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Can gadgets survive getting bounced off a crossbar? Well...

So just how well can some of tech's most rugged gear stand up to the world of ice hockey? Jeff Bakalar and Shane Hnidy of the Vegas Golden Knights go bar-down in one of the most unique torture tests we've ever attempted.

Jeff Bakalar Editor at Large
Jeff is CNET Editor at Large and a host for CNET video. He's regularly featured on CBS and CBSN. He founded the site's longest-running podcast, The 404 Show, which ran for 10 years. He's currently featured on Giant Bomb's Giant Beastcast podcast and has an unhealthy obsession with ice hockey and pinball.
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Jeff Bakalar

Everyone knows ice hockey is just about the best thing in the world, and it also happens to be the fastest and most frenetic of all the professional sports. 

So with us being in Las Vegas for CES 2020, it was an absolute no-brainer to reach out to the Vegas Golden Knights to see if they could help out with a bit of torture testing on the ice.

Lucky for us, the fantastic people in the Golden Knights organization agreed and hosted us at the team's practice facility, City National Arena in Summerlin, Nevada.

Together with former NHLer and on-air analyst for the Knights, Shane Hnidy, we performed a series of totally unscientific, yet kind-of-hilarious tests on some of the most rugged gear we could convince companies to send us.

The results are a bit more surprising than you might think, but above all perfectly demonstrate the stakes of getting in front of a piece of vulcanized frozen rubber.