# Women's Hockey -- No Checking **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** hockey-nhl\ **Created:** [August 30, 2021, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/womens-hockey-no-checking/949798 "2021-08-30T21:09:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2021, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/womens-hockey-no-checking/949798/1 "2021-08-30T21:09:02Z")
I’m watching the Women’s Hockey World Championship. I know there’s no checking in women’s hockey (why? I’d love to discuss that, too), but what does that mean? They seem to hit into each other pretty regularly. They don’t slam each other into the boards – that’s one difference. Is that it? Or, is it that they can bump each other, but can’t slam into each other on the ice and send each other flying? ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2021, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/womens-hockey-no-checking/949798/2 "2021-08-30T21:47:40Z")
The official distinction is body **contact** (intent to play the puck first) versus body **checking** (intent to play the body first). Contact is allowed, checking isn’t. As long as you do a good job of appearing to be going for the puck instead of knocking the player off the puck, you’ll probably get away with it. A lot of it is up to the judgment of the refs. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2021, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/womens-hockey-no-checking/949798/3 "2021-08-30T21:53:32Z")
Ah, thanks. It’s a pretty fine line. Any idea why checking isn’t allowed in the women’s game? I get really annoyed with sports where the rules for the men and women are different (lacrosse is another that springs to mind). ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2021, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/womens-hockey-no-checking/949798/4 "2021-08-30T22:22:39Z")
It was changed after the Women’s World Championships in 1990. I believe there was a higher-than-average number of injuries at that, but I don’t know if that was the true cause. As for why…women _might_ have a higher chance of concussion than men. [Rates are higher in some sports for women versus men](https://www.ncaa.org/health-and-safety/medical-conditions/do-female-athletes-concuss-differently-males), but it’s not clear if that’s a physiological difference or something else. I also don’t think you can dismiss the influence that sexist ideas has on the differing rules. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2021, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/womens-hockey-no-checking/949798/5 "2021-08-30T22:32:08Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > I also don’t think you can dismiss the influence that sexist ideas has on the differing rules. I think this is probably most of it, but maybe the concussion thing is partly the reason. You’d think they would disallow headers from women’s soccer, though.