LOWELL, Mass. (AP) 鈥 With an early-season PWHL game between Montreal and Boston winding down, the speakers blared the Olivia Newton-John classic, 鈥淟et鈥檚 Get Physical.鈥
And that's just what the players did.
In a break from previous top professional women's hockey leagues, the PWHL has written into its rules more body checking than most might be used to. The skaters say the leeway gives them a better chance to show their skills and restores the traditional balance between finesse and physicality familiar to hockey fans everywhere.
鈥淭he game鈥檚 been physical for a long time,鈥 Toronto defender Renata Fast said. 鈥淎ll of us, we train every single day. We鈥檙e strong enough. We鈥檙e fit enough to be able to play that physical game. I think if they鈥檙e able to get the game to a point where players are still protected and we鈥檙e avoiding injuries of head contact, it鈥檚 going to be great for the game and the entertainment value.鈥
Checking 鈥 and even fighting 鈥 have been a part of men鈥檚 hockey with players using their bodies to dislodge an opponent from the puck and their fists to send a message about messing with a star skater or a defenseless goalie. Advocates of the more brutal side of the sport say that by allowing players to police themselves, it actually makes the games safer, and there鈥檚 no doubt that dropping the gloves can bring the crowd to its feet.
But most international leagues 鈥 both men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 鈥 ban fighting and threaten heavy punishments like suspensions. Even with stiffer penalties against instigators and those who leave the bench to join a brawl.
Women鈥檚 leagues have long steered away from not just fighting but even hard body checking; the does in women鈥檚 hockey, but routine fighting has never been a part of the sport. Players say the lack of physicality was partly due to a misguided attempt to protect their supposedly frail bodies.
鈥淚 feel like that always kind of has been something people said about the women鈥檚 game: 鈥極h, they can鈥檛 hit,'" said Montreal forward Jillian Dempsey, a former Harvard captain who was the all-time leading scorer in the Premier Hockey Federation, a PWHL predecessor. 鈥淎nd it鈥檚 like, 鈥榃ell, we really do.鈥
鈥淏ut now it鈥檚 nice that it鈥檚 more within the rules to be able to do it,鈥 she said. 鈥淚t just kind of gives us that freedom to go out there and display the strength and the power that that many players have.鈥
PWHL Rule 52, 鈥淏ody Checking,鈥 allows for contact 鈥渨hen there is a clear intention of playing the puck or attempting to 鈥榞ain possession鈥 of the puck.鈥 Two players chasing a puck are 鈥渞easonably allowed to push and lean into each other provided that 鈥榩ossession of the puck鈥 remains the sole object."
The league also gives any stationary player the right to 鈥渉old their ground鈥 鈥 even if she is between an opponent and the puck: 鈥淚t is up to the opponent to avoid body contact with such a player. 鈥 The opponent is obliged to skate around the stationary player.鈥
This is conspicuously different from the NHL, where checking 鈥 at least how the rules are applied 鈥 is legal if there is a plausible argument to be made that the hitter is trying to dislodge the puck. And, what the rules say can sometimes matter less than how the individual referees interpret them.
鈥淚t鈥檚 just a different level, a different kind of physical,鈥 Minnesota goalie Nicole Hensley said. 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 good for the game. But at the same time, you just need to make sure everyone knows how to take and give hits.鈥
Montreal鈥檚 Feb. 4 game against Boston featured a handful of full-body hits that are a natural part of playing in close quarters, a few of them heavy enough to knock a player off her skates. But there were none of the NHL-style, bone-crushing hits that come long after the puck was gone.
More often, players skating near the boards were just muscled off the puck. There was one roughing penalty, when Boston's Jessica Digirolamo, with her hands and stick raised, smashed Montreal's Laura Stacey into the boards midway through the second period, drawing gasps from the crowd of 4,210 at the Tsongas Center in this 19th century textile center about an hour northwest of Boston.
Montreal coach Kori Cheverie noted that most of the women on her team hadn鈥檛 played with this much checking since they were young and had to play with boys鈥 teams to find competition that could keep up with them.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 made the game way more exciting,鈥 said Ottawa captain Brianne Jenner, a three-time Olympian for Canada. 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 showcased our skills even more. It actually hasn鈥檛 slowed down the game. It鈥檚 made it better.鈥
PWHL head of hockey operations Jayna Hefford, who won four Olympic gold medals with the Canadian team, said the league has been working with players to find the right balance.
鈥淭he physicality is one area that they were really excited about,鈥 she said. 鈥淭hese women are skilled, they鈥檙e strong, they鈥檙e fast, they train hard every day and they want to be able to play the game. It was something immediately that we knew we wanted to add to the game.鈥
Hefford said the increase in hitting has not led to more injuries 鈥 a relief for . But the crowds have responded well 鈥 no small factor for where other pro women's hockey circuits have faded away.
鈥淭he fans like it, too, which helps to kind of build some of that attention," said Dempsey, who at 5-foot-4 and 135 pounds is more likely to be receiving hits than dishing them out. "I don鈥檛 enjoy being on the the wrong end of those a few times, but, yeah, it鈥檚 a fun aspect of the game that we get to do now.鈥
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AP Hockey Writers John Wawrow and Stephen Whyno contributed to this report.
