I recently threw out a question on my Facebook page regarding Body checking for female hockey players and asked you guys to weigh in. Overwhelmingly the majority would love to be able to crank your opponents into the boards on a regular basis like your male counterparts.
I actually don’t see what the problem is with body checking and to be honest I’m not sure what Hockey Canada’s rationale is behind it. Any way it doesn’t seem like it is a rule that will be changed any time soon. To ease the pain lets not kid ourselves, female hockey even without body contact is still quite rough. I mean there may not be any full open ice hits, but it can get really nasty along the boards.
Female Hockey Is A Physical Game
I guess what you can take from this is that even though there may not be any body contact allowed for female hockey players yet, the game is as physical if not more physical than the male game. That being said winning the individual battles in the corners can definitely have a huge impact on the outcome of the game. It can set the tone and send a signal to your opponent that they’ve got a war on their hands.
Get Hockey Strong
If you’re a female hockey player with the muscle strength and endurance along with the core stability to back it up your in the drivers seat. If not you might want to take a serious look at adding some off ice conditioning to go along with your on ice skill development.
Photo Credit: Flickr – Sam Catanzaro
