Jer and I were going with his parents to see the Ducks get shut out by the Red Wings. Of course that’s not what we were thinking at the time the highlight of this story takes place, but it was kind of in the back of our minds. Jer’s parents have knee issues and so we get to use the elevators to get to our fourth level, sometimes one row before the last, seats. We’d had a cool encounter in the elevator before– a few weeks earlier we got to ride up to the press box and before the guy who was getting out left, he gave out game pucks to the kids. Though I’m 24, I get carded at every bar I go to, but I apparently don’t look young enough to get a puck.

As we escaped the throngs of obnoxious Detroit fans, and made our way toward the elevator this time, we saw some of the ice girls getting in as well. After some confusion about whether or not there was room for us too, we settled in. I motioned toward one of the ice girls in front of me. Jer nodded his head toward a corner of the elevator and when I followed his gesture, expecting to see another ice girl, or maybe a commentator or something, I found myself making direct eye contact with Teemu Selanne.. I immediately looked away, grinning and blushing. The next 30 seconds to a minute I spent continuing to grin and trying to look nonchalantly at his reflection in the elevator door. If the press guy had been in with us that day, I probably would have gotten a puck.

I’m not one to get star struck– I was more teary eyed after this than when Bill Clinton grabbed my hand as I made a peace sign or when Dick Dale asked to borrow my aunt’s camera and take a picture of us– but the sheer surprise of being in an elevator with someone you just ordered your boyfriend collectible figurines of was overwhelming. After the initial glow died down a little (it lasted through the whole, disappointing game), I realized that what was really cool about this is how emblematic of the connection between punk rock and hockey it was. I mean, it’s still a huge, awesome deal– we were a couple feet away from a hockey legend– but like punk rock legends, hockey legends are far less inaccessible than say…basketball legends or classic rock legends.

And much like it did in 10^th grade when I asked for my first guitar and started a band with two of my other friends who had also never played their instruments before, something clicked. I didn’t just want to be the grinning fan girl who watches games but nothing else. I wanted to be a part of hockey. I wanted to surround myself in it. I wanted to play. I found a semi-local adult league online and emailed the contact and he got back to me right away. The plan is to get some equipment and practice for awhile before attending some pickup games and then maybe joining a team. I doubt I’ll be very good, but it doesn’t really matter. Like punk rock, in hockey there’s a place for people who aren’t very good but want to be a part of it all anyway. Singing Creed songs in your local talent show or getting obsessively into your slow-pitch softball team sounds a little sad. Alternatively, you can collect records and play power chords and really be a part of the punk community and you can collect pucks and play in your driveway and be a hockey fan. I wouldn’t want to be a part of anything that was any different.

Note from the Editor: This article is a repost. It was originally published at TheBigSister.net, a website aimed at young feminists. As feminism and other social justice issues are a staple of punk culture, we felt it appropriate to republish this article here at HockeyPunx.

I recently read that the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto recently changed the requirements for inducting women. Men and women used to compete against each other for spots, but now every year, four men and two women will be inducted.

Bill Hay, the Chairman of the Hockey Hall of Fame said, “The new voting procedures address the basic principle and general view among the Board of Directors and Selection Committee that men and women ought not to compete directly against each other for limited places of Honoured Membership. It creates fair conditions for all candidates while reinforcing that the existing basis for selection and requisite standards of excellence be applied equally to both genders.”

I wasn’t sure how to feel about this at first. Some of the comments on the article I read about it thought it wasn’t fair. They complained that a really great male hockey player might never get in while a woman who wasn’t at all as good as he is would. I saw what this guy meant. And if a woman were inducted I wanted everyone to feel like she deserved it. I didn’t want people feeling like women needed special treatment to excel at a sport.

I’ve changed my mind though. It’s not giving women an advantage, it’s taking away the advantages that male hockey players already have. Women have a lot more obstacles to face than men do on the road to becoming a professional hockey player:

• A lot fewer women’s parents are likely to get their daughters involved in hockey at a younger age. A lot of professional male players have been playing since they were young kids, but women players are more likely to have to discover the interest on their own and start at an older age.
• I would imagine there are a lot fewer women’s high school hockey teams, so fewer women have the support and motivation to keep playing hockey that a team provides.
• Hockey is an aggressive sport. Men who excel at being aggressive are looked at positively…they’re seen as manly. Women are told they shouldn’t be aggressive though, and I’m sure many female hockey players have faced harassment for being too “tough.”
• Women don’t have as many or as easily accessible role-models to look to in hockey.
• Prime hockey playing age overlaps with prime child bearing age and that makes hockey a different kind of commitment for women. A male hockey player can easily be a dad, but a woman who wants to get pregnant has to delay or stop playing. It’s not like other careers where you can keep working until a few weeks before the baby pops out.

So I commend the Hockey Hall of Fame for their decision. Judging women separately is not giving them an unfair advantage. It’s simply recognizing that men and women become hockey players in very different conditions. The new rule judges people who face similar conditions in a similar manner.