PWHL players face uncertainty over body contact rules

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While jersey colors on PWHL players have changed like leaves in autumn, one shade that remains the same is the section of the competition’s rules that deals with body contact.

It’s still a very gray area.

A committee of players is focused on finalizing a consistent definition of what constitutes a penalty when one player eliminates another. As it stands now, fans can’t rightfully boo referees who miss a call because they don’t know what’s allowed and what’s not. ‘T.

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The same can be said for the women on the ice.

“I have no idea,” said Mannon McMahon, an impressive 23-year-old forward from Maple Grove, Minnesota, who the Charge selected in the fifth round of last June’s draft. “I feel like when I start my first game it will be like being thrown into the fire and I will have to test my own limits.”
“It’s definitely a figuring out process. “

For both beginners and veterans.

“I think that’s something we’re still trying to figure out,” forward Gabby Hughes said when asked what players can get away with when they come into physical contact with an opponent. “Last year was everyone’s first year, and I think we were constantly working out kinks. Every week we got ‘this should be mentioned, this should not be mentioned’… it’s constantly growing to see what they wanted us to be able to play physically, and what they didn’t want to let go of. (The committee) is really pushing for clearer rules, and I think they will come, for the fans and for us.”

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The Charge will get a chance to see where things stand this week with two exhibition games – against the Boston Fleet on Thursday afternoon and the Montreal Victoire 24 hours later – during a mini-camp held at Arena Denis Savard at the Verdun Auditorium, 15 minutes south of downtown Montreal.

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Realizing a shortcoming from last season, Charge coach Carla MacLeod emphasized the importance of her players being more physical and tougher to play against since the team gathered at TD Place last week to prepare for Year 2.

What instructions does she give them in terms of acceptable body play?

“That they have every opportunity to be physical,” MacLeod said. “What you have to be a little careful with is along the signs, when the numbers are visible. Last year they called it very consistently for all the right reasons. Those are dangerous. The other side of that is making sure our players are ready for that contact, even if their numbers are visible. You have to be strong. You have to be ready.

“So by making them more comfortable in that way, and by recognizing that you can always skate through someone’s hands, you can always kind of push against them face to face. They let all that go. So just embracing the opportunities that you know are definitely green lights, and then the gray area will become black and white as we get going in games, and referees start calling things, and the league continues to communicate about where we’re going to go. the physicality.”

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But hitting on open ice is not allowed…. right?

“Not yet,” MacLeod said, before adding, “We don’t know.

“That’s not the intention, but there will still be contact on open ice.” You’re just not going to see those big, big eruptions. We know they’re going to call them. They called them last year, but there’s a lot of opportunity to still, we call it ‘disrupt’ the player in those moments. You don’t blow them up. You’re just disrupting their flow, so they have to reroute it themselves. Those are the variables we have been working on.”

If MacLeod had problems with calls from officials last season, the incidents were isolated and did not cause her to stand on the bench screaming or throw a pile of sticks on the ice.

In fact, she praises the work of the people who wear stripes.

“The referees were no different than us in Year 1, it was their first year too,” MacLeod said. “They come from different competitions, they change the rules of the game and I think what we got out of our referees was really impressive. I have no doubt that the competition will continue to define better, especially the body control part, because for us that is the unique part that we adapt to. And over time, the referees, just like me as a coach or them as a player, will also adapt and learn where the boundaries lie.

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“It’s a learning curve there, and we’ll continue to have good conversations with them to make sure that what they’re shouting and seeing is what we’re communicating to our players, and that’s what we can practice. I think there is also a communication piece from us to the referees to make sure we are teaching the right way.”

In the meantime, MacLeod is looking forward to the exhibition games in Montreal as much as the players.

“I think the exciting part is getting the right jerseys… our crew in one color, and the other team in another,” she said. “It’s an opportunity to actually see where we stand. From the perspective of our coaching staff, it gives us insight into the variables we’ve been working on here at camp to see how things play out in a match against a real opponent that’s trying to break you down. So I think it’s really going to teach us a lot about ourselves. And that’s the most exciting part.”

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