in the late '80s with rumors that it came from somewhere else, 
probably Harvard...
Here's the oldest personal testimony I could find:

Date:         Fri, 14 Feb 1992 08:44:21 -0500
{rest of header snipped}

Greg ([log in to unmask]) wrote: > 3. The Black Hole Cheer. This infamous 
cheer has been around longer > than anybody's given it credit for. In my 
experience, the cheer first > surfaced in the ECAC at Harvard [...] I don't 
know whether the Crimson > fans thunk it up all by themselves, or imported 
it from the West It's something that's evolved over the years. I remember 
first hearing the black hole part of it while I was still close enough to go 
to college games (which puts it back to '83). It could have been at just 
about any ECAC or HE (except Merrimack and Lowell) rink. It might even have 
been a Div. II rink, but not likely, or one possibly the '82 NCAA (back then 
this wasn't a bad 4-letter word ;-) .
{more of post snipped, but I'll include the original signature}
-- Steve "Sluggo" Allen-Shinn Brown '82 GO BRUINS!!!

-Pam Sweeney