2018 Manitoba Winter Games: Hockey For Day 5 Newsletter

Today is International Women’s Day. It was adopted by the United Nations in 1975 as a day to commemorate the movement for women’s rights, and celebrate women. It is fitting then that it also marks the start of the female hockey tournament at these 2018 Manitoba Games.

When it comes to female hockey, be it bantam or all the way to professional, a lot of people still knock it saying that it’s boring and that it isn’t as exciting as men’s. That’s simply not true. To anyone who would say that, I say that they aren’t watching the same sport I am.

When it comes to men’s hockey, it’s often the same things that draw the love, and ire, from the crowd: physicality. They cheer when their player lands a big hit, and boo when their player gets hit. Let’s not forget though about something that gets everyone on his or her feet: a fight. Often times, through no fault of the players, the focus shifts from the skill to the grit.

Enter female hockey, where there is not body checking and dropping the gloves is less common. The focus shifts to the skill and speed of the players. Don’t get me wrong for a second; the game is still very physical. Anyone who thinks they can step on to the ice with a competitive girls’ hockey team and have a competitive gave against them just because there is no checking would be very sorely mistaken. These girls competing to play in tomorrow’s gold medal game play as hard and as physically as the boys did earlier in the week, just without the body checking.

The girls’ game, like I said earlier, focuses more on skill and speed. Having played hockey against girls, I can tell you for a fact that most of them are faster then you are. If they aren’t faster, they’ll skate harder and just work hard all around to make up for it. Don’t ever be fooled for a second into thinking that just because you’re a guy and have played hockey, or have followed it, that you’re better or know more than these girls here at the games. They’ve dedicated their young lives to the sport, and often times work harder and know more than their male counterparts simply because of their gender. Even though we live in 2018, some of them are still told that hockey is a “guys sport” or that they should be doing something else instead. What makes watching girls hockey event more incredible is that they are all playing for the love of the game.