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Phil (email@hidden) thought you would be interested in this article from http://www.theglobeandmail.com



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>From globeandmail.com, Wednesday, October 30, 2002

A thorough check required before agreeing to ECHL offer

ERIC DUHATSCHEK



All along, Hayley Wickenheiser's motives have been clear. The star of Canada's 2002 women's Olympic hockey team wants to play professionally in a men's league to improve her own game, which she believes is stagnating playing against women.


Accordingly, if Wickenheiser accepted a tryout offer from the Cincinnati Cyclones of the East Coast Hockey League, what calibre of league would she be going to?


In the past, when people considered the ECHL at all, they thought of it in terms of the movie Slap Shot. It conjured up images of Paul Newman and out-of-control brawling; in short, a league in which the hockey was secondary to goon tactics and other antics needed to sell the game in a non-traditional market.


That stereotype, according to Richmond Renegades coach Gord Dineen, is no longer true.


The ECHL, circa 2002, is a much better league than most people think.


"It's changed dramatically," Dineen said. "Believe me, I was somewhat biased myself before I came here. I've been really surprised at the level of play. Guys who are top college players are coming in and it's an adjustment for them because it's a tougher brand of hockey than they're used to. More than ever, there are guys here who will eventually make the move up to the NHL level."


Dineen, now in his second year of coaching in the ECHL, is a member of one of hockey's first families. His father, Bill, was a long-time executive, coach and scout who, among other positions, was Eric Lindros's first coach with the National Hockey League's Philadelphia Flyers. Brother Kevin is in his 18th NHL season and currently plays for the Columbus Blue Jackets.


Dineen himself played 528 NHL games for the New York Islanders, Minnesota North Stars, Pittsburgh Penguins and Ottawa Senators between 1982 and 1995, before playing his last five professional seasons in the International Hockey League.


Among the players currently in the ECHL are right winger Greg Pankiewicz, who made 21 NHL appearances for Ottawa and Calgary in the 1990s and Zac Bierk, who as recently as two seasons ago, was playing goal the NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning.


For Wickenheiser, the biggest adjustment to playing in a men's league would be the body contact. In women's hockey, incidental body contact is allowed, but bodychecking is illegal and therefore penalized.


Dineen characterized the ECHL as a "very physical league. It's a younger group of players, ambitious obviously. It might not always be as positionally sound as the American Hockey League, but it's a little more physical. There isn't the old East Coast league mentality of fighting, but guys here finish their checks. It's a run-and-gun, physical style of play."


As for fighting, Dineen believes that would be less of an issue for Wickenheiser. Just as fighting is slowly disappearing from the NHL, it is also less prevalent at the minor-league level.


"It mirrors the NHL," Dineen said. "Every team has somebody who can drop the mitts and handle themselves, but they are also guys who have to be able to play because, in order to do that job, you gotta be able to get around the ice and not hurt your team. In the 1970s, you used to hear all the stories about the Slap Shot mentality, but it's definitely evolved away from that."


How does Dineen think the players on his team would react to playing against a woman? In the past, the women who've played professionally have all been goaltenders -- Manon Rheaume, Kelly Dyer, Erin Whitten. Wickenheiser would be the first female position player in the minor leagues.


"I played in the IHL when Manon was in Atlanta," Dineen said. "I know guys never held back with their shots. As far as the physical aspect, how big is Hayley again?"


Told she is 5 foot 9, 170 pounds, Dineen said: "I don't care how physically strong she is, that's a small skater on the ice nowadays. Our league has gotten bigger, the guys are all faster. Physically, any 5-foot-9 player has to have special qualities to last at this level. It'd be tough for her to compete.


"I don't think guys would really hold back. They're playing for their jobs, too. Plus, being a competitor and knowing what she's done for women's hockey, I don't think she'd want guys holding back either."


No, she wouldn't. All along, Wickenheiser has been a sober realist about the matter of bodychecking, which is why she needs to take a long, hard look at what the Cyclones are offering before she commits herself to a course of action that may or may not be in her best interests.


Probably isn't, in fact. 


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