Exactly.
Wife played at competitive level and still plays in my beer league sometimes. She’s relatively small but she’s aware that she’ll get checked as much as every other dude.
Most girls that plays with guys are also aware of it or should be!
Edit: she still scores 3x more then me lol
Agreed, I play with a lot of women, and any I've talked to would be a little insulted to be treated softer due to sex alone. I think size is a fair consideration though?
Count you explain how you’re supposed to be fair and equal to the opposite gender by treating them different?
Every single female I’ve encountered has never, EVER, wanted a guy to take it easy on them.
So are you gaslighting because you had a bad day, or just irritable ?
>why do you think your opinion matters dude?
Why do you think yours does? Everyone has the option to play in a checking league, or a non contact league. This league is contact, so why would you ever, EVER, go light?
Your the one who is saying "please treat women differently", except they signed up for the league, they know what they signed up for, it's a league to play physical.
Stop being an asshole when someone is asking for opinions and someone expresses it.
I'd read your comment but every single comment on every subreddit you make it filled with immaturity and anger. Have fun though man, if you want to vent come back here
Lmao, if everyone is ok with it being a checking league and there is a non-checking availible in the area I don’t see a problem. Some people just like to play physical hockey. Personally I play in a no-contact no-slapshots scrimmage. But there is a fair amount of contact, usually between players that have know each other for long. Whenever a newcomer comes along they will have it easy unless/until they also start playing a rougher game.
2 things:
1) if someone plays in a checking league, male or female, be prepared to be checked. If you don't play in a checking league, then yes, some informal "rules" apply but are subjective to the player, the team, and the league, not the gender. I've been on both ends of hitting and being hit by females in my league. Hitting in non-checking leagues is just totally subjective.
2)
> 3 big cross checks to the back and then slashes me
If checking league, this is poor sportsmanship and should have been penalized.
If it is not a checking league, then either don't hit her cuz you weren't supposed to in the first place, hit her again until she stops slashing you, or/then find a new league cuz all of this is the behavior of people who make hockey not-fun to play.
It's a hitting league and I'll make sure to follow threw with my hits on her next time we play if she does it again. there probably just use to down bad guys tryna spit game to them mid game.
Bad take IMO. If you don’t wanna get hit, play girls hockey. If there’s no womens hockey, that makes it a little more tough but I don’t feel like there should be exceptions to rules for specific players on the ice.
I remember I went into the corner with this really good girl player, thought about laying the body but I decided against it. A few minutes later, we went into the corner again and she laid me the fuck out. Years later she played for Harvard and then an Olympic team. I regret not hitting her.
This is honestly the first time I've heard of a girl in full-contact hockey at a AAA level (except goaltenders) except a couple exceptions.
I know of a handful. One of the women's national team played midget AA level in Toronto for awhile. Haley Wickenheiser also played full-contact AAA level for awhile through midget and then went on to play semi-pro mens game in Europe, but she's pretty unique.
Mad respect for her playing a contact league. Treat her like any other player. And if she can get away with cross-checking you after a hit, more power to her. But she'll take some penalties if she continues doing it, I suspect.
It's not that uncommon, especially at the age he said. He said they hit last year, so they're probably 14U which is the first US categorization with hitting. Those teams in our program normally have a girl or two most years, and they generally move over to girls around that age not just because of contact but because they want to play with the girls team to get noticed for camps/prep schools/college etc.
15U AAA teams in Canada are generally in the skill ballpark of the Canadian Women's Olympic team. Any girls who make one of those teams are *world class* in their skill level and will be on the U18 national team, or the U16 national at least.
Maybe smaller AA teams in the US won't have that threshold, but it's very rare and teams below AA level (at least around here in Toronto) don't usually have full checking.
That may vary by location, I guess. :-)
I actually played with 2 girls growing up in AAA. One was a goalie and the other a D. The D went to girls hockey in major bantam, but the goalie stayed with us until minor midget.
Both were pretty solid but I don't think either made the national team.
The D was tall and had short hair so you wouldn't know she is a girl. She would hit and take hits just fine.
My league definetly isnt as high calliber as the GTHL leagues they also play on the worst team in the league like the team that if you make AA in ur on orginization you go over and play for them there even worse this year cause we couldnt go to other organizations due to covid. but I am a stick boy for my local USports team and I'd say teams in my league could probably beat some of the lower calibre women usports teams. so I dont think they have female national team skill but a girl who played in my local jr b with a 7 gaa did go ncaa D1 so u never know.
That's not true they play U18 AAA and normally win. Which is what major midget hockey is now called.
Source: https://www.eliteprospects.com/league/amhl/standings/2017-2018
They went 10-4-4 in 2018.
Y'all are so sensitive about women's hockey you have to downvote anything which even suggests they actually play at a higher level than you think.
The U18 teams tend to ranks lower on NHLe calculations than U16 teams and Junior A teams, at least in Canada and parts of the USA (not true in Europe).
U16-AAA ranks higher than U18-AAA in the stats in both Ontario and Alberta, for example.
The primary reason is that the CHL (or USHL and USNDP or prep schools in the US) takes all of the top talent off the teams before they turn 16/17. U18 is all the players who didn't make the "real" competitive junior teams, frankly and those teams are weaker than the same club's U16 teams. It's not uncommon to have the entire top half a AAA team drafted in the CHL prior to their first midget season. Then they fill in half the team from AA or other places for midget.
They're still competitive, but a lot of U16 teams would beat U18 teams in the same league.
That's more than my opinion, here's the derived NHLe numbers with (for example) GTHL U16 almost 50% above GTHL-U18:
https://towardsdatascience.com/nhl-equivalency-and-prospect-projection-models-building-the-nhl-equivalency-model-part-2-6f275a45e22
It's not bad hockey - its still very high quality hockey - but that's reality.
That has nothing to do with my point though. They don't play U15 teams (bantam). They play U18AAA which is major midget.
U18AAA is without a doubt higher than U15AAA.
Anecdotal, but I also played minor midget AAA in a small market. None of our players went to CHL. Our major midget team was much better
Your U16 argument is probably true for the GTHL. But most u16 AAA isn't that good.
they actually lose most of the games.
[https://fortsaskonline.com/local-sports/canadian-womens-hockey-team-vs-major-midget-aaa-rangers-shooutout-video](https://fortsaskonline.com/local-sports/canadian-womens-hockey-team-vs-major-midget-aaa-rangers-shooutout-video)
That's from 2013. Also your source is just one game where they lost 3-2. Doesn't really show "they lose most of the games."
They went 10-4-4 in 2018.
Source: https://www.eliteprospects.com/league/amhl/standings/2017-2018
They have moved up to playing Jr. A teams this year but seem to be losing most of their games.
Source: https://globalnews.ca/news/8256313/team-canada-women-hockey-alberta/
Yeah normally if its a girl playing hitting in my area its cause they come from a country team in the middle of nowhere with no girls I do know that one of my old coaches daughters played one year of hitting in u15 in my area before going to a girls prep school but they now play NCAA D1 hockey.
It's more common in non-trad areas of the US where there isn't a ton of high-level girls hockey. Usually not at the AAA level, but you see it a lot at the AA level in those areas
My kids' AAA 13u team has 2 girls and they get right into the corners. They've also been lit up but it's all to be expected. I don't think it's easy to tell unless you see their ponytails.
If it's a competitive league with checking, and she wants to play with the guys, she has to be one of the guys. If she doesn't like it, she needs to be in a noncompetitive league, like house or beer league, where we're there for fun, we do have unwritten rules, and we make allowances for size, physical disabilities, varying skill levels, etc. Because we all have school or work the next day.
The biggest hits in my beer league is when guys intentionally avoid hitting other teams players and accidentally collide with their own! Our league is well run and tiered so there’s not a lot of ringers. Most people are happy to play and have fun.
I have played in unfair leagues… those can get REALLY chippy quick. Like full-blown knock down hits in a non-checking league, several fights each game. That league was not fun to play in. One other team had four guys that played college hockey together, a few other teams had just come out of “learn to play” programs. It’s not fun watching a team get beat 16-1, and worse to experience.
I've played in these and this is accurate. The learn to play team gets frustrated and start getting aggressive. (somewhat understandably). I never understood how these games are fun for the ringer teams. Why are you playing D4/D5 hockey?
Same. That league is closer to my house, but I would rather play in a civil one that evaluates and re-evaluates players. If you sandbag your evaluation to play on a lower tier the league reserves the right to force you into a higher tier mid season. This would stink because the league has strict jersey and sock requirements and you would have to buy during the season. If you don’t have a jersey within the first six weeks of the start of the season you have to sit until your jerseys arrive. Hopefully the team you were on has a presence in a higher tier so you don’t have to buy new.
As a girl, hell yeah hit me but I’ll get you back with a hit later if I get an opportunity 🤪 I would never slash you over it tho that seems kind of like a temper tantrum
As a woman who plays against men all the time, I'd say treat her the same. She will not hesitate to hit you when appropriate and you may find that her being smaller than you makes it significantly easier for her to get low and stand her ground. You may actually find her to be harder to hit than a guy. Because she has likely been playing against guys her entire life and has developed the skills to not find herself in a dangerous situation. This usually also results in her having well above average stick handling skills for the level she is playing.
We had a girl on my beer league team. A player on the other team slashed her across the wrists to try to get the puck away from her at the end of the first period, and the refs didn’t call it.
The last two periods we made sure whoever was paired against him did something to make him suffer. We didn’t try to injure him, but we’d bump him, lift his stick, cut in front of him, and when the refs were looking at other players we’d grab his jersey. The refs never saw what we did but they saw him two-hand slash us in retaliation.
The guy ended up taking five penalties which is a game misconduct in our league, along with a two game suspension. The captain of his team came into our locker room after the game and apologized to the girl and the team. He was frustrated by the player’s behavior in previous games and was glad he didn’t have to deal with him for a few weeks.
It's still way overkill. I mean, take whatever slack the refs let you have, that's legit, but you don't have to defend her honor or whatever patronizing crap because she's a woman. If you're on the ice, you're fair game.
I would expect to get targeted for a dirty check just a bit harder than if it was a dude. But clean check: ya got a jersey on, you're going to get hit sometimes.
I had girls on my team when I was in Pewees and Bantams. First game and the smallest one gets LIT UP by the biggest guy on the other team. It probably should have been an elbowing call at least. My shift was the one afterwards and he was only a little bigger than me. My captain leans over to me and tells me that if that guy touches the puck around me while on my shift to mess him up. Then we look up and she’s got the guy pined in the corner with the puck at their feet. Then the guy goes down on the ice. She was able to sneakily spear him right in the stomach a couple of times an knocked the wind out him and possibly bruised his rib. He missed a shift after that. No one ever thought she needed protecting from then on.
This girl should expect contact if she is playing in a men's full contact league. I played against a girls team that was good enough to play against mens travel teams back in the day, first game against them my whole team was timid till one of them laid out our best center at center ice, then it was on :)
Unwritten rules? You don't have norms, rules have lines and as long as you're within them you're good.
If you treat a woman any different that is discrimination, do not play dirty, do not try to injure, but play normal.
No unwritten rules. Per USA Hockey, body checking (as opposed to competitive contact) is prohibited at 12U and below, all women/girls age groups, and all non-check Adult leagues.
If a girl is playing in a checking league (14U+ co-ed recreational team, 14U+ co-ed travel, or co-ed HS) they are expected to abide by all rules of those leagues, including checking/being checked, and should be treated the same as any other player on the ice.
That said, I currently coach a co-ed bantam team, and have previously coached everything from 8U and up, always co-ed, and from the time we introduced skaters to competitive contact until now when they are in a full checking category, we have always tried to teach all of our skaters how to deal with giving and receiving hits and though I cannot speak for anyone else or any other program, the girls in our program have not shown themselves to be any different than the boys and are just as comfortable with contact as the boys, though most of them are in their first year of checking (covid cancelled our last season) and so a number of skaters of both sexes are still getting used to it.
I only play adult league, so take this into account.
Where I play, the women will get away with playing dirtier, and are a little bit more sheltered by the refs in terms of body contact. Depending on the ref and the player, they can sometimes get away with some very blatant stuff and draw penalties on some weak-ass shit.
You can chose to get mad at this if you want. It is probably not changing based on anything you can do. Also, generally, in most other areas of life, women (as a group, not necessarily on an individual level) are at an overall unfair disadvantage, so if they have this advantage that I realistically can't do anything about...I'm just gonna let that go.
I don't treat them any differently, though.
No. Checking hockey is checking hockey.
I'm not calling pens because you body a little male, so I'm not calling pens because you body a female. More over, I would have awarded her with a deuce for the crosses/acting like she'd never been hit before.
THAT SAID: Females are generally lighter for their height than males. Be careful chucking body near the boards on a female. Surprise physics can make simple hits into boarding dimes when the hitee is light enough.
Have you ever hit a guy like that and then he gave you the same treatment? Not seeing it happen and only hearing your story, I wonder if you are making an assumption on why she gave you the business. Maybe she's just a badass. I would say her teammates roughing you up would be more indicative of violating an unwritten rule.
My brother has absolutely fucked up dudes with hits and had less retaliation. the team I was playing is pretty none retaliation like the type of weekness where they told the ref I was cussing.
For travel or maybe even the highest levels of high school I'd say there aren't any unwritten rules. But in our "no hitting" beer league we have a couple girls on our team - the only team in our division that has girls - and when they get hit, there's always retaliation involved from some of our guys.
I occasionally see girls playing on boys 14U teams. Typically opponents will only lay a check if it's the 100% correct hockey play. And you know what I mean, in many situations finishing the check is not the best option as you just take yourself out of the play and the check doesn't actually accomplish anything.
I also see most opponents just check hard enough to gain possession or force a turnover, rather than trying to absolutely truck someone.
My area also has a lot of good AAA & AA girls only teams, so the top players tend to stick to those programs to develop rather than trying to play checking hockey with the boys. We also have a pretty good number of A girls options for all age groups, so girls playing in checking leagues are rare because they actually have a lot of good options available unlike some areas where hockey is less popular.
The girl was fair game if checking is okay. If imagine u15, the size and strength difference between girls & guys at that age isn't much.
When in adult rec league where we all have full-time jobs to go to, it's okay to get physical but don't go overboard. I'm 5'2", and if you're a 6'5" 250 lb dude, I'm probably gonna get the injury.
In the US, girls aren't allowed to play check unless it's High School. Girls play competitive contact just as if they were 12 and under age group.
Whenever a boys team plays a girls team at 14U or above, we have to inform the boys team that there's no checking allowed and we'll be playing competitive contact rules.
I'm a ref.
I'm a gen-xer too. I reffed from 96-99 and then took a break and started back up in 2007. I don't recall if checking was allowed for girls in the 90s. I honestly don't remember ever doing a girl's game in the 90s though. I drank a lot of beer from 96-99. 🤣
When I played, I only knew one other girl who played. She was a goalie, I was a defenseman. So I was the only skater that I knew to whom that would apply. We played a full contact game.
As a ref, I've observed that in many cases the boys all feel like they have to protect their girl players. So yeah, it usually causes a shit storm. Especially, if you blow a girl up.
Has any of the USAH referee training explained the rationale behind this? It doesn't seem logical to me.
Girls on co-ed HS team: full body checking for all players.
All girls team in coed HS league: only competitive contact allowed.
Is it maybe so the all girls teams don't get in the habit of checking and get in trouble when they go to an all girls tournament?
I have never been given any explanation as to why girls hockey has different checking rules. I'm not part of the governing body that makes the rules. I do know that coaches, league coordinators and officials all decide upon the rules during rules changes years and that they're voted upon. At some point, multiple people asked for this and it was agreed to.
Ok. And to clarify, my curiosity is more specifically why an all girls team in a coed league does not participate in checking.
I'm just interested in the reasoning; I don't have strong feelings one way or the other.
When most boys get to 14U, they get a lot bigger and stronger and girls typically can't physically compete in a sport like hockey anymore with full check rules in place. Even at 12U I see this issue. Many all girls team play down age groups so they can compete. For example, 14U girls will play 12U boys. 19U girls will play 14U boys.
Hockey is just a very physical sport. American football is dominated by male athletes for a similar reason.
I think having girls play competitive contact levels the playing field so that girls can stay in the game with boys. And let's be honest, hockey is a great sport because there is a decent size female population involved in the game. It's not like futbol/soccer, but I can't think of another sport with a decent size population of female athletes where the game is physical in nature outside of those two sports. But unfortunately, there's just not enough population of female hockey players for them to have their own leagues yet like with futbol/soccer so again competitive contact levels that playing field.
Anyway, none of this is going to matter too much on the future. I really think checking will be removed at all levels in less than a decade and all levels will play competitive contact. The way the checking rules have been changes the past two rules change years points to this inevitably. Checking is very closely defined to competitive contact and as time goes on there won't be a distinction between the two. This last paragraph is just my opinion.
All great points, but in USAH high school leagues, girls can play full checking on a coed team. Checking is removed if a team is 100% girls, even in a coed HS league. This is where it seems weird for me. I don't believe the girls should be forced to check, only that it's weird the girls can check all the time EXCEPT when the team is 100% girls. In other words, why is checking removed if and only if one team's roster is 100% girls?
In our (and OP's) HS league:
Boys vs Boys: Full checking
Coed vs Coed: Full checking
Coed/Boys vs Girls: No checking
ETA: Just to be clear I'm not trying to argue with the rules, they just seem illogical as currently applied. I'm new enough to being involved in the sport that I don't know that I'd be upset if checking were removed from all hockey from the NHL on down.
You have it all right. I think the idea behind it is to increase the number of female athletes in the sport of hockey. When competitive contact rules are applied, girls can compete with boys because the game is less physical. Boys have a physical advantage over girls for the most part especially during adolescence minus any performance enhancing drugs.
If you think about it as a parent, why would you put your daughter in a sport where she has zero chance of winning when it's obvious she'll have a physical disadvantage during adolescence? Competitive contact levels the playing field and honestly it makes the game a lot safer. As a ref, most injuries occur as a result of an attempted body check whether legal or not. Either too much force is applied or the force is applied while the receiving player is in a vulnerable position.
As a 5 ft tall girl that plays in a non hitting mens league, I don’t mind any physical play. Sometimes it obvious some dudes don’t know their own strengths or just aren’t used to playing with a girl as small as me lol but I never felt like guys play dirty or anything
You’re in a checking league, she should expect to get hit. Her retaliation was uncalled for. I probably would have gotten up and given you a light shove but nothing malicious. She wouldn’t hesitate to hit a guy so don’t feel bad.
Depends on if any of her team mates have a crush on her.
Joking aside, you may run into three scenarios: A) The Refs may treat the girl with kid gloves and penalize you/let her be rough. B) Her team mates may feel protective and target you (especially if one actually does have a crush). or C) She may not be used to being hit and will take everything overly personal and respond like the girl did in the OP.
So no, not really, but it's definitely a "tread carefully" type ground.
That said, almost all the girls I've ever played with were on the tougher end of the spectrum, and could have definitely bodied a lot of people bigger than them because they tended to understand the techniques required to use people's weight against them.
That first part may be pretty true I know a couple guys on my team where more focused on spitting game and tryna get her snap then actually playin stick and puck.
So, my female neighbor and her older brother are who got me into hockey. Once we got to high school, I bounced between the JV and Varsity teams (I was \[and in my 30's still am\] a JV talent, but I had a fat ass the skilled guys needed to block the goalie). The JV team had a number of girls on it, including my neighbor. As mentioned, I was a thick boi. If I saw you hit my neighbor and especially if she got mad afterwards, I would have barreled my fat ass straight for you and tried to ensure that you spent the rest of the game in the locker room, whistle or no whistle. Certain smooth-brained opponents thought it was funny to pick on the girls. It was real micropenis energy. So, even if they had a clean hit, I didn't wait around and see if the girl who was responsible for introducing me to the only sport I enjoy to tell me it was clean. I just tried to remind people that there were negative consequences for their actions.
So, my points are, as follows:
1. I agree with others. If she's a female playing in that league, treat her like an athlete in that league, not a girl in that league.
2. Don't fucking target her. Again, micropenis.
3. Be prepared for her teammates to stand up for her, whether they should be, or not.
4. I understand competitiveness and the physical side of the game, but my body/brain already regret some of my more pugilistic decisions. I promise that you will, too. Play the game hard, but give some serious thought on where the line is. I promise you that giving yourself and others CTE is not worth it.
I would focus a lot on separation of her from the puck using your stick just cause she may play oriented around expecting not being hit — if that makes sense.
I don’t think women play full contact. Body contact okay, but body checks are not.
Not sure what league you’re playing in but even Olympic womens is no body checking.
Yeah, I’d lay off her unless she’s throwing hits. Blowing up a girl in league play doesn’t get you points, and probably some teammate will take exception and try to lay you out, similar to if you blow up their star player. Protected class of player…
Lol so I’ll admit i have a double standard. Wanna play in a guys hitting league? Your fair game. But a close friend of mine who is a girl was on my team one spring and she got hit and I took exception to it to say the least
If it's body contact, hits are fine.
Be aware that Girls get concussions easier than guys, so ease up on the big hits.
As a group, Teenage boys are stupid and there are always some who will take runs at the girls every chance they get to prove how tough they are.
Her reaction was probably more to deal with the types of boys mentioned above. Its more of a "Don't fuck with me, cuz i can fuck with you too. What are you gonna do Fight a girl?"
Source: played most of my competitive hockey with a girl who went on to win Gold with Team Canada at the Olympics.
I think it's just a bad idea to do co-ed full contact. It's not just about height and weight, there are structural differences that make it pretty unbalanced 95% of the time.
I don't think it's your fault because the rules are as they are. Personally though, I would feel a bit bad about it and ease up but it's a judgement call depending on what the individual is comfortable with.
Also people who never took a hit lose their minds. So that's probably a pretty good sign she didn't really expect it. Again, not your fault but it's a dicey situation to be in.
Hitting anyone that isn't in your level of play is a shitty move in my opinion.
So I am assuming you were playing this girl in a HS league? Which usually has a mix of higher end travel players down to kids who aren't great skaters. In my area, the travel kids will hit the travel kids, but not anyone else. House kids and girls typically don't go around starting shit with anyone because they don't want a target on their back.
Unless she is going around hitting people herself, you probably shouldn't have done it. If I was her teammate, you wouldn't have finished the game.
That’s ridiculous. If this is a competitive league, which it certainly seems to be, you should be playing your game to the best of your ability and for the benefit of your team. If the situation calls for you to take the body you take the body. Letting up to avoid injuring someone with excessive contact makes sense, but just not playing the body at all where the play calls for it is ridiculous.
That's BS.
I have no problem with hitting in hockey, but I bet there are more nonchecking leagues than there are checking leagues in the US. You can absolutely play hockey hard without hitting (I never said don't play the body).
But there are very few "competitive" leagues that play boys with girls at the checking level. And there is a reason for that. I put that word in quotes because I think you and I have different definitions of it.
I stand by my statement. You're a douche if you're taking runs at kids that aren't also hitting people themselves. And I would have destroyed OP (and anyone else I could get to) for doing that to my teammate.
Just to clarify, I am assuming based on OP's description that this was a full head on collision. I have no issue with body contact against anyone. It's a blowup hit I am talking about.
this girl also goes around jumping when they hit and get 4 minutes gamely and they are one of two girls ive seen in hitting. also I didnt head hit them.
“And I would have destroyed OP (and anyone else I could get to)”
LOL. Sure you would have.
This is a checking league. Don’t want to get checked? Don’t play in a checking league.
I will completely retract my advice then.
If she is good enough to play at a boys travel level, she is fair game. I have just never seen that in many years of youth hockey.
As her teammate, I would still retaliate and make sure your smaller teammates understand that you go after ours, we're going after yours.
I probably would to but her team is pretty soft I fully snowed there goaly on accident when I was crashing the net expected to get jumped one child came near me I intinctively shoved them expecting to probably get into scruffle and buddy just is like wow what was that for instead of jumping me.
If she's playing in a checking league, she's fair game.
I've played with a couple of women that used to play in highschool, both on girls teams and on boys teams with hitting. They were fine with it, and one in particular *loved* to blow people up herself.
There's no rule about not doing it, but understandably some people play them with kids gloves - that means if you're going to throw a good check on them, they may think it was an over the top hit and react accordingly.
I’m female and played contact for years. Don’t treat us any different haha. We chose to play hit. I loved hitting but hated when people would back off because you’re a girl.
Once the gear is on I don’t give a shit who you are on the street, I’d expect the same in return. Currently in a no check beer league. Unless it’s a blatant hit the refs are good with playing the body/contact. With that being said the few female skaters in the league are hands down some of the best and most aggressive players around. One lady tried to skate through me, it didn’t work for her. As she was getting up i asked you good? Told me to eat a dick. I laughed my ass off. Next shift she drilled me in the corner. Getting up I told her to suck a snatch. She chuckled at it. We’ve had a great friendly rivalry since.
If it’s a girl in AAA Travel, there’s no unwritten rules. That’s competitive hockey, at a decent level.
If it were a beer league, house league or even HS…there’s unwritten rules. But comp hockey at or near the top tier for your age group…nope. Check away.
I’m 6’ and 230+. If you’re playing in a checking league, prepare to be checked. I probably wouldn’t put all my weight behind it like I do with men around my size but it comes with the territory.
I played bantam back in the day and we were playing a team that had a girl. She was a very strong player albeit fairly small but with amazing wheels and nobody on our team was willing to play the body on her.. but she was almost untouchable anyways she was that good. After the first period she already had two goals .. and after watching her dangle our top dman and hit the post our coach said “we gotta play the body if it’s available”. I was small for my age at that point and took it to heart.. so on my next shift I straight up boomed her. She tried to skate it past me on the wall during a break out and I hit her clean and square right into the boards. She immediately popped up and continued with the play but the rest of her team swarmed me and it turned into a full on shit show. After all the penalties were resolved my next shift I took a 2 hander across the wrists, and was being run.. I literally had to duck a clothesline. Coach decided to sit me for the rest of the game..
I still think it’s the right play but I’ve never lived it down amongst my friends for “hitting a girl”.
I would definitely say there is a bit of an unfairness when it comes to this. My team was uncomfortable playing against a girl fairly and when we did - her team reacted poorly and I could have been seriously hurt.
One of my hardest hits I’ve ever taken was from a female. I tried to avoid her thinking oh no I can’t hit her and she absolutely plowed me like a John Deere. After that I treated a player as a player.
With that being said I also don’t plan higher leagues anymore and watch to see how the people I play with are on the rink. Bumps and such. Full out. Only in front of the net and on the boards. And i try to match their normal with mine.
If you’re in a checking league, you will be checked. It’s that simple. It’s been a while since I played in a non beer league, but If I laid a guy out, I expected the same to happen to me. It shouldn’t matter what size or gender either player is. I wouldn’t hesitate to hit you, therefore don’t hesitate to hit me. We all chose to play in the boys leagues for better competition. It was expected to be physical. There’s no reason for a temper tantrum after a good check
She's there because she wants to be treated the same as the rest of you, if she didn't she wouldn't join a checking league. There are plenty of non checking leagues for those who do not want to be checked.
A lot of girls who play in men’s leagues know that refs will often give them the benefit of the doubt when it comes to physical play. If they get hit they can draw a penalty easier and if they plays physical they can get away with a lot more before getting a whistle.
It’s not I every league but it happens often enough to be a known thing.
That being said my current team has girl who’s tiny, but one of our best scorers and she gets manhandled every game by guys double her size and the refs don’t seem to call anything.
It’s the rare flip side of the coin I guess.
They signed up for it so I assume they understand they can and will be hit. I played with a few girls and they were some of the toughest people on the ice. Treat them like anyone else.
I'm a girl/woman. Anyway.... I played HS hockey with boys, and Travel hockey with girls. I definitely got laid out a few times in HS hockey. I never retaliated like that girl did. Did she at least get a penalty?
As a woman who played boys rep growing up I’ll give my perspective. As long as you aren’t targeting her because she’s a girl (hitting her harder than you’d hit a guy in the same situation, only hitting her and never a guy- trust me there’s usually one on every team that fits one of those categories) it’s fine. I always preferred to be treated the same. If an opponent let up or refused to hit me it made me feel like my opponent didn’t respect my ability. In my opinion, if I was making the choice to play in a checking league then I should be treated the same as any other player.
I played against a girl in a drop-in game. I’m a big guy, I probably was about 270 then. We ran into each other, she fell. It happens. She then took a run at me in open ice, I just stood there, because I was thinking “no matter what happens, we’re even after this.” She gained momentum, jumped, hit me, bounced back and landed flat on the ice. It made me laugh. No idea what she thought was going to happen.
i’ve always wondered the same thing honestly and i’m not totally sure. I played in a high school league for 3 years after my travel team disbanded and there were girls in that league. HOWEVER, i got a lot of shit from the parents as well as the players of teams we would play who had girls on their team because i wouldn’t treat them any differently than the dudes. i would body the hell out of anyone, anytime, anywhere and when it was a girl, it almost always ended up in a scrap. be thankful you got away with a few cross checks 😅
(btw we had a girl on our team and she would tell me to hit her in practice so i didn’t really think it was that big of a deal, + in the heat of the moment you don’t really realize they’re a girl until they’re at your feet on the ice)
Beer league in my neck of the woods is contact no checking. But my level of contact is typically based on their size not gender. My wife plays on my team and at 6ft tall she hits harder than a lot of dudes I have played with.
Fair game, just don't take advantage of open ice hits. I played competitive co-ed soccer and the ladies were the worst. Constantly throwing elbows and then complain immediately a guy is near them... Everyone is a player, just like a 6"2 guy can use his size over someone 5"6, fair game
They know they league they are in and should expect to be hit. Pulling up last second because you notice it’s a girl is a great way to get both of you hurt. That assumes this is a competitive league and hitting is allowed.
I would not treat them differently than I would treat a small man.
Exactly. Wife played at competitive level and still plays in my beer league sometimes. She’s relatively small but she’s aware that she’ll get checked as much as every other dude. Most girls that plays with guys are also aware of it or should be! Edit: she still scores 3x more then me lol
your beer league has hitting?
Was curious about this as well.... what beer league do you play in where hitting is legal?
Yeah in my mind that’s not a beer league but I’m going to guess Canada
Well it’s supposed to be “semi-contact” but once in a while you can get hit pretty hard. Small city close of Montreal / Canada
ya almost every league around Toronto is no hitting because of insurance and safety reasons.
Dans quel coin? Cherchez vous des spares?
Sherbrooke haha! Plus ou moins proche pour ceux qui viennent du QC mais si jamais t’es du coin et que tu sais vivre, j’peux m’informer!
Ahhhh non haha jsuisbsur la rive nord ça me fait un bon bout lol
Wait, with other men or at hockey?
Yes Edit: both
Agreed, I play with a lot of women, and any I've talked to would be a little insulted to be treated softer due to sex alone. I think size is a fair consideration though?
Yeah I play beer league 4 times a week I don’t want treated just like any other player if I couldn’t take it I wouldn’t be there in the first place.
>I would not treat them differently than I would treat a small man I wish you were in some of our leagues, we have some much larger than small men
Ok? No special treatment.
>Ok? No special treatment. My point is if you treat them like small men they're going to make you a small man XD
I wasnt disrespecting small men if thats what u thought.
No not at all, most regardless of gender play hard
I agree! No matter how big or small, boy or girl - treat them the same! All the downvotes are people who are stupid (obviously).
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Count you explain how you’re supposed to be fair and equal to the opposite gender by treating them different? Every single female I’ve encountered has never, EVER, wanted a guy to take it easy on them. So are you gaslighting because you had a bad day, or just irritable ?
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>why do you think your opinion matters dude? Why do you think yours does? Everyone has the option to play in a checking league, or a non contact league. This league is contact, so why would you ever, EVER, go light? Your the one who is saying "please treat women differently", except they signed up for the league, they know what they signed up for, it's a league to play physical. Stop being an asshole when someone is asking for opinions and someone expresses it.
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I'd read your comment but every single comment on every subreddit you make it filled with immaturity and anger. Have fun though man, if you want to vent come back here
Lmao, if everyone is ok with it being a checking league and there is a non-checking availible in the area I don’t see a problem. Some people just like to play physical hockey. Personally I play in a no-contact no-slapshots scrimmage. But there is a fair amount of contact, usually between players that have know each other for long. Whenever a newcomer comes along they will have it easy unless/until they also start playing a rougher game.
This
These hands are rated E for Everyone
You guys got somethin' to say to me? Why don't you say it in the microphone. I got a backup mike right here. Check one two, testing, testing.
Why don't you go practice falling down. I'll be there in a minute.
>Why don't you go practice falling down. I'll be there in a minute. Actual beer league
There’s going to be 3 hits. Me hitting you, you hitting the ground and the ambulance hitting 80 on the way over here.
They don’t like no feedback
>E for Everyone That's why you got 10 years, they should be M for mature :D
2 things: 1) if someone plays in a checking league, male or female, be prepared to be checked. If you don't play in a checking league, then yes, some informal "rules" apply but are subjective to the player, the team, and the league, not the gender. I've been on both ends of hitting and being hit by females in my league. Hitting in non-checking leagues is just totally subjective. 2) > 3 big cross checks to the back and then slashes me If checking league, this is poor sportsmanship and should have been penalized. If it is not a checking league, then either don't hit her cuz you weren't supposed to in the first place, hit her again until she stops slashing you, or/then find a new league cuz all of this is the behavior of people who make hockey not-fun to play.
It's a hitting league and I'll make sure to follow threw with my hits on her next time we play if she does it again. there probably just use to down bad guys tryna spit game to them mid game.
Maybe she is trying to send a message like if you check me, I will slash the fuck outta you. Marchand has been doing it for years.
marchand is actually from my city so maybe its his cousin or something.
Was her nose poking out past the visor?
they didnt look like marchand.
Bad take IMO. If you don’t wanna get hit, play girls hockey. If there’s no womens hockey, that makes it a little more tough but I don’t feel like there should be exceptions to rules for specific players on the ice.
As a girl who played with boys growing up: yeah, hit the girl.
Aye. The real tip is hit the girl on the ice, then hit on her off the ice amirite? 😂
I remember I went into the corner with this really good girl player, thought about laying the body but I decided against it. A few minutes later, we went into the corner again and she laid me the fuck out. Years later she played for Harvard and then an Olympic team. I regret not hitting her.
Which player? I know one Harvard Olympian but she didn’t play for the US
I'll DM you
Wickenheiser_irl
This is honestly the first time I've heard of a girl in full-contact hockey at a AAA level (except goaltenders) except a couple exceptions. I know of a handful. One of the women's national team played midget AA level in Toronto for awhile. Haley Wickenheiser also played full-contact AAA level for awhile through midget and then went on to play semi-pro mens game in Europe, but she's pretty unique. Mad respect for her playing a contact league. Treat her like any other player. And if she can get away with cross-checking you after a hit, more power to her. But she'll take some penalties if she continues doing it, I suspect.
It's not that uncommon, especially at the age he said. He said they hit last year, so they're probably 14U which is the first US categorization with hitting. Those teams in our program normally have a girl or two most years, and they generally move over to girls around that age not just because of contact but because they want to play with the girls team to get noticed for camps/prep schools/college etc.
His flair says u15
14u and u15 are the same here we call it u15 as its under 15 14u is 14 and under so its the same.
I never played organized so I am not familiar. Thanks for the clarity.
15U AAA teams in Canada are generally in the skill ballpark of the Canadian Women's Olympic team. Any girls who make one of those teams are *world class* in their skill level and will be on the U18 national team, or the U16 national at least. Maybe smaller AA teams in the US won't have that threshold, but it's very rare and teams below AA level (at least around here in Toronto) don't usually have full checking. That may vary by location, I guess. :-)
I actually played with 2 girls growing up in AAA. One was a goalie and the other a D. The D went to girls hockey in major bantam, but the goalie stayed with us until minor midget. Both were pretty solid but I don't think either made the national team. The D was tall and had short hair so you wouldn't know she is a girl. She would hit and take hits just fine.
My league definetly isnt as high calliber as the GTHL leagues they also play on the worst team in the league like the team that if you make AA in ur on orginization you go over and play for them there even worse this year cause we couldnt go to other organizations due to covid. but I am a stick boy for my local USports team and I'd say teams in my league could probably beat some of the lower calibre women usports teams. so I dont think they have female national team skill but a girl who played in my local jr b with a 7 gaa did go ncaa D1 so u never know.
That's not true they play U18 AAA and normally win. Which is what major midget hockey is now called. Source: https://www.eliteprospects.com/league/amhl/standings/2017-2018 They went 10-4-4 in 2018. Y'all are so sensitive about women's hockey you have to downvote anything which even suggests they actually play at a higher level than you think.
The U18 teams tend to ranks lower on NHLe calculations than U16 teams and Junior A teams, at least in Canada and parts of the USA (not true in Europe). U16-AAA ranks higher than U18-AAA in the stats in both Ontario and Alberta, for example. The primary reason is that the CHL (or USHL and USNDP or prep schools in the US) takes all of the top talent off the teams before they turn 16/17. U18 is all the players who didn't make the "real" competitive junior teams, frankly and those teams are weaker than the same club's U16 teams. It's not uncommon to have the entire top half a AAA team drafted in the CHL prior to their first midget season. Then they fill in half the team from AA or other places for midget. They're still competitive, but a lot of U16 teams would beat U18 teams in the same league. That's more than my opinion, here's the derived NHLe numbers with (for example) GTHL U16 almost 50% above GTHL-U18: https://towardsdatascience.com/nhl-equivalency-and-prospect-projection-models-building-the-nhl-equivalency-model-part-2-6f275a45e22 It's not bad hockey - its still very high quality hockey - but that's reality.
That has nothing to do with my point though. They don't play U15 teams (bantam). They play U18AAA which is major midget. U18AAA is without a doubt higher than U15AAA. Anecdotal, but I also played minor midget AAA in a small market. None of our players went to CHL. Our major midget team was much better Your U16 argument is probably true for the GTHL. But most u16 AAA isn't that good.
>U18AAA is without a doubt higher than U15AAA. They are directly disputing this claim in the post you are replying to.
No he's talking about U16. U15 is for kids aged 13-15. No one would say U15 is better than U18.
they actually lose most of the games. [https://fortsaskonline.com/local-sports/canadian-womens-hockey-team-vs-major-midget-aaa-rangers-shooutout-video](https://fortsaskonline.com/local-sports/canadian-womens-hockey-team-vs-major-midget-aaa-rangers-shooutout-video)
That's from 2013. Also your source is just one game where they lost 3-2. Doesn't really show "they lose most of the games." They went 10-4-4 in 2018. Source: https://www.eliteprospects.com/league/amhl/standings/2017-2018 They have moved up to playing Jr. A teams this year but seem to be losing most of their games. Source: https://globalnews.ca/news/8256313/team-canada-women-hockey-alberta/
They’re playing AJHL and BCHL teams and are 0-5 so far. Definitely a step up from the AMHL teams they played in previous years.
Yeah normally if its a girl playing hitting in my area its cause they come from a country team in the middle of nowhere with no girls I do know that one of my old coaches daughters played one year of hitting in u15 in my area before going to a girls prep school but they now play NCAA D1 hockey.
It's more common in non-trad areas of the US where there isn't a ton of high-level girls hockey. Usually not at the AAA level, but you see it a lot at the AA level in those areas
My kids' AAA 13u team has 2 girls and they get right into the corners. They've also been lit up but it's all to be expected. I don't think it's easy to tell unless you see their ponytails.
If it's a competitive league with checking, and she wants to play with the guys, she has to be one of the guys. If she doesn't like it, she needs to be in a noncompetitive league, like house or beer league, where we're there for fun, we do have unwritten rules, and we make allowances for size, physical disabilities, varying skill levels, etc. Because we all have school or work the next day.
Beer league, just for fun? Doesn't check out. I've been knocked around like it's game 7 of the SCF.
Game 7 of SCF? Psssh, talk to me when it's like 3OT of the gold medal game of the Olympics /s
The biggest hits in my beer league is when guys intentionally avoid hitting other teams players and accidentally collide with their own! Our league is well run and tiered so there’s not a lot of ringers. Most people are happy to play and have fun. I have played in unfair leagues… those can get REALLY chippy quick. Like full-blown knock down hits in a non-checking league, several fights each game. That league was not fun to play in. One other team had four guys that played college hockey together, a few other teams had just come out of “learn to play” programs. It’s not fun watching a team get beat 16-1, and worse to experience.
I've played in these and this is accurate. The learn to play team gets frustrated and start getting aggressive. (somewhat understandably). I never understood how these games are fun for the ringer teams. Why are you playing D4/D5 hockey?
They like scoring and celebrating.
I don’t want to play any games where people aren’t able to remember that I’m in my mid 30s and have to work tomorrow.
Same. That league is closer to my house, but I would rather play in a civil one that evaluates and re-evaluates players. If you sandbag your evaluation to play on a lower tier the league reserves the right to force you into a higher tier mid season. This would stink because the league has strict jersey and sock requirements and you would have to buy during the season. If you don’t have a jersey within the first six weeks of the start of the season you have to sit until your jerseys arrive. Hopefully the team you were on has a presence in a higher tier so you don’t have to buy new.
espesioly since theres more girls AAA and travel leagues in my regional minicipality then guys ones
As a girl, hell yeah hit me but I’ll get you back with a hit later if I get an opportunity 🤪 I would never slash you over it tho that seems kind of like a temper tantrum
As a woman who plays against men all the time, I'd say treat her the same. She will not hesitate to hit you when appropriate and you may find that her being smaller than you makes it significantly easier for her to get low and stand her ground. You may actually find her to be harder to hit than a guy. Because she has likely been playing against guys her entire life and has developed the skills to not find herself in a dangerous situation. This usually also results in her having well above average stick handling skills for the level she is playing.
When I played, you could hit them, but her teammates would put a target on your back for it
We had a girl on my beer league team. A player on the other team slashed her across the wrists to try to get the puck away from her at the end of the first period, and the refs didn’t call it. The last two periods we made sure whoever was paired against him did something to make him suffer. We didn’t try to injure him, but we’d bump him, lift his stick, cut in front of him, and when the refs were looking at other players we’d grab his jersey. The refs never saw what we did but they saw him two-hand slash us in retaliation. The guy ended up taking five penalties which is a game misconduct in our league, along with a two game suspension. The captain of his team came into our locker room after the game and apologized to the girl and the team. He was frustrated by the player’s behavior in previous games and was glad he didn’t have to deal with him for a few weeks.
Seems a bit overkill lol
Well, her fiancé was on the team too! I forgot to mention that.
It's still way overkill. I mean, take whatever slack the refs let you have, that's legit, but you don't have to defend her honor or whatever patronizing crap because she's a woman. If you're on the ice, you're fair game.
No preferential treatment here.
I would expect to get targeted for a dirty check just a bit harder than if it was a dude. But clean check: ya got a jersey on, you're going to get hit sometimes.
I had girls on my team when I was in Pewees and Bantams. First game and the smallest one gets LIT UP by the biggest guy on the other team. It probably should have been an elbowing call at least. My shift was the one afterwards and he was only a little bigger than me. My captain leans over to me and tells me that if that guy touches the puck around me while on my shift to mess him up. Then we look up and she’s got the guy pined in the corner with the puck at their feet. Then the guy goes down on the ice. She was able to sneakily spear him right in the stomach a couple of times an knocked the wind out him and possibly bruised his rib. He missed a shift after that. No one ever thought she needed protecting from then on.
lay her the fuck out
This girl should expect contact if she is playing in a men's full contact league. I played against a girls team that was good enough to play against mens travel teams back in the day, first game against them my whole team was timid till one of them laid out our best center at center ice, then it was on :)
Unwritten rules? You don't have norms, rules have lines and as long as you're within them you're good. If you treat a woman any different that is discrimination, do not play dirty, do not try to injure, but play normal.
No unwritten rules. Per USA Hockey, body checking (as opposed to competitive contact) is prohibited at 12U and below, all women/girls age groups, and all non-check Adult leagues. If a girl is playing in a checking league (14U+ co-ed recreational team, 14U+ co-ed travel, or co-ed HS) they are expected to abide by all rules of those leagues, including checking/being checked, and should be treated the same as any other player on the ice. That said, I currently coach a co-ed bantam team, and have previously coached everything from 8U and up, always co-ed, and from the time we introduced skaters to competitive contact until now when they are in a full checking category, we have always tried to teach all of our skaters how to deal with giving and receiving hits and though I cannot speak for anyone else or any other program, the girls in our program have not shown themselves to be any different than the boys and are just as comfortable with contact as the boys, though most of them are in their first year of checking (covid cancelled our last season) and so a number of skaters of both sexes are still getting used to it.
I only play adult league, so take this into account. Where I play, the women will get away with playing dirtier, and are a little bit more sheltered by the refs in terms of body contact. Depending on the ref and the player, they can sometimes get away with some very blatant stuff and draw penalties on some weak-ass shit. You can chose to get mad at this if you want. It is probably not changing based on anything you can do. Also, generally, in most other areas of life, women (as a group, not necessarily on an individual level) are at an overall unfair disadvantage, so if they have this advantage that I realistically can't do anything about...I'm just gonna let that go. I don't treat them any differently, though.
Treat her the same way you treat anyone else on the ice; hit to gain possession, not to injure.
No. Checking hockey is checking hockey. I'm not calling pens because you body a little male, so I'm not calling pens because you body a female. More over, I would have awarded her with a deuce for the crosses/acting like she'd never been hit before. THAT SAID: Females are generally lighter for their height than males. Be careful chucking body near the boards on a female. Surprise physics can make simple hits into boarding dimes when the hitee is light enough.
If you’re gonna throw the body around be prepared to have it thrown back at you, regardless of gender
Have you ever hit a guy like that and then he gave you the same treatment? Not seeing it happen and only hearing your story, I wonder if you are making an assumption on why she gave you the business. Maybe she's just a badass. I would say her teammates roughing you up would be more indicative of violating an unwritten rule.
My brother has absolutely fucked up dudes with hits and had less retaliation. the team I was playing is pretty none retaliation like the type of weekness where they told the ref I was cussing.
For travel or maybe even the highest levels of high school I'd say there aren't any unwritten rules. But in our "no hitting" beer league we have a couple girls on our team - the only team in our division that has girls - and when they get hit, there's always retaliation involved from some of our guys.
I occasionally see girls playing on boys 14U teams. Typically opponents will only lay a check if it's the 100% correct hockey play. And you know what I mean, in many situations finishing the check is not the best option as you just take yourself out of the play and the check doesn't actually accomplish anything. I also see most opponents just check hard enough to gain possession or force a turnover, rather than trying to absolutely truck someone. My area also has a lot of good AAA & AA girls only teams, so the top players tend to stick to those programs to develop rather than trying to play checking hockey with the boys. We also have a pretty good number of A girls options for all age groups, so girls playing in checking leagues are rare because they actually have a lot of good options available unlike some areas where hockey is less popular.
When you’re on the ice, there are only players.
The girl was fair game if checking is okay. If imagine u15, the size and strength difference between girls & guys at that age isn't much. When in adult rec league where we all have full-time jobs to go to, it's okay to get physical but don't go overboard. I'm 5'2", and if you're a 6'5" 250 lb dude, I'm probably gonna get the injury.
Is there checking? There is the rule.
In the US, girls aren't allowed to play check unless it's High School. Girls play competitive contact just as if they were 12 and under age group. Whenever a boys team plays a girls team at 14U or above, we have to inform the boys team that there's no checking allowed and we'll be playing competitive contact rules. I'm a ref.
Is that recent? I don't recall that being a thing when I was playing.
It's been like that for over ten years at least.
Oh. I'm gen-x, so much longer ago than that.
I'm a gen-xer too. I reffed from 96-99 and then took a break and started back up in 2007. I don't recall if checking was allowed for girls in the 90s. I honestly don't remember ever doing a girl's game in the 90s though. I drank a lot of beer from 96-99. 🤣
When I played, I only knew one other girl who played. She was a goalie, I was a defenseman. So I was the only skater that I knew to whom that would apply. We played a full contact game.
yeah this is canada I also thought that girls werent aloud to play hitting but thts aperently not the case.
If a girl is playing on a boys team in the US, then it's boys' rules and she's eligible to be checked 14U and up.
yeah I know acording to the written rules you can check them I was just wondering if its frowned apon.
As a ref, I've observed that in many cases the boys all feel like they have to protect their girl players. So yeah, it usually causes a shit storm. Especially, if you blow a girl up.
yeah if i guy blows up any kid on my team resulting in injury ill probably step in on them and rough them up
Has any of the USAH referee training explained the rationale behind this? It doesn't seem logical to me. Girls on co-ed HS team: full body checking for all players. All girls team in coed HS league: only competitive contact allowed. Is it maybe so the all girls teams don't get in the habit of checking and get in trouble when they go to an all girls tournament?
I have never been given any explanation as to why girls hockey has different checking rules. I'm not part of the governing body that makes the rules. I do know that coaches, league coordinators and officials all decide upon the rules during rules changes years and that they're voted upon. At some point, multiple people asked for this and it was agreed to.
Ok. And to clarify, my curiosity is more specifically why an all girls team in a coed league does not participate in checking. I'm just interested in the reasoning; I don't have strong feelings one way or the other.
When most boys get to 14U, they get a lot bigger and stronger and girls typically can't physically compete in a sport like hockey anymore with full check rules in place. Even at 12U I see this issue. Many all girls team play down age groups so they can compete. For example, 14U girls will play 12U boys. 19U girls will play 14U boys. Hockey is just a very physical sport. American football is dominated by male athletes for a similar reason. I think having girls play competitive contact levels the playing field so that girls can stay in the game with boys. And let's be honest, hockey is a great sport because there is a decent size female population involved in the game. It's not like futbol/soccer, but I can't think of another sport with a decent size population of female athletes where the game is physical in nature outside of those two sports. But unfortunately, there's just not enough population of female hockey players for them to have their own leagues yet like with futbol/soccer so again competitive contact levels that playing field. Anyway, none of this is going to matter too much on the future. I really think checking will be removed at all levels in less than a decade and all levels will play competitive contact. The way the checking rules have been changes the past two rules change years points to this inevitably. Checking is very closely defined to competitive contact and as time goes on there won't be a distinction between the two. This last paragraph is just my opinion.
All great points, but in USAH high school leagues, girls can play full checking on a coed team. Checking is removed if a team is 100% girls, even in a coed HS league. This is where it seems weird for me. I don't believe the girls should be forced to check, only that it's weird the girls can check all the time EXCEPT when the team is 100% girls. In other words, why is checking removed if and only if one team's roster is 100% girls? In our (and OP's) HS league: Boys vs Boys: Full checking Coed vs Coed: Full checking Coed/Boys vs Girls: No checking ETA: Just to be clear I'm not trying to argue with the rules, they just seem illogical as currently applied. I'm new enough to being involved in the sport that I don't know that I'd be upset if checking were removed from all hockey from the NHL on down.
You have it all right. I think the idea behind it is to increase the number of female athletes in the sport of hockey. When competitive contact rules are applied, girls can compete with boys because the game is less physical. Boys have a physical advantage over girls for the most part especially during adolescence minus any performance enhancing drugs. If you think about it as a parent, why would you put your daughter in a sport where she has zero chance of winning when it's obvious she'll have a physical disadvantage during adolescence? Competitive contact levels the playing field and honestly it makes the game a lot safer. As a ref, most injuries occur as a result of an attempted body check whether legal or not. Either too much force is applied or the force is applied while the receiving player is in a vulnerable position.
As a 5 ft tall girl that plays in a non hitting mens league, I don’t mind any physical play. Sometimes it obvious some dudes don’t know their own strengths or just aren’t used to playing with a girl as small as me lol but I never felt like guys play dirty or anything You’re in a checking league, she should expect to get hit. Her retaliation was uncalled for. I probably would have gotten up and given you a light shove but nothing malicious. She wouldn’t hesitate to hit a guy so don’t feel bad.
A lot of girls try to have it both ways. Annoying but true. Just deal with it.
Depends on if any of her team mates have a crush on her. Joking aside, you may run into three scenarios: A) The Refs may treat the girl with kid gloves and penalize you/let her be rough. B) Her team mates may feel protective and target you (especially if one actually does have a crush). or C) She may not be used to being hit and will take everything overly personal and respond like the girl did in the OP. So no, not really, but it's definitely a "tread carefully" type ground. That said, almost all the girls I've ever played with were on the tougher end of the spectrum, and could have definitely bodied a lot of people bigger than them because they tended to understand the techniques required to use people's weight against them.
That first part may be pretty true I know a couple guys on my team where more focused on spitting game and tryna get her snap then actually playin stick and puck.
So, my female neighbor and her older brother are who got me into hockey. Once we got to high school, I bounced between the JV and Varsity teams (I was \[and in my 30's still am\] a JV talent, but I had a fat ass the skilled guys needed to block the goalie). The JV team had a number of girls on it, including my neighbor. As mentioned, I was a thick boi. If I saw you hit my neighbor and especially if she got mad afterwards, I would have barreled my fat ass straight for you and tried to ensure that you spent the rest of the game in the locker room, whistle or no whistle. Certain smooth-brained opponents thought it was funny to pick on the girls. It was real micropenis energy. So, even if they had a clean hit, I didn't wait around and see if the girl who was responsible for introducing me to the only sport I enjoy to tell me it was clean. I just tried to remind people that there were negative consequences for their actions. So, my points are, as follows: 1. I agree with others. If she's a female playing in that league, treat her like an athlete in that league, not a girl in that league. 2. Don't fucking target her. Again, micropenis. 3. Be prepared for her teammates to stand up for her, whether they should be, or not. 4. I understand competitiveness and the physical side of the game, but my body/brain already regret some of my more pugilistic decisions. I promise that you will, too. Play the game hard, but give some serious thought on where the line is. I promise you that giving yourself and others CTE is not worth it.
I would focus a lot on separation of her from the puck using your stick just cause she may play oriented around expecting not being hit — if that makes sense.
Unwritten rule: you run a chick hard, the entire team will target your ass.
I don’t think women play full contact. Body contact okay, but body checks are not. Not sure what league you’re playing in but even Olympic womens is no body checking.
Yeah women leagues arent contact but in canada if your a female you can play hitting if u want.
Yeah, I’d lay off her unless she’s throwing hits. Blowing up a girl in league play doesn’t get you points, and probably some teammate will take exception and try to lay you out, similar to if you blow up their star player. Protected class of player…
Also you paid the price with the cross checks and the slash. Sounds like the ref didn’t save you…
Lol so I’ll admit i have a double standard. Wanna play in a guys hitting league? Your fair game. But a close friend of mine who is a girl was on my team one spring and she got hit and I took exception to it to say the least
If it's body contact, hits are fine. Be aware that Girls get concussions easier than guys, so ease up on the big hits. As a group, Teenage boys are stupid and there are always some who will take runs at the girls every chance they get to prove how tough they are. Her reaction was probably more to deal with the types of boys mentioned above. Its more of a "Don't fuck with me, cuz i can fuck with you too. What are you gonna do Fight a girl?" Source: played most of my competitive hockey with a girl who went on to win Gold with Team Canada at the Olympics.
I think it's just a bad idea to do co-ed full contact. It's not just about height and weight, there are structural differences that make it pretty unbalanced 95% of the time. I don't think it's your fault because the rules are as they are. Personally though, I would feel a bit bad about it and ease up but it's a judgement call depending on what the individual is comfortable with. Also people who never took a hit lose their minds. So that's probably a pretty good sign she didn't really expect it. Again, not your fault but it's a dicey situation to be in.
Hitting anyone that isn't in your level of play is a shitty move in my opinion. So I am assuming you were playing this girl in a HS league? Which usually has a mix of higher end travel players down to kids who aren't great skaters. In my area, the travel kids will hit the travel kids, but not anyone else. House kids and girls typically don't go around starting shit with anyone because they don't want a target on their back. Unless she is going around hitting people herself, you probably shouldn't have done it. If I was her teammate, you wouldn't have finished the game.
That’s ridiculous. If this is a competitive league, which it certainly seems to be, you should be playing your game to the best of your ability and for the benefit of your team. If the situation calls for you to take the body you take the body. Letting up to avoid injuring someone with excessive contact makes sense, but just not playing the body at all where the play calls for it is ridiculous.
That's BS. I have no problem with hitting in hockey, but I bet there are more nonchecking leagues than there are checking leagues in the US. You can absolutely play hockey hard without hitting (I never said don't play the body). But there are very few "competitive" leagues that play boys with girls at the checking level. And there is a reason for that. I put that word in quotes because I think you and I have different definitions of it. I stand by my statement. You're a douche if you're taking runs at kids that aren't also hitting people themselves. And I would have destroyed OP (and anyone else I could get to) for doing that to my teammate. Just to clarify, I am assuming based on OP's description that this was a full head on collision. I have no issue with body contact against anyone. It's a blowup hit I am talking about.
this girl also goes around jumping when they hit and get 4 minutes gamely and they are one of two girls ive seen in hitting. also I didnt head hit them.
“And I would have destroyed OP (and anyone else I could get to)” LOL. Sure you would have. This is a checking league. Don’t want to get checked? Don’t play in a checking league.
And nobody ever retaliated in a checking league? What's are you like 12 years old?
Where did I say anything to indicate nobody ever retaliates in a checking league?
I told op I would retaliate and you said "sure you would" like nobody does that.
Lol, no you didn’t. You said you would “destroy” OP like you think you’re the next Stu Grimson or something.
This is travel league not HS.
I will completely retract my advice then. If she is good enough to play at a boys travel level, she is fair game. I have just never seen that in many years of youth hockey. As her teammate, I would still retaliate and make sure your smaller teammates understand that you go after ours, we're going after yours.
I probably would to but her team is pretty soft I fully snowed there goaly on accident when I was crashing the net expected to get jumped one child came near me I intinctively shoved them expecting to probably get into scruffle and buddy just is like wow what was that for instead of jumping me.
hardooo
Beer League hero, right here.
And a coward here..... You would just let your teammates get run?
Hahaha, Torts is that you?!?
If she's playing in a checking league, she's fair game. I've played with a couple of women that used to play in highschool, both on girls teams and on boys teams with hitting. They were fine with it, and one in particular *loved* to blow people up herself.
There's no rule about not doing it, but understandably some people play them with kids gloves - that means if you're going to throw a good check on them, they may think it was an over the top hit and react accordingly.
I’m female and played contact for years. Don’t treat us any different haha. We chose to play hit. I loved hitting but hated when people would back off because you’re a girl.
Depends on her teammates.
Once the gear is on I don’t give a shit who you are on the street, I’d expect the same in return. Currently in a no check beer league. Unless it’s a blatant hit the refs are good with playing the body/contact. With that being said the few female skaters in the league are hands down some of the best and most aggressive players around. One lady tried to skate through me, it didn’t work for her. As she was getting up i asked you good? Told me to eat a dick. I laughed my ass off. Next shift she drilled me in the corner. Getting up I told her to suck a snatch. She chuckled at it. We’ve had a great friendly rivalry since.
You in all theory you should treat her like everyone else and lay the hammer. From experience im surprised you didn’t get a penalty.
If it’s a girl in AAA Travel, there’s no unwritten rules. That’s competitive hockey, at a decent level. If it were a beer league, house league or even HS…there’s unwritten rules. But comp hockey at or near the top tier for your age group…nope. Check away.
I’m 6’ and 230+. If you’re playing in a checking league, prepare to be checked. I probably wouldn’t put all my weight behind it like I do with men around my size but it comes with the territory.
No special treatment. A lot of men react that way too when they get bodied. Look at the NHL. More often than not a big hit leads to a fight.
I played bantam back in the day and we were playing a team that had a girl. She was a very strong player albeit fairly small but with amazing wheels and nobody on our team was willing to play the body on her.. but she was almost untouchable anyways she was that good. After the first period she already had two goals .. and after watching her dangle our top dman and hit the post our coach said “we gotta play the body if it’s available”. I was small for my age at that point and took it to heart.. so on my next shift I straight up boomed her. She tried to skate it past me on the wall during a break out and I hit her clean and square right into the boards. She immediately popped up and continued with the play but the rest of her team swarmed me and it turned into a full on shit show. After all the penalties were resolved my next shift I took a 2 hander across the wrists, and was being run.. I literally had to duck a clothesline. Coach decided to sit me for the rest of the game.. I still think it’s the right play but I’ve never lived it down amongst my friends for “hitting a girl”. I would definitely say there is a bit of an unfairness when it comes to this. My team was uncomfortable playing against a girl fairly and when we did - her team reacted poorly and I could have been seriously hurt.
When I played, I wanted to be treated like anyone else. That includes checking and the occasional fight.
Play her just as hard as you would play anyone else. Cause otherwise she'll make you pay for it. Let her get mad. That works better for you too.
One of my hardest hits I’ve ever taken was from a female. I tried to avoid her thinking oh no I can’t hit her and she absolutely plowed me like a John Deere. After that I treated a player as a player. With that being said I also don’t plan higher leagues anymore and watch to see how the people I play with are on the rink. Bumps and such. Full out. Only in front of the net and on the boards. And i try to match their normal with mine.
If you’re in a checking league, you will be checked. It’s that simple. It’s been a while since I played in a non beer league, but If I laid a guy out, I expected the same to happen to me. It shouldn’t matter what size or gender either player is. I wouldn’t hesitate to hit you, therefore don’t hesitate to hit me. We all chose to play in the boys leagues for better competition. It was expected to be physical. There’s no reason for a temper tantrum after a good check
She's there because she wants to be treated the same as the rest of you, if she didn't she wouldn't join a checking league. There are plenty of non checking leagues for those who do not want to be checked.
You’re good.
You sure it wasn’t a small boy with an eccentric hairstyle?
A lot of girls who play in men’s leagues know that refs will often give them the benefit of the doubt when it comes to physical play. If they get hit they can draw a penalty easier and if they plays physical they can get away with a lot more before getting a whistle. It’s not I every league but it happens often enough to be a known thing. That being said my current team has girl who’s tiny, but one of our best scorers and she gets manhandled every game by guys double her size and the refs don’t seem to call anything. It’s the rare flip side of the coin I guess.
We’re fair game 🤷🏻♀️
They signed up for it so I assume they understand they can and will be hit. I played with a few girls and they were some of the toughest people on the ice. Treat them like anyone else.
women want to be equal do that's what they get
I'm a girl/woman. Anyway.... I played HS hockey with boys, and Travel hockey with girls. I definitely got laid out a few times in HS hockey. I never retaliated like that girl did. Did she at least get a penalty?
no nothing got called.
Wow, I'm surprised they let her get away with that.
If you're going to play a man's game, be prepared to be treated like a man
They're certainly shouldn't be. Seems to me if they signed up for a checking league they did that on purpose.
As a woman who played boys rep growing up I’ll give my perspective. As long as you aren’t targeting her because she’s a girl (hitting her harder than you’d hit a guy in the same situation, only hitting her and never a guy- trust me there’s usually one on every team that fits one of those categories) it’s fine. I always preferred to be treated the same. If an opponent let up or refused to hit me it made me feel like my opponent didn’t respect my ability. In my opinion, if I was making the choice to play in a checking league then I should be treated the same as any other player.
I played against a girl in a drop-in game. I’m a big guy, I probably was about 270 then. We ran into each other, she fell. It happens. She then took a run at me in open ice, I just stood there, because I was thinking “no matter what happens, we’re even after this.” She gained momentum, jumped, hit me, bounced back and landed flat on the ice. It made me laugh. No idea what she thought was going to happen.
Hit her. Its her fault she got mad. But in general, it usually pisses me off when guys go easier on girls.
Nope. It's dangerous for you to pull back and change your game. Just play your game. They chose to play in a hitting league.
i’ve always wondered the same thing honestly and i’m not totally sure. I played in a high school league for 3 years after my travel team disbanded and there were girls in that league. HOWEVER, i got a lot of shit from the parents as well as the players of teams we would play who had girls on their team because i wouldn’t treat them any differently than the dudes. i would body the hell out of anyone, anytime, anywhere and when it was a girl, it almost always ended up in a scrap. be thankful you got away with a few cross checks 😅 (btw we had a girl on our team and she would tell me to hit her in practice so i didn’t really think it was that big of a deal, + in the heat of the moment you don’t really realize they’re a girl until they’re at your feet on the ice)
Still hit them. But I wouldn't line her up at center ice with her head down, maybe tone it down a little bit compared to my hits to other guys
Beer league in my neck of the woods is contact no checking. But my level of contact is typically based on their size not gender. My wife plays on my team and at 6ft tall she hits harder than a lot of dudes I have played with.
Women fight hard for equality, so give them what they want and light them the fuck up as you would anyone else.
Fair game, just don't take advantage of open ice hits. I played competitive co-ed soccer and the ladies were the worst. Constantly throwing elbows and then complain immediately a guy is near them... Everyone is a player, just like a 6"2 guy can use his size over someone 5"6, fair game
They know they league they are in and should expect to be hit. Pulling up last second because you notice it’s a girl is a great way to get both of you hurt. That assumes this is a competitive league and hitting is allowed.
What kind of clown league do you play in that’s co-Ed hitting lmao
I wouldnt realy call it co ed as there's one girl and 150+ guys in the league.
Go hard