Hockey pucks weren't always made of black rubber like they are today. The early pucks were probably balls, but other objects were also used.
Wooden pucks were used for many years. In the 1860s a round rubber ball was used instead of a puck. There's a story that during a certain Canadian game the balls would fly out of the rink so often that the manager of the rink sliced the top and bottom off the ball to make it more manageable.
Vulcanized rubber was invented by Goodyear in 1839, but was not used for puck construction until the 1880s