In the coming season, tackles will be allowed in women’s hockey’s two highest leagues, SDHL and women’s. The Swedish Ice Hockey Association writes in a press release that a pilot project will be launched as the season begins. It will then be evaluated continuously during the season.
The introduction of tackles, and more physical play across teams, aims to reduce the number of concussions. According to Project ZeroVision, which aims to prevent the problem of concussions, a big reason why women players had concussions during the match was that there was too poor intensity in training and that the players were not “turned on” during the matches.
“We have allowed more physical play in the SDHL the last four seasons with good results. To say without facts on the table that more physical play means fewer concussions is difficult, but now we have that basis. It feels incredibly exciting that Swedish ice hockey can be pioneers in introducing tackles in women’s hockey, “says Morgan Johansson, project manager for Project Zero Vision.
A developed physical game is something Ulf Lundberg, the national team captain for Damkronorna, thinks is positive.
“We coaches have long been training in ‘blade against puck – body against body’ and I think this change will benefit the creative game because there are higher demands on action speed,” he says.
Read more: The rule proposal in the middle of the WC: Introduces requirements for a comprehensive helmet visor