The RinkFor the not so ready for prime-time players, coaches, referees, and the people that have to live with them. Discuss experiences in local leagues, coaching tips, equipment, and training.
My second year of peewee hockey there was a girl on the opposing team. She was coming out of the corner with her head down and I destroyed her. They had to stop the game and she was crying on the ice. I think this was the last game she played against boys. I'm not proud of it, but there it is.
Sorry for any confusion. When I referred to "checking" someone, I was referring more to physically bumping someone off the puck, clearing someone from the front of the net with my shoulder/hip etc. This type of play is allowed in my beer league. From my situation, the difference in our size/weight was quite substantial, so I was just self-conscious.
Yeah self-conscious will kill yeah. I played hockey with a girl on my team back in Atom and possibly Pee Wee. She was one of the first girls to play boys hockey in our area. Anyways, she hated and despised anyone who thought differently of her when she was on the ice because she was a girl. Luckily I never really pissed her off and only offered praise thanks to me being absolutely smitten.
There was another girl that played travel hockey in our league who was decent, in a skilled way. I know my sisters hate it when their thought different of because of their gender. Gives me a good excuse to fire pucks at their head because I want to show them how much I agree their like any other goalie in hockey. Except those two have temper problems on the Hextall scale. If your a guy and playing against them, being in front of the net is not a good idea. Plus if you don't try they'll goad you into trying.
Oh and one of my favorite "defending against women" stories...
Last minute of the game, we're up by a goal, other team is on the PP and pulls the attacker for the 6th man. I'm playing weak side D and watching a lady slide down into the slot. They get the puck and he sees her for the backdoor tap in so I lift her stick as hard as I can...and apparently she wasn't that strong because her stick literally flew up in the air and hit the rafters.
Their whole bench jumped up with the hands in the air for a call, but the ref just shook his head.
this sounds a lot like my beer league. no checking but not no contact. play the women straight up but just know that if you hit one of the women who may or may not be 120 pounds soaking wet then it's possible that you're going to send them flying where a 180 pound guy wouldn't. will you get called for it? maybe but that probably has more to do with size than gender.
is it possible that her male teammates will get in your face? yes but just tell them that you're trying to treat her like everybody else. some guys can't help but come to a woman's "rescue" because it's how they were raised. I tell all of my male teammates to let me defend myself. it's not worth a 3rd man in and automatic game suspension.
this sounds a lot like my beer league. no checking but not no contact. play the women straight up but just know that if you hit one of the women who may or may not be 120 pounds soaking wet then it's possible that you're going to send them flying where a 180 pound guy wouldn't. will you get called for it? maybe but that probably has more to do with size than gender.
is it possible that her male teammates will get in your face? yes but just tell them that you're trying to treat her like everybody else. some guys can't help but come to a woman's "rescue" because it's how they were raised. I tell all of my male teammates to let me defend myself. it's not worth a 3rd man in and automatic game suspension.
Yeah this, I remember lining a U18 game where a girl got hit (cleanly) and a fight broke out, during which one of the male teammates headbutted the guy who hit the girl. He was banned for the rest of the season.
As another female player, I've noticed that while the other girls say that they don't want preferential treatment, they still get butthurt over the smallest amount of contact. I think we have a skewed view of normal contact in a hockey game due guys in our league going easy on us.
Don't be afraid to lean on female players, either in front of the net or while backchecking. It doesn't have to be much, especially because we tend to be smaller. Anything to do with the stick is also fair game
If revenge attacks from other players is what you're worried about, one thing I would consider is whether there's a boyfriend also on the ice. Around here, pretty much all the girl players are dating someone on their team and they can get feisty if they think you're out of line. (For the record, the closest Mr Critical got to being in a fight over me being knocked on my butt - which happens a lot - was with another female player who swung her stick at my head Marty McSorly style)
That's kind of funny. I have played with two husband-and-wife teams and both guys were super mellow and laid back even if the girls got rocked. I mean they'd jump up to make sure they're okay but neither of them got flustered. I am guessing that's rare though.
I don't find myself playing against other girls too often, however in my university intramural league the average team has 1 or 2 girls (non-contact and 2nd highest skill level). Most of these girls play pretty hard, they know they're facing a bunch of dudes so they actually go at it pretty hard, most guys however know they're going up against a girl and have this whole thought process of how hard they should play. I personally experience this thought process but its mainly acknowledging that I shouldn't come and crush them against the boards. So what I tend to do is come in with my stick and that usually does the job because so far the girls I've faced are of lower skill than I am, however sometimes they're not too bad with their stick so I just put my body between them and the puck. Its probably safe to assume your league is non-contact so just don't play dirty or unnecessarily rough its as simple as that. And they went through the suffrage movement for a reason, so that we (men) treat women as equals, that means playing as hard against them as you would against anyone else, plus they're not made of glass just play clean and hard.
And as someone else said, I bet any girl would be offended if you told them you didn't play hard against them, even if it is low level beer league.
Last edited by Kulluminati: 11-29-2012 at 03:33 PM.
If revenge attacks from other players is what you're worried about, one thing I would consider is whether there's a boyfriend also on the ice. Around here, pretty much all the girl players are dating someone on their team and they can get feisty if they think you're out of line. (For the record, the closest Mr Critical got to being in a fight over me being knocked on my butt - which happens a lot - was with another female player who swung her stick at my head Marty McSorly style)
I've never understood why you would date a teammate, that's a big hockey no-no. If you are already married or engaged to them then fair enough, but just normally dating? Absolutely not, the whole don't **** where you eat saying and all that, if they broke up I can't even imagine the awkwardness it would cause, and if the break up was ugly you might end up splitting the locker room because people take sides.
I've never understood why you would date a teammate, that's a big hockey no-no. If you are already married or engaged to them then fair enough, but just normally dating? Absolutely not, the whole don't **** where you eat saying and all that, if they broke up I can't even imagine the awkwardness it would cause, and if the break up was ugly you might end up splitting the locker room because people take sides.
I would think that in at least some cases if there were a break-up, one side of the couple would probably want to leave the team. Maybe not, though.
That's kind of funny. I have played with two husband-and-wife teams and both guys were super mellow and laid back even if the girls got rocked. I mean they'd jump up to make sure they're okay but neither of them got flustered. I am guessing that's rare though.
Funny, I play with two husband-and-wife couples on one of my teams, and both of the husbands are like that too.
Play them the way you play men. They'd appreciate that. If not, then it's their problem. They should know what they're getting themselves into.
I played against this girl who was really feisty and rough. Kept slashing, hooking me and my teammates, so I gave her a pretty hard check near the bench and nearly threw her over the boards. Was still fine after the game and shook hands.
I've never understood why you would date a teammate, that's a big hockey no-no. If you are already married or engaged to them then fair enough, but just normally dating? Absolutely not, the whole don't **** where you eat saying and all that, if they broke up I can't even imagine the awkwardness it would cause, and if the break up was ugly you might end up splitting the locker room because people take sides.
It is???
I thought so too and that's why he had to pursue me for the best part of a year before I agreed to go out with him, but that's more info than y'all need to know
Most of these girls only started played because of their men, (and I have to say, I'm always suspicious of girls like that. So single girls in the club are a rarity. I can only think of one other girl who started playing then met her boyfriend...but I digress.
I think some female players overcompensate with the physical play to make up for being smaller or slower. It's something that they tend to get over with experience, they realise that they can crosscheck and try to start slappy fights all they want but it won't make up for actual skill.
Play them the way you play men. They'd appreciate that. If not, then it's their problem. They should know what they're getting themselves into.
I can agree with this. last year a guy from another team shot the puck on net after the whistle. since I was the closest opposing player to him I skated up to him and gave him a little shove to let him know that wasn't cool. he turns around and baseball swing style 2-hands me right across the thigh pads then proceeds to get up in my face about shoving him while I'm calling him a jackass for shooting on my goalie after the whistle. on the one hand I couldn't believe he reacted like that since he was CLEARLY in the wrong but on the other hand he got props from me for treating me like anybody else out there.
I've never understood why you would date a teammate, that's a big hockey no-no. If you are already married or engaged to them then fair enough, but just normally dating? Absolutely not, the whole don't **** where you eat saying and all that, if they broke up I can't even imagine the awkwardness it would cause, and if the break up was ugly you might end up splitting the locker room because people take sides.
I played with quite a few hockey couples. I can at least recall 4 pairs.
I would play them the same as a guy, but I bump them off the puck rather than check them. Usually with a bump I can knock them off the puck without having her fall. I do admit that I hold back and don't get to aggressive if they are clearly smaller than me.
Its not really a big deal in peewee. Girls that age can be further developed and make some pretty good players, i played football since i was 10 and the best player in the league was some chick QB. Definitely did not take it easy on her. She was way taller and faster than anyone on the field. Eventually though everyone else grew up and she was muscled out come high school.
Women are different, i'm 22 now, and don't care how many times I hear "we want equal treatment", it's weird and i'm not gonna play physical at all. When you're a kid the problem is getting embarrassed by a girl so you gotta play hard, now it's worse if you crank one on their butt.
EXACTLY the same as I would play any male player except that, if it's a situation where real hitting is allowed I will not throw my full weight into a hit. I will hit to separate them from the puck but not to put them on their ass. It's worth noting though, that it depends on the skill level as well. I played college hockey. I've played casual pick up when I go back to my home town where the general skill level is a lot lower than the group I usually I play with and I give everyone space to play and don't check them very tightly or pressure them too much; I believe at a casual pickup game everyone should have fun and have a chance to make plays. I play players according to their individual skill level in these situations and only heavily pressure players who can still make things happen against tight checking. I've also played against girls who played extremely competitive, full contact hockey and can really play. I play them just like I would my closest friends.
