ĆRNSKĆLDSVIK, Sweden (AP) ā Lauren Bellefontaine came off the ice after a game in Swedenās top womenās hockey league and detailed the toll her body had just taken.
āI got a stick to the collarbone tonight and also a hit to the head. Definitely some bumps and bruises,ā she said with a smile. āBut Iām feeling fine.ā
Growing up in Canada, Bellefontaine kept hearing people ask why there was no hitting in womenās hockey. It has taken a move to northern Sweden for her to discover the more physical side of the sport.
In 2022, Sweden became the first country to introduce body checking to its premier womenās league, bringing its rule book closer to menās hockey even though hockeyās world governing body does not formally allow the practice because of safety concerns. It has opened up a new world for women's players, who say they feel more empowered playing the game the way it was intended.
Swedish hockey officials say the results have been overwhelmingly positive: The womenās game has become faster and more entertaining while concussions, which have been a scourge for the sport, have decreased.
Other countries are now looking to follow suit, with the PWHL ā the professional womenās league in North America with some of the world's top players ā for its inaugural season last year.
āIt has given us the opportunity to prove weāre physical, weāre strong and we can play just like the menās players,ā Bellefontaine said. āIt allows us to show we can ā and we will.ā
Bellefontaine joined MoDo for the start of the 2023-24 season. Itās a title-contending team from Ćrnskƶldsvik, a sleepy coastal town some 530 kilometers (330 miles) north of Stockholm ā and not far from the Arctic Circle ā whose population of 30,000 lives and breathes hockey and whose most famous alumni include NHL greats Peter Forsberg, Henrik and Daniel Sedin, and Markus Naslund.
Initially it was something of a culture shock to her.
āI had no prior experience of hitting at all,ā the 25-year-old Bellefontaine said, āand we went right into the season so it took me a while to get into it ā¦ it was tough but now itās just fun.ā
Safer, too.
Benefits of body checking
Statistics supplied by the Swedish womenās league show the number of concussions sustained by players has dropped since 2018, when its āProject Zero Visionā was launched. There were 35 reported concussions in the 2018-19 regular season, 10 in 2022-23 and 15 in 2023-24. By Jan. 8 this year, which was approaching the end of the regular season, there had been six.
Preventing concussions was the main driver behind the introduction of checking, as counterintuitive as that may seem. It has forced players to skate with their heads up, increasing their ice awareness.
There have been other benefits of bringing back checking, which was part of the game in womenās hockey in Europe and North America until the mid-1980s but isnāt in the International Ice Hockey Federationās current rule book. Coaches, league officials and fans say the speed of the Swedish game has gotten quicker, as players make smarter and faster decisions.
For many, it restores the balance between skill and physicality that is important in making the sport an entertaining watch.
āIt creates some tension in the game that you otherwise donāt get,ā said Luc de Keijzer, a 27-year-old student who is a regular at MoDo games.
One big hope is that increased physical play makes Sweden more competitive at the international level against traditional hockey powers like the United States, Canada and Finland. Sweden's women's team regularly goes deep in world championships and Olympic Games but hasn't won the gold medal at either tournament.
Closing the equality gap
For some female players, the biggest effect has been to make them feel more empowered. Thatās because they are essentially following the same rules as the men, except for one key difference: hits on open ice ā when players are skating freely away from the boards ā are forbidden in womenās hockey.
āWeāre trying to close the gap between menās and womenās hockey, so this is one way we are doing it ā to have similar rules as they do,ā said Alexie Guay, another Canadian playing for MoDo. āItās not as intense and there are different rules still ā I donāt know if there will be fighting in womenās hockey in the future ā but weāre definitely closing the gap and I think itās a cool thing.ā
According to in Sweden, 88% of the 159 players from the league who responded to a questionnaire said they were in favor of checking.
Jared Cipparone, the coach of MoDoās womenās team, said he hasnāt encountered any resistance from his players about checking.
āEveryone was excited about it,ā said Cipparone, who is also from Canada. āThe first year was trial and fire for many, but last year and this year you see the significance itās made in the game and Iāve only heard good things about it.ā
At MoDoās home game against HV71 at Hagglunds Arena in early January, a MoDo player was almost knocked off her skates by a full-body hit. Many others were smashed into the boards but went on with the game. There were no roughing penalties and certainly no brawling.
The 5-foot-7 Bellefontaine, who describes herself as āpretty small,ā has had to adapt her game. She said she trains harder, watches what she eats to ābulk up a little bitā and is making use of the sauna in her apartment for post-match recovery.
āIām definitely squeezing my core a little more,ā she said. āBefore, I wouldnāt even expect to be hit so now itās head on a swivel, always looking, always watching, and just being ready to take a hit. You have to make sure youāre not in a position to jeopardize yourself.
āItās definitely changed the way we play and made us better players.ā
In Sweden, they start early
USA Hockey and Hockey Canada do not allow checking in girls and women's hockey. In Sweden, body checking is part of the rules for boys and girls starting at the age of 12. League officials say being educated so early prepares players for when they are older.
MoDo fan Marie Johansson said her 18-year-old daughter, Amanda, started with checking from age 12, initially while playing with boys.
āAll parents are worried about their children getting injured,ā Johansson said, ābut when they learn to do the checking, they train a lot, they learn how to hold their heads up high, and she learnt how to avoid injuries. I donāt think because sheās a girl Iāve been more worried than if sheād been a boy.ā
Morgan Johansson, an official who helped to launch the Zero Vision project, said he has shared information with the IIHF and the PWHL about the effects the rule change has had on the Swedish league. Norwegian and Danish leagues have also contacted him.
Last year, the IIHF had PWHL officials in North America outline the leagueās rules on checking and officiating in a potential first step to modify its rulebook and provide a new standard at international competitions, league vice president of hockey operations Jayna Hefford said.
Contacted by the AP, the IIHF said its rulebook ādoes not prohibit competitive body contact between playersā but noted its staff was working with its membership "to clarify the interpretation of this part in womenās hockey.ā
As for the Swedes, they are happy to have made the bold step that others are starting to follow.
āWe are kind of a trailblazer when it comes to womenās hockey in challenging the old structures that said, āWomen canāt,āā said Angelica Lindeberg, operations manager for the Swedish league. āNow we say, of course they can. We are very proud of that.ā
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AP Hockey Writer John Wawrow contributed.
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AP women's hockey:
Steve Douglas, The Associated Press
