The new pro women's hockey league allows more hitting. Players say they like showing those skills
CTV
The PWHL has written into its rules more body checking than most might be used to. The skaters say the leeway gives them a better chance to show their skills and restores the traditional balance between finesse and physicality familiar to hockey fans everywhere.
With an early-season PWHL game between Montreal and Boston winding down, the speakers blared the Olivia Newton-John classic, “Let’s Get Physical.”
And that's just what the players did.
In a break from previous top professional women's hockey leagues, the PWHL has written into its rules more body checking than most might be used to. The skaters say the leeway gives them a better chance to show their skills and restores the traditional balance between finesse and physicality familiar to hockey fans everywhere.
“The game’s been physical for a long time,” Toronto defender Renata Fast said. “All of us, we train every single day. We’re strong enough. We’re fit enough to be able to play that physical game. I think if they’re able to get the game to a point where players are still protected and we’re avoiding injuries of head contact, it’s going to be great for the game and the entertainment value.”
Checking — and even fighting — have been a part of men’s hockey for more than a century, with players using their bodies to dislodge an opponent from the puck and their fists to send a message about messing with a star skater or a defenceless goalie. Advocates of the more brutal side of the sport say that by allowing players to police themselves, it actually makes the games safer, and there’s no doubt that dropping the gloves can bring the crowd to its feet.
But most international leagues — both men’s and women’s — ban fighting and threaten heavy punishments like suspensions. Even the NHL has tried to minimize the practice with stiffer penalties against instigators and those who leave the bench to join a brawl.
Women’s leagues have long steered away from not just fighting but even hard body checking; the rare brawl does break out in women’s hockey, but routine fighting has never been a part of the sport. Players say the lack of physicality was partly due to a misguided attempt to protect their supposedly frail bodies.
