Hockey For Girls: Taking the World By Storm

The coolest game on earth is not just for boys anymore!

Hockey for girls is spreading like wildfire. To the casual fan, ice hockey may come across as an aggressive, masculine sport. Indeed, few of the games you see in the top leagues end without at least a few heated arguments, perhaps a few punches exchanged, or even an all-out, knockdown slugfest. And we’re all aware of those who only watch hockey for the fights. 

But hockey is not just another extreme sport for adrenaline junkies, and by no means is it reserved for males alone. For one, there is the World Women’s Championship that is governed by the International Ice Hockey Federation (since 1990); women’s ice hockey is an Olympic event; and there are plenty of opportunities for females of all ages to test their skills on the ice with a hockey stick in their hands. Here’s a look at a few of the events directed at hockey for girls:

World Girls’ Ice Hockey Weekend

Since 2011, the World Girls’ Ice Hockey Weekend has been an annual event of hockey for girls of all ages, who have the opportunity to get acquainted with hockey first hand. It is a global event organized by the IIHF with the goal of bringing girls from their communities together around a common passion: ice hockey. Any organization—from local communities to national leagues—can register as hosts of the event.

Last year’s event was held in October in countries ranging from Argentina to Hungary. For more information, check out the World Girls’ Ice Hockey Weekend web page.

Global Girls’ Game

The IIHF Global Girls’ Game took place on February 16 and 17 of this year, with participating teams from all across the globe. There were two teams—Team Blue and Team White—with members in all participating countries. The game began on Saturday the 16th in Auckland, New Zealand, and progressed across the globe until its inevitable finish in Detroit, Mich., USA. The participants can be girls and women of all ages, from absolute beginners to seasoned professionals. In North America, for example, the two teams consisted of Team USA (White) and Team Canada (Blue) as a way to showcase their skill ahead of the upcoming…

IIHF World Women’s Championship

Unlike the two events mentioned above, the IIHF World Women’s Championship is reserved for professionals. The competition was first held in 1990 and has crowned champions ever since. As you might expect, Canada and the USA— the two major ice hockey powers—are dominating the competition.

This year’s IIHF World Women’s Championship will be hosted by Canada. The games will be played in two Canadian cities, Halifax, N.S. and Truro, N.S., between March 31 and April 10. Ten teams are expected to participate in the tournament. Aside from the “usual suspects” like Team USA and Canada, we’ll have the chance to see teams from Germany and Russia (both of them with a strong ice hockey culture); Japan; Hungary; and Czechia.

As you can see, the coolest game on earth is not just for boys. Hockey for girls is taking the world by storm. Lace ’em up, ladies!