Why dont women play for the NHL?

Answer 1

breasts? i can think of a few more, but thats kinda obvious

Answer 2

There are probably not enough women that will play to make a nhl for them.

Women can still play good.
Didnt you see the olympics. The women came in
2nd or 3rd. I cant remeber. But the mens olympic hockey team make the tope 3.

I know from experience about hockey. I play roller blade hockey. I might one of 4 or 5 girls that play out there. The rest are boys. But I play just as good as they do.

Answer 3

There actually was a woman, Manon Rheaume, who played in the International Hockey League for the Atlanta Knights as a goalie. Why not in the NHL? Don't know. She was also a goalie for the Canadian women's team.

(Actually, if you read further on that page, you find that she did play in the NHL, albeit briefly.)

Answer 4

There's a few reasons.

One is that sports have always been segregated by gender, and if it's changing, it's changing very slowly.

Two is that men and women tend to have different physiques, and in most sports, basic physiological differences mean women are at a physiological disadvantage *most* of the time. Not all of the time. *Most* of the time. I think you'll see women break into men's sports soonest where size and weight and muscle are less of an issue -- golf, for example.

There are exceptions, though.

In basketball, Candace Nicole "...Parker made sports history in March 2004 by winning the Slam Dunk contest of the McDonald's High School All-American Game in Oklahoma City. Only a 17-year-old high school senior, Parker beat five male competitors for the prestigious title, including future 2005 NBA Slam Dunk contestant JR Smith. The competition had been won in years past by LeBron James and Vince Carter." (Wikipedia)

And some folks here have already mentioned Manon Rheaume, the first woman to sign with an NHL team, and played one game with the Lightning -- so technically, to answer your question, they do.

But in hockey, of all the sports except maybe rugby and football, you just aren't going to find women of the size and shape you'd need to be to keep from getting annihilated out there. Paul Kariya's one of the smaller guys out there, and he's 5'10, 175 or 180 -- and compared to most women that's still pretty big. Could a woman be big enough and tough enough? Sure. Is it going to be one woman in a few thousand? Maybe more? I think so.

Finally, I don't think pro hockey's ready to see women get hit. I don't think the fans will know how to react, I'm not sure how the players will deal with it. It's not an insurmountable problem, but it's a big problem. I've played coed, and coed with a lot of contact. I'm short but solid, and don't mind getting pushed around, and guys *still* take it easy on me.

Not always -- I've gotten in fights, and some of them have been with guys, so at some point hockey's hockey and can be gender blind.

I also think -- having been in a few male-dominated, highly physical arenas like hockey -- that it is psycholgically *very* rough on women to try and break into a male sport like that. It's isolating, you face scrutiny and discrimination from everyone around you... I think for most players it would be so difficult it might not be worth it, even if you *could* hang. So there's that, too.

I think women can. I've talked to some pro players who have admitted to me there's women out there -- Cami Granato's name has come up -- who would give them a run for their money.

But there's a long distance between a player admitting she can play as well as he can and accepting her as a teammate.

I'd like to see it happen. But in the big physical sports -- hockey, rugby, football -- it's going to be a long time before you see women playing, if at all.

Answer 5

Because of the physical aspect. Women weigh a lot less then men, if women weigh more they are usually bigger, which slows them down. Men overpower women in the sport. One thing that shows that is the shot difference. Top women shoot high 70's-low 80's. top men shoot over 100mph. That is a big difference. One women did play goalie for Tampa Bay for one game and got smoked and gave up on trying to play again. She admitted she was in over her head. If a women can step up and play well, i dont think people would mind.

Answer 6

uh.....the NHL is the most phisical (
and there was a girl goalie that played for the atlanta knights and for a few games the Tampa Bay lighting. this was a few years ago...her last name was reaume...i think

Answer 7

i think some women r good enough to play in the NHL, but who would want a girl change in front all these men. LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 8

Because its way to dangerous, men are stronger and more physical, can you imagine a 260 lb defence checking a 130lb women into the boards? lol

Answer 9

If one had the physical and talent capabilities, I'm sure they would be there. There have been a few very good female players and oneday it may happen.

Answer 10

Maybe cos not so many women interested in that sport.

Answer 11

i don't know but it would be pretty cool to see some girls kicking each others butts out there just like the guys do.