In 2022, Sweden became the first country to introduce body checking to its premier women’s league, bringing its rule book closer to men’s hockey even though hockey’s world governing body does not formally allow the practice because of safety concerns.
There have been other benefits of bringing back checking, which was part of the game in women’s hockey in Europe and North America until the mid-1980s but isn’t in the International Ice Hockey Federation’s current rule book.
Other countries are now looking to follow suit, with the PWHL — the professional women’s league in North America with some of the world's top players — putting checking in the rules for its inaugural season last year.
Lauren Bellefontaine came off the ice after a game in Sweden’s top women’s hockey league and detailed the toll her body had just taken.
That’s because they are essentially following the same rules as the men, except for one key difference: hits on open ice — when players are skating freely away from the boards — are forbidden in women’s hockey.
