NHL a better chance for women than MLB?

[satchel]

In this thread (http://www.netshrine.com/vbulletin2/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9752) Smed and JamesI both commented that a woman is more likely to break into the NHL than into MLB.

This statement made me very curious, since I know absolutely nothing about hockey and can't evaluate it on my own.

Can you guys elaborate on the statement a bit for me? What is it about hockey - both the nature of the game, and the social structure of the NHL - that make you think a woman has a better chance there than in baseball?

And if you aren't Smed or James, but know something about hockey and have thoughts on the topic, please add them.

[Wolf Hopper]

There was that woman goalie that played in an exhibition game, no?

BTW, where I work, they have a company hockey team - - and one of the best players on the team is a woman, FWIW. She was an NCAA star in hockey before working here, if If I heard the story right.

[Skip]

I dont follow or know much about hockey, but other than at goalie I think a woman player would be beaten up. Maybe she could make it at goalie, but otherwise it seems a league-sanctioned PR and physical disaster waiting to happen.

[SmedIndy]

Goalie was exactly where I was thinking - Haley Wickenhiser is playing wing (I think) for a Finnish team.

Some NHL players are more finesse and skill players - but there's so much contact in the NHL that it'd be a stretch for her to play in that level.

[LeGrandOrange]

Manon Rheaume was the one, before a couple days ago she was what the Tampa Bay Lightning was most famous for, having her suit up in an exhibition game. She later tended nets in roller hockey so she was legitimate enough.

It's interesting you brought the point up about women in pro hockey:

http://espn.go.com/nhl/news/2003/0111/1491030.html

A few months ago, Canadian star Hayley Wickenheiser (I love saying that name BTW) suited up for a male Finnish club and scored a point in her first game. So there's potential. Granted, Finnish hockey is nowhere near the NHL's calibre, and this is also a third division league. But that's beside the point.

I honestly don't know what would happen if a lower minor club gave a Wickenheiser, a Cammi Granato, or another woman the chance to skate in a U.S/Canadian league (likely a WCHL-ish affiliate), since that's a situation I honestly can't picture. Yet. Enforcers seem to cloud this possibility.

There's also a junior hockey league that had a female keeper, granted she played just one minute before, if I recall right, she was dropped for reasons that I believe inspired legal action...of course this might be a figment of my imagination but that's beside the point too...she was dropped after a single minute of regulation hockey, that much I know.

So there's a shot. Maybe. But that shot might be wide of the net and into the plexiglass at this point.

[LeGrandOrange]

Apparently I had the same idea. D'oh. :)

[satchel]

I don't doubt that women can play hockey - NCAA women's hockey is about the only incarnation of the sport that doesn't give me hives. (Olympic hockey is okay, too. I can't stand to watch NHL games though.)

I was just asking for specifics about the remark that a woman NHL player is more likely than a woman MLB player. Why?

[SmedIndy]

Definitely a chance at goalie - there was a female playing in the Quebec Major Junior League a couple of years ago. Her name was Charlene Labonte. I think there are some perhaps playing in lower level Junior leagues.

[JamesI]

My main thought is that a woman could become a goalie in hockey easier than any other position in mens sports. A few women have made it as goalies in minor league hockey, and at least once has gotten tries in preseason NHL games (I think this was just Manon Rheaume)

[Craig S.]

I think playing goal is the most likely way for a woman to break into the NHL, although I can see a skilled forward making it depending on the direction the game goes.

Over the past 20 years, the game has slowed down greatly, with players getting bigger and ice surfaces not doing likewise. With this comes increased grinding and play in the neutral zone. I don't think a woman player like Wickenheiser would be able to cut it if this trend continues, simply because of the lack of size and the physical punishment she would take.

There is some hope, however, since the NHL is at least trying (and I stress trying) to cut down on the slogging brand of hockey that has been so beneficial to teams like New Jersey over the last decade. With an emphasis on speed and skill, a female might have a chance. Before this recent crackdown, there's little chance a guy like the Lightning's Martin St. Louis would have been able to make it as a regular, much less excel like he has this season. If this crackdown on unnecessary physical play and obstruction, continues (and if they build Olympic-sized ice surfaces so the game can be played the way it was meant to be), a fast and skilled woman might have a shot. They would need, however, to be a lot better than someone like Wickenheiser, who plays in a second-division Finnish league. While it's not a beer league by any means, it wouldn't rate highly compared to minor leagues in North America.

I'd love to see it happen, but I have a feeling we'll be stuck only with female goalies for the foreseeable future.

[satchel]

Thanks for the comments, folks. I really don't know enough about hockey to fully form an opinion on this. I would have thought you'd want a big, hulking goalie, and that it wouldn't be a position a woman would likely play in a man's league, but I guess I'm wrong.

I'd probably be less annoyed by NHL hockey if it were more like Olympic or NCAA hockey.

[Craig S.]

Originally posted by satchel
I'd probably be less annoyed by NHL hockey if it were more like Olympic or NCAA hockey.

I wish for that all the time! It would be a far better game, and it would attract fans who are usually put off by the wrestling and/or fighting that too often slows it down. Unfortunately, it will likely continue to stay where it is, and the TV ratings will reflect Americans' disenchantment with the game.

[SmedIndy]

Cat like reflexes and quick reactions are needed the most for a goalie.

I do with the NHL was more like Olympic hockey, but I also do like a good ol' Eddie Shore-type hockey game now and then.

[Skip]

I'm a fan of the tonsil brand, myself.

[satchel]

Originally posted by Skip
I'm a fan of the tonsil brand, myself.

:naughty:

Sorry folks, this digression was my fault; it sprang from my aside remark about Olympic hockey. Let's stick to the thread topic: a woman in the NHL less of a longshot than a woman in MLB.

It's not hard for me a imagine a woman who throws with her left hand, whose fastball can reach 90, who can snap off a wicked curve, and who has a first-class changeup. Why would this woman have less of a shot at MLB than a woman with quick reflexes and other goalie-skills would have at the NHL?

Is there a social difference between the sports, or between the fans of the sports (for the market matters here, of course), that makes one more likely than the other?

[SmedIndy]

Satch - I think it's because the women are closer in hockey than they are in baseball. Most good girl baseball players move to fast pitch softball in their teens - so while it's similar, it's still different than baseball.