Women's Hockey Deserves More

If you haven't watched a PWHL game, now's the time to start.

The Professional Women’s Hockey League has just ended its second season, and they awarded the Walter Cup to the Minnesota Frost. The Frost made history last season as the first team to win the Walter Cup, and now they’ve made history again as they are the first team to win back-to-back. The league as a whole has worked hard to become known, and the girls' game as a whole has grown over the past two seasons.

However, the game has a long way to go, and some hockey fans who are big NHL fans are reluctant to join the PWHL fanbase. The men’s and women’s games are quite different in certain areas, but also the same in others. The basic rules of hockey are the same, such as offsides, icing, and penalties, but some differences separate the women’s game, and they may be part of the reason fans are reluctant to watch. In this article, we’ll look at the differences and similarities and why the women’s game deserves the same attention.

Different Levels of Physicality

Every hockey fan knows that hockey comes with physicality; it’s considered part of the game at least on the men’s side. For many years prior to the PWHL making its debut, women’s hockey had very little physicality. There was no checking allowed, and there still isn’t in college and below, so players in those levels have to get creative with how they get the puck away from their opponents.

Now, with the PWHL, they are allowing more physicality, starting with some kinds of checking. Some body-checking is still against the rules, but it’s a lot more physicality than college or below. So, for those fans who think women’s hockey is boring because there isn’t checking, that couldn’t be more wrong. While it’s not as much as the men’s game, there is physicality, and it is entertaining. Sometimes, there are even big hits that cause the entire arena to cheer.

However, while there is more physicality than there used to be, there’s one disadvantage. Since the players are still getting used to the idea of hitting and throwing checks they haven’t been able to do before, they aren’t the cleanest moves every time. As time goes on, they’ll figure it out, and the physicality will become part of the game, a smoother part.

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