It’s one of the most sought-after souvenirs from the Olympic Winter Games – and virtually impossible to get. The official Olympic ice hockey puck.

Scroll down for detailed click-to-enlarge photos of both sides of the puck.

Weighing in at six ounces, one inch thick and three inches in diameter, this tiny piece of vulcanized rubber is every hockey collector’s fantasy keepsake. Every year it is a challenge to create a puck that incorporates all of the Olympic values, while keeping the puck functional. Too much white, and you have unhappy players, too boring, and you have unhappy fans.

This year in Vancouver, the International Olympic Committee kept the puck design relatively simple. On one side is the Olympic logo with the stone-looking man logo on a white background. On the flip side are the Olympic rings on the familiar green and blue Vancouver 2010 background.

In total, 3,000 pucks were produced for the Olympics by Sherwood. About two-thirds will be used in the men’s tournament, while the other third will be played in women’s games. In addition 400 pucks will be used in the Paralympics.

Some lucky fans will grab pucks that go flying out of the rink area during games, others might find one or two that accidentally find their way off the ice during warm-ups.

But for the most part, these tiny jewels will be virtually impossible to come by for the collectors. The stash of pucks will be kept under lock and key by the off-ice officials’ crew, which then brings a set amount to the ice for game time.

During the game, the referee will skate over to the scorekeeper bench whenever he needs a replacement puck. It is up to the official’s discretion to ask for a new puck if he feels that the current one in play in damaged, or not frozen enough. Pucks also fly out of bounds, and goal-scoring pucks may be kept by the scoring teams.

Some pucks may find a home in a player’s trophy case, while others are sure to find their way to the Hockey Hall of Fame, where all the key artifacts from Vancouver will be displayed in the International Hockey Zone.

In the end, it’s easy to see just how quickly those 3,000 pucks can disappear.

Of course, there are those pucks will sit in the scorekeeper’s bucket the entire game and may never see on-ice action – but maybe, just maybe those rejected pucks will be the lucky ones and find their way to an eager collector, who will treat it like it was a gold medal-winner.