Freshman forward and Olympic silver medalist Julie Chu agrees with her coach.

“Non-checking in women’s hockey is a great thing,” Chu said. “It makes players develop their skills more, as opposed to just having good size and using your body. You have to have passing and stickhandling ability and an all-around game, not just size in order to play.”

Harvard captain Angela Ruggiero sees logistical problems in allowing checking in women’s hockey.

“Girls are starting to play at a younger age,” said Ruggiero, an Olympic silver and gold medalist. “Whether or not [checking is allowed] at the college level depends if the [youth leagues] want to implement it.”

But how does she feel about it?

“Personally, I wouldn’t mind, because it would bring a lot to my game, for sure,” said Ruggiero, arguably the strongest women’s hockey player on the planet.

Diminuitive sophomore forward Kat Sweet has mixed opinions.

“There’s definitely advantages [to allowing checking],” Sweet said. “I think it’s more exciting with a lot of hitting and contact, and I know a lot of the girls on our team don’t mind that at all—we play pretty aggressively anyway.”

Ultimately, Sweet concluded that adding checking is not necessary. Captain Jennifer Botterill came to a similar conclusion.

“I think our game is great the way it is,” Botterill said. “It’s a pure game. There’s skill, speed, finesse—but it’s still a physical game. [Without checking] the best aspects of the game are accentuated.”

I must disagree. Checking does not disrupt the game—it is part of the game. Allowing checking will not diminish the skill level of the game because checking is itself a skill.

What’s strange to me is why women play with different rules in hockey and lacrosse. Women’s rugby and wrestling operate with the exact same rules as their male counterparts. Ask any women’s rugby player or wrestler—they wouldn’t have it any other way. They’d also be insulted by the insinuation that their games involve less skill, as would any men’s hockey or lacrosse player.

“Don’t you want to see these great bursts of speed?” Stone said. “To me, seeing the puck move fast and seeing people jump into holes is what it’s all about.”

Pretty goals on nice passes are great. But players have always adapted to hitting in the men’s game. Smaller players have learned how to survive and, occasionally, thrive.

If anything, the European invasion has shown that even in the era of 250-pound behemoths, skills matter. Players adjust their skills to compensate for the checking, making the fancy goals all the more impressive.

More importantly, it is inconsistent to oppose hitting in women’s hockey while supporting hitting in men’s hockey. The assumption behind this argument is that men should risk more injuries to play an aesthetically less-pleasing game. Men and women should play by the same rules—and those rules should allow checking.

—Staff writer David A. Weinfeld can be reached at weinfeld@fas.harvard.edu.