One item that didn't make it into my column over at NBC Sports on Monday was the effect that the new rules of enforcement are having in girls hockey.
Again, this comes from a discussion I had with a hockey parent of two teenagers, a boy and a girl. According to him, before the new rules were introduced this season, using the stick to impeded the progress of your opponents in girls hockey was pretty much accepted.
But with the new rules eeliminating much of that stick work, that isn't much of an option anymore. As a result, my friend tells me that a lot of girls, including his own daughter, are starting to lobby that they be allowed to check -- something that has always been banned in girls hockey.
I'm not sure that's a bad thing. Banning checking in girls hockey seems like a relic of the past. And if girls wear the same equipment as boys (not the case in girls lacrosse), there isn't any reason in my mind why the rules shouldn't be the same either.
Whether or not all parents agree is a question I can't answer on my own.
The ban on checking in women
So it’s not a protect the girls thing, it’s a protect the Europeans thing.
Like most “protection” it ends up hurting everybody.
My first high school hockey game at the lowest JV level was against an experienced girls team. We were told not to check them, but when we got out on the ice, they were both better skaters and better checkers than we were. It quickly became clear that they were dealing with a bunch of scrubs and so stopped checking to focus on making spin moves and tic-tac-toe passes that should have made highlight reels. Our coach wanted to make it clear that a good skating team, even girls, was going to beat the guys who trip on the blue line. It worked pretty well at my all-boys Jesuit high school.
I’m not sure what point you are making false_cause (other than to let us know that your JV team wasn’t that good).
Yes, a great skating team will beat a team that, well, can’t skate . But a great skating team that can check the heck out of you will kick everyone’s butt.
As an aside, the Canadian women’s Olympic Team prepared for Turin by playing a schedule against AAA midget (15 and 16 year-olds) boys in Alberta. They played about .500 hockey in those games. I bring this up in order to put in perspective where the development of the women’s game is in Canada. Some of the players the women played would be in the CHL now (albeit as rookies). I think it’s clear that the women could handle a bit of body contact…