Sweden is blazing a trail in women's hockey by allowing body checking — and finding health benefits along the way
ÖRNSKÖLDSVIK, Sweden — 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.
'I got a stick to the collarbone tonight and also a hit to the head. Definitely some bumps and bruises,' she said with a smile. 'But I'm feeling fine.'
Growing up in Canada, Bellefontaine kept hearing people ask why there was no hitting in women's 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 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. 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 women's 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 — 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.
'It has given us the opportunity to prove we're physical, we're strong and we can play just like the men's players,' Bellefontaine said. 'It allows us to show we can — and we will.'
Bellefontaine joined MoDo for the start of the 2023-24 season. It's a title-contending team from Örnsköldsvik, a sleepy coastal town some 530 kilometers (330 miles) north of Stockholm — and not far from the Arctic Circle — 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.
'I had no prior experience of hitting at all,' the 25-year-old Bellefontaine said, 'and we went right into the season so it took me a while to get into it … it was tough but now it's just fun.'
Safer, too.
Benefits of body checking
Statistics supplied by the Swedish women's league show the number of concussions sustained by players has dropped since 2018, when its 'Project Zero Vision' 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 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. 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.
'It creates some tension in the game that you otherwise don't get,' 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. 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.
'We're trying to close the gap between men's and women's hockey, so this is one way we are doing it — to have similar rules as they do,' said Alexie Guay, another Canadian playing for MoDo. 'It's not as intense and there are different rules still — I don't know if there will be fighting in women's hockey in the future — but we're definitely closing the gap and I think it's a cool thing.'
According to research by Lund University 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 MoDo's women's team, said he hasn't encountered any resistance from his players about checking.
'Everyone was excited about it,' said Cipparone, who is also from Canada. 'The first year was trial and fire for many, but last year and this year you see the significance it's made in the game and I've only heard good things about it.'
At MoDo's 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 'pretty small,' has had to adapt her game. She said she trains harder, watches what she eats to 'bulk up a little bit' and is making use of the sauna in her apartment for post-match recovery.
'I'm definitely squeezing my core a little more,' she said. 'Before, I wouldn't even expect to be hit so now it's head on a swivel, always looking, always watching, and just being ready to take a hit. You have to make sure you're not in a position to jeopardize yourself.
'It's definitely changed the way we play and made us better players.'
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.
'All parents are worried about their children getting injured,' Johansson said, 'but 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 don't think because she's a girl I've been more worried than if she'd been a boy.'
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 league's 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 'does not prohibit competitive body contact between players' but noted its staff was working with its membership 'to clarify the interpretation of this part in women's hockey.'
As for the Swedes, they are happy to have made the bold step that others are starting to follow.
'We are kind of a trailblazer when it comes to women's hockey in challenging the old structures that said, 'Women can't,'' said Angelica Lindeberg, operations manager for the Swedish league. 'Now we say, of course they can. We are very proud of that.'
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