Puck retriever

A puck retriever comprising:

• a tube for pucks for use in the game of hockey, said tube having a hollow interior of diameter larger than that of a puck and an opening at a lower end portion of said tube for receipt for one said puck at a time into said interior;
• a cap mounted to said lower end portion of said tube, said cap having a cylindrical wall which opens into said hollow interior of said tube and an annulus beneath said cylindrical wall when said puck retriever is upright, said annulus being continuous and unbroken throughout its circumference save and except for a plurality of radially extending slits spaced around its circumference, which said slits define side edges of a plurality of flaps, said flaps having inner edges which define a circular inlet of diameter smaller than that of said puck, said flaps flexing upward when pressed downward against a puck which is resting on a flat surface with resulting bending upward of said flaps and enlargement of said inlet sufficient to allow a puck to pass through said inlet, said annulus being of sufficient strength to resist flexing downward under the weight of any pucks within said tube such that said annulus prevents the latter said pucks from exiting through said inlet, said flaps, when said puck retriever is upright, being normally angled upward radially inward of the circumference of said annulus when undeformed by a puck and, when pressed downward against a puck, deforming resiliently and flexing further upward into contact with said cylindrical wall of said cap with resulting limitation of the extent of upward flexing of said flaps as well as inward pressure upon a puck by said flaps.