After watching hockey fights on YouTube all morning, I am too mad to write. So I am going to talk through my anger instead.
Girls hockey is different - period. We have to celebrate all the ways our game differs from the men’s game, instead of stooping to their level and trying to attract fans by promoting violence.
How can we stand out and stand up for our game?
How we can “brand” our game so that we aren’t just seen as a “lesser” version of the men’s game?
Share your thoughts and ideas below - and help the rest of the hockey world realize how much better the game is without fighting.
~ Coach Kim
Well my family is an extreme, screaming, playing, traveling kind of hockey family. I play for an all girls team and last year we had a pretty reved up team. There were two girls that would jump at the chance to fight and I saw no reason for it because before I started playing girls hockey, I gave up being a hitter and decided I would focus more on my speed and skill level with the puck.
I read once in a USA Hockey magazine that girls do not check because they focus more on their skills with the puck, and I have reason to believe this is true because We once scrimmaged the boys high school team and the frustration in that team was unbelievable when I walked out of the disgusting rink that the girls high school team is degraded to was astonishing. Those boys couldn’t get a shot closer than the red line, they were deeked some many times, I loved it.
So… When I first read that article in USA Hockey Magazine I felt a little belittled as a women hockey player but I guess playing that game made me feel a lot better, and there is no doubt in my mind that we have any less skill than the boys.
There is no need for fights in our game, we have enough skill to play a clean game. I do understand the roughing penalty though in front of my net when a player crossed checked me across the head my ‘D’ got in a mini ’scuffle’ with her and got a roughing penalty, but to me that’s going to happen.
While I appreciate the skill involved in skating, moving the puck around, etc…, I can’t say I will ever be a hockey fanatic or even a true fan because they feel that they have to use cheapshots, insults and fighting or what passes for fighting in order to get attention. This is akin to having wet t-shirt contests on baseball games or something along those lines. Am I wrong to assume that the majority of American fans go to hockey games to see people get hurt or to see people skate and hit a puck around for a few hours?