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I LOVE playing hockey. The best part for me is the first lap around the rink when the ice is fresh and the wind rushes past my face. I have loved the sport since I was 7 years old and my dad took me to a Vancouver Canucks vs. Winnipeg Jets game at the Pacific Coliseum. I played street hockey like every "good" Canadian child does, I played roller hockey when there wasn't a girl's ice hockey team close enough for me to join, and then I finally picked up ice hockey at the ripe old age of 21! Usually I play women's hockey but at the University of Toronto, where I currently study, women's recreational ice hockey is not high on the priority list (I am usually the only female during women's ice time, lots of ice for me!), therefore I took to playing with the boys. It took many many months to actually feel like "one of the guys" (whatever that means). On the whole, the group that comes to play co-ed hockey at U of T is generally a great group of guys. Comprised of everyone from full on newbies to ex-OHL (Ontario Hockey League) players, we would always have a good skate. Mind you there are always those individuals that think male genitalia is necessary for handling the puck and would rather pass to the (male) pylon on skates than a wide-open female flying down the wing (no offense to the pylon on skates). Whatever, that's fine because it does not reflect the group as a whole. What I would like to discuss is one particular incident that brought out the socio-culturalist in me at the hockey rink, which is rare because I normally check the student at the door (critically thinking about hockey makes it far less enjoyable).


It was one of the last ice-times of the school year. I had been a regular on the ice all year. I showed up early to catch some free ice time (women's ice time) when the arena attendant asked one of the guys going into the dressing room to make sure that I was okay with him joining me on the ice during the scheduled women's ice time. This is not uncommon and of course I share the ice; after all, it is just me. But it was his answer that made my inner socio-culturalist raise an eyebrow. He said to the the arena attendant, "Ya no, she plays with us."

Photo by Me.I went into the locker room and started to put on my gear while his words continued to reverberate in my mind - she plays with us. Now obviously he didn't mean anything negative by it and I do not intend to lash out at the guys that played co-ed hockey because, frankly, I think they were great; but the student in me did a full on discourse analysis in my head while I laced up my skates. The answer was not - "we play together" (considering we play co-ed) or "she lets us play" (referring to the women's ice time) and "she's one of us" is asking to much, I suppose. She plays with us, as in we (males) are the norm and she is the 'Other'. Certainly not a new theme for women in sports, but for some reason those 4 little words at that moment resonated with me. I suppose it was because I had assumed that we, as a group, had gotten to the point where we were just hockey players; but, "she plays with us" made me realize that, in many ways, they would always be 'hockey players' and I would always be qualified as "the girl hockey player" or "the girl who plays with the boys". Women's sport has come a LONG way but do not be fooled, separate but equal remains a formidable barrier to overcome.

"Women who seek to be equal with men, lack ambition." - Timothy Leary

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