Lady Hockey Players Get Into Decidedly Unladylike Hockey Brawl

An apparently notable thing happened on Monday night, during an exhibition hockey game between the United States and Canada. The two teams got into a brawl and four of the women involved were given penalties for roughing, defined by the NHL as “a punching motion with the hand or fist, with or without the glove on the hand, normally directed at the head or face of an opponent.”

“We had a similar scrap in 2010, so I guess we have one every Olympic cycle to get it out of our system,” said Team Canada captain Hayley Wickenheiser according to Canoe.ca. “It was kind of fun to see, and it brought a lot of intensity to another dog fight with these guys. There are few if any blowouts in this series.”

The fight is an interesting one to note not because it’s women in hockey fighting – women may brawl less than men, but hockey is an intense sport no matter who is playing it – but because this is happening at a time when there’s been a lot of push back against unnecessary violence in the sport. Much of that is due to the fighting that enforcer Derek Boogaard was encouraged to take part in during his time in the sport, before he died after developing an addiction to painkillers to cope the extreme trauma it had taken on his body.

Over at the Guardian, Colin Horgan writes, “No doubt the next few days will be rife with discussions about whether the men’s style of play has now transferred itself fully to the women’s game, and/or – again – where, when or whether fighting needs to be part of the game at all.” Maybe? Thus far, Greg Wshynski at Yahoo Sports has joked about how the women need to get those “cages” off their heads so they can have a real fight. Others seem to agree; most of the sentiment is, “Man, they stopped just as it got good!”

As you were America (and Canada), you are utterly predictable.

Line brawl during USA vs Canada women’s ice hockey international [The Guardian]