Duzter, a protective hockey gear company started by an Annapolis father-son duo, will appear on Friday’s episode of the ABC reality series “Shark Tank.”

The idea for the business came when St. Mary’s High School junior and longtime hockey player Martin E. Negron said he witnessed a teammate get seriously injured by an ice skate. He said traditional hockey gear did not protect enough parts of the body.

“A kid from my club got cut and it affected his nerves, couldn’t move his fingers properly,” Negron said. “When we went looking for options at the stores we went to, we noticed there was no youth apparel with cut protection, and all there was covered the neck. … It was for if a puck hypothetically hit you. So, the neck guards from about three, four years ago weren’t cut-resistant at all.”

Negron enlisted the help of his father, Martin A. Negron, who has over 25 years of manufacturing experience, to find a solution that goes under regular hockey pads. The development of the gear, named Duzter for the junior Negron’s favorite hockey shirt from childhood, took a great deal of trial and error.

Manufacturers quickly pointed the pair towards Kevlar, but Kevlar has two weaknesses: heat and humidity.

“[In] a hockey game, you’re sweating, and then you take the ‘sweaty everything,’ and you put it in the bag, and that’s even worse,” Martin A. Negron said. “We knew that we couldn’t use Kevlar.”

They settled on a polymer material that thrives in hockey conditions. The exact makeup is a secret, though it is sewn into the pieces of gear to protect arteries and the neck.

When the time came to order the first shipment in 2022, the Negrons took a gamble. At the time, the younger Martin had been invited to play with Team Puerto Rico in the Latin American Cup, held in Florida, so his father had everything sent there. They set up a table at the tournament and began selling.

The elder Martin said the initial reaction wasn’t very strong — players wondered why they would want more protection. That was until the 2023 death of hockey player Adam Johnson whose throat was slashed by a skate. The next morning, representatives from England were reaching out to the Negrons to purchase the equipment. Since then, they say they have had trouble keeping their apparel in stock.

Hockey teams all over the world have begun adopting Duzter. For now, the company has only been run by the two Negrons. They wanted to expand, but they needed an investor.

The first time they auditioned for “Shark Tank” in 2023, they were eliminated in the second round. This time, they say they were prepared and made it all the way.

Filming for Friday’s episode took place in June 2024. The Negrons can’t talk about their time in the tank until the episode airs, but they said it was a rigorous process.

They can’t say if they were given money either, but they seemed pretty happy about the experience.

“We are limited in terms of what we can tell you. We went to an audition in January, and then it took a long time to complete the whole process, and then the outcome —yeah, you will know tomorrow,” Martin A. Negron said.

Duzter offers its products in both children’s and adult sizes. They can be found in hockey stores in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Nevada and the United Kingdom. They can also be purchased directly from the brand’s website.

The Shark Tank episode airs Friday night on ABC at 8 p.m. The Negrons are holding a viewing party open to the public at 7:30 p.m. at St. Mary’s High School.

Have a news tip? Contact Benjamin Rothstein at brothstein@baltsun.com, 443-928-1926.