Chloe Primarano becomes the first female to be selected in the WHL Bantam Draft

[SNESChamp]

Am I the only one brave enough to say I DON'T LIKE IT? This was done for publicity, not because she is really good or comparable to her male counterparts. Tell me what guy in a physical hitting league is going to want to hit her? Men/Boys and Women/Girls have different body types and bone structures, and if she or any girl ever got hit hard by a guy, either on purpose or accident, they would very likely get hurt pretty bad. Women don't play with men in any other major pro sport, so why are hockey fans wanting hockey to be the one to break this norm? Hockey is the roughest sport other than football and rugby out there, and there is a reason men and women don't play in leagues together that have physicality.

I know, I will get labeled misogynist for this comment, but pretend that all you want, I don't care. Men aren't being excepted into the WNBA, and we here not a peep about it, nor should we, and basketball is one of the more ideal sports that men and women can play together. No women play in MLB, and there is no on purpose contact in the sport.

To be fair, all sports are putting on this absurd charade, not just hockey.

My favorite thought is always thinking about those career minor leaguers, those dudes who ALMOST made it, but not quite, those dudes who sweated and toiled and labored, the dudes who used to get the scouting jobs, assistant coaching jobs, the color commentator jobs, etc. Now, sports teams LOVE telling those guys to go F--- themselves because they're progressive and want to hire Hailey, Destiny, and Rebecca and therefore exhibit the fact that they are indeed a member of the ruling class of the West.

"I love hockey....which is why I want to change literally everything about it."
-Basically every executive in the NHL

 

[bigdog16]

Zero chance she plays. But it's good publicity so there's that.

Team USA women (if not the best female hockey on the planet, the second best team) got beat by Warroad high school boys in a no checking game, 3-0.

Just saying...

I have played in one of these games. They had a rep with the team come into our locker room beforehand and tell us absolute zero body contact or slap shots or we would immediately be sent off the ice. He essentially told us it was a tune up game for them and to take it easy. We dressed like 6 lines and it was a massive waste of time

Based on what? Marie Phillipe Poulin would 100% decimate the CHL, just like Matthew Savoie is doing.

Women are weaker and slower and less durable on average, sure. The good thing with averages is that its just that, theres variation all over the place.

And no, she wouldnt be, shes be living in a less misogynistic time, lmao.

On the same account asian males cant play in the NHL because theyre on average weaker, smaller and weigh less. Lets call Suzuki, hes off the team.

Oh and theres no more white people on NBA, they cant jump.

Whats next? Were going to mention POC are dumber than blue eyes blond haired individuals?

Decimate the CHL??? This is an outrageous statement. MPP would be an decent Junior B player. That is just the reality of it

 

[Silky Johnson]

Based on what? Marie Phillipe Poulin would 100% decimate the CHL, just like Matthew Savoie is doing.

Women are weaker and slower and less durable on average, sure. The good thing with averages is that its just that, theres variation all over the place.

And no, she wouldnt be, shes be living in a less misogynistic time, lmao.

On the same account asian males cant play in the NHL because theyre on average weaker, smaller and weigh less. Lets call Suzuki, hes off the team.

Oh and theres no more white people on NBA, they cant jump.

Whats next? Were going to mention POC are dumber than blue eyes blond haired individuals?

Hahaha. Are you trying to break a record on really bad takes in one post? Literally every statement you make here is dangerously misinformed.

 

[Silky Johnson]

Lmao, I played college football, I played in the nastiest ghetto junior A leagues and Im a bjj blue belt now, thanks tho.

I call 100% BS on your BJJ blue belt.

As someone who spent 30 years training in grappling based marshal arts I can tell you that ANY practitioner knows the advantages and limitations of gender in contact sports.

It's not a value statement, its just reality.

Stop with you pathetic Virtue Signalling and stop pretending like you ever played a sport.

 

[sufferer]

Is it a transwoman?

 

[Figgy44]

The problem is that this is basically as good as it gets competition wise for her, developmentally guys are going to be blowing up compared to her same development, through no fault of her own.

Those who don’t understand this, not sure what to tell you. It’s not misogynistic, it’s just a reality of the situations.

And that's fine. My issue is that there are those who are essentially saying, "Don't bother trying".

There are so many bad take here it's hilarious. This site in general is taking Virtue Signaling to new levels.

Men and woman have different physiologies. Most sports are formulated in a way that gives advantages to traits that are more common to men. To not believe this is to not believe in evolutionary biology.

Some women also share these traits. The problem is when we get to elite levels we are talking about men that are deep in the top percentile. These traits have high standard deviation and when you overlay the graph between men and women the overlap doesn't go that far. In complicated sports you are also looking at multiple traits (like big, fast & strong). There may literally be no woman EVER who was 6'5" 300lbs, can bench 300 lbs AND can run a 5 second 40m. This is basically the average NFL lineman.

When I was a teenager I fought competitively in Judo. I was pretty good at the provincial level and a blackbelt. The women's national heavy weight champion trained at our Dojo. I could beat her 19/20 times as a 16 year old when she had 30 lbs on me. She actually trained often with youth men as we were a really good opponents for her training.

Under our current state of evolution it is incredibly unlikely for a women to be good enough to compete at the top of many sports like hockey, basketball or Football. If one did, that would likely just represent an anomaly rather then a trend.

Participation in sports is a good thing. We should protect things like Title IX that help womens sports.

Why talk about women participating in men's leagues? Why not strengthen women's leagues? If you care about women's sports, vote with your wallet and support them.

Having great women's sports leagues will do way more for our sister and daughters then pretending that something that is not going to happen is possible. Its also honest.

I have no issue with your opinion. I have no issues with the physiological portion of the debate. I'm not optimistic about a woman in the NHL based on the physiological aspect, but I don't see why a potential female phenom might make the WHL to AHL range. Additionally, my argument is against the "it's unlikely, so don't try" comments. I'm just saying that I think it's possible for a woman to play a handful of games in the AHL/WHL range in the next few years assuming she is a phenom or something along those lines vs those that say "completely impossible". I'm saying, there's somewhat some precedence with Wickenheiser, so IMO, "Let them try".

The issue with voting with the wallet is that the female leagues have gone defunct for Women's hockey. There's no interest or appetite for it. You can't really strengthen them at a business level to have them continue (at least not yet). Having great women's sport league sounds great on paper, but it's failed several times already. To continue hockey at a high enough level, it seems that women may need to consider potentially going down the path in attempting to join men's leagues at the minor league level such as the WHL.

Again, I say, let her try. She's statistically likely to fail, so why are some posters all up in arms about not even giving a chance for women to try and fail? Why make the decision for them? You want to know what's also a bit funny? For those that say it'll be a spectacle, they're not necessarily wrong. But I bet a surprising many might "vote with their wallets" to see her play in the WHL (if she makes it) to witness the spectacle.

In the same way you said you trained with the woman's national heavy weight champion because it was good competition for her, I say let women who are capable skill to do the same for hockey. The countries that are successful for this first likely end up dominating women's hockey on the international stage for a few years until other countries catch up.

The fact you said you trained with women and wondered why we should talk about women in men's leagues vs women in their own league is a little strange to me. I would have assumed your opinion would be more like, "Trained with women before. She is going to get dominated, but meh." The fact you'd win 19/20 times means that she'd win 1/20 times. That's a victory against the physiological odds. That still furthers women's sports at the higher levels of international/regional competition.

I am of the opinion that it's kinda cool, I won't follow the journey closely or make special arrangements to go watch her play... but I'm surprised how many posters seem vocal about being negative about it and saying something needs to be done to prevent it. I wonder if some of those posters were told to wear pink clothing and they'd flip their lid. It seems like such an overreaction for something that's a relatively a non issue.

 

[Mrb1p]

I call 100% BS on your BJJ blue belt.

As someone who spent 30 years training in grappling based marshal arts I can tell you that ANY practitioner knows the advantages and limitations of gender in contact sports.

It's not a value statement, its just reality.

Stop with you pathetic Virtue Signalling and stop pretending like you ever played a sport.

Lmao, big yikes energy

 

[koyvoo]

You honestly think that a 15 year old boy would dominate the top ranked women in the world for things like tennis, marathons, diving, gymnastics, curling, biathlon etc.? I find that really hard to believe as a rule of thumb. It was already mentioned that the cream of the crop males often have around a 10-15% performance gap vs the cream of the crop females in many Olympic sports. Plus in a team sport, other males can help shelter the female no differently than they would shelter and support a male team mate with similar shortcomings.

The crux of my argument has always been that I believe it's more than biological differences that keep women from competing from AAA hockey and above. The absolute best male vs the absolute best female, even if you shave off that 20% performance difference, there should be women who are of a calibre to hold their own against 15 year olds (ie: Haley Wickenheiser).

My comment wasn't that we'd suddenly have an influx of women that rivals and parallels the top men hockey players. My argument was that I felt it was seemingly statistically impossible that of something like the top 10,000 men hockey players over the age of 15, that many posters consider it seemingly impossible to have even a handful of women (like 5) to hold a roster spot between AHL and AAA. I'm not even saying playing in those leagues as a superstar. I'm saying holding down a decent role in a sheltered manner as some other lower calibre male players have done for decades.

I'm not illogically trying to boost women capabilities to respect them. I honestly believe that based on Olympic competition comparisons, it seems that statistically and attempting to objectively compare women's and men's performance, it should be possible to have at least a handful of women (single digits), who are the absolute cream of the crop women's phenom representation, ultimately reach a level of play that is around the AHL level. I'm not even attempting to argue 1% influx of women into those leagues here. I'm saying that statistically speaking, it must be more than biological differences that causes there to be less than .001% of women ever to have seemingly been able to play hockey at any level between AAA and AHL calibre. I'm literally saying that if things were changed and training was improved for women's hockey, we'd potentially a handful more Wickenheiser calibre women playing at a respectable calibre in lower tier men's leagues. The culture and resources is IMO a major reason why she is basically the only one who has been able and has attempted to try.

And having the two different entities, it already exists. At the highest levels, Women's hockey must wear cages. Their ability to play physical is disallowed. A man playing in that type of developmental rule restriction would be at a disadvantage. Primarano is a 13th round pick. Ignore male/female. That's a major hurdle to overcome. That signifies the odds of that individual playing meaningful games at the WHL level as a regular mainstay is low. Any individual below 5'10 is at a statistical disadvantage to compete in higher levels of hockey. But I did also mention that what she gleans in terms of how to attempt to be a mainstay or get those few games can be built upon and perhaps we might see more women challenging to be a WHL mainstay in 5-10 years. This purely based on improved support and resources to aim to help them succeed and succeed objectively if you only saw tape and stats sheets and had no idea whether the player was male/female.

This is where many are probably getting confused. NHL or bust as a measure of success isn't the argument here. I'm also not saying consistently. You just have to do it once in a convincing manner. Chloe playing a handful of games in the WHL is a success. In 5 years, a female player playing a dozen games is a success. A female player playing a full season in 10 years would be a major success. Biological differences taken into account, I do think it should be possible for a female player to be at able to play a full season in the WHL if she was a phenom and well trained/equipped to take on the challenge. Wickenheiser played a few games in the Finnish league while battling homesickness and other challenges. Another of her calibre I think might be able to hold down bottom 6 role in the WHL. Other posters are saying it's an impossibility without bothering to provide more than gut feeling opinions that the vast majority post pubescent males will forever dominate the absolute best women's hockey players that they will ever be able to offer. That's silly to me.

Yes, it was pointed out that there are men with significantly limited access to resources and level playing field training that end up at the NHL level. Yes it was pointed out that part of this likely had to do with the potential rewards for men that women's hockey would never ever be remotely able to match, so they drop out earlier than men. That was part of the comments I was making.

Perhaps there is catching up to do in other areas that haven’t manifested itself in measurable result, but the US national women’s soccer team, who are the very best professional women’s national team got drubbed a few years back by an FC Dallas U15 boys side in couple of games just before going onto winning and dominating the next tournament they played.

I haven’t found evidence of these types of exhibition matches, the best women vs a regional boys team happened before or after this incident.

I’m as progressive as the next guy. I have a 17 year old daughter who tells me so, so the opinion of any male here on this subject is irrelevant in comparison to hers, and she is very, very passionate about the subject, but I do believe that men and women are built differently, physically and have different physical limitations. It seems obvious, but you do have to qualify it as an opinion, to some.

 

[CristianoRonaldo]

At 5'8" she is already taller than Habs second rounder this year dman Lane Hutson.

No, Hutson is 5'8.25.

 

[Silky Johnson]

And that's fine. My issue is that there are those who are essentially saying, "Don't bother trying".



I have no issue with your opinion. I have no issues with the physiological portion of the debate. I'm not optimistic about a woman in the NHL based on the physiological aspect, but I don't see why a potential female phenom might make the WHL to AHL range. Additionally, my argument is against the "it's unlikely, so don't try" comments. I'm just saying that I think it's possible for a woman to play a handful of games in the AHL/WHL range in the next few years assuming she is a phenom or something along those lines vs those that say "completely impossible". I'm saying, there's somewhat some precedence with Wickenheiser, so IMO, "Let them try".

The issue with voting with the wallet is that the female leagues have gone defunct for Women's hockey. There's no interest or appetite for it. You can't really strengthen them at a business level to have them continue (at least not yet). Having great women's sport league sounds great on paper, but it's failed several times already. To continue hockey at a high enough level, it seems that women may need to consider potentially going down the path in attempting to join men's leagues at the minor league level such as the WHL.

Again, I say, let her try. She's statistically likely to fail, so why are some posters all up in arms about not even giving a chance for women to try and fail? Why make the decision for them? You want to know what's also a bit funny? For those that say it'll be a spectacle, they're not necessarily wrong. But I bet a surprising many might "vote with their wallets" to see her play in the WHL (if she makes it) to witness the spectacle.

In the same way you said you trained with the woman's national heavy weight champion because it was good competition for her, I say let women who are capable skill to do the same for hockey. The countries that are successful for this first likely end up dominating women's hockey on the international stage for a few years until other countries catch up.

The fact you said you trained with women and wondered why we should talk about women in men's leagues vs women in their own league is a little strange to me. I would have assumed your opinion would be more like, "Trained with women before. She is going to get dominated, but meh." The fact you'd win 19/20 times means that she'd win 1/20 times. That's a victory against the physiological odds. That still furthers women's sports at the higher levels of international/regional competition.

I am of the opinion that it's kinda cool, I won't follow the journey closely or make special arrangements to go watch her play... but I'm surprised how many posters seem vocal about being negative about it and saying something needs to be done to prevent it. I wonder if some of those posters were told to wear pink clothing and they'd flip their lid. It seems like such an overreaction for something that's a relatively a non issue.

To be clear, I am absolutely not against her being drafted or, if by some miracle, making the league on merit.

I am irritated by the Virtue Signaling going on. People insisting that she has a realistic chance. People saying that there are current female players that "could dominate the CHL". There is alot of wish thinking going on and I don't think it is healthy for (parts) of society to believe what they would like in the face of reality and evidence.

I happily train with people in Judo of all weight classes and genders. It's low stakes and not full out so people are not likely to get injured. However, I don't think it would make sense for women to fight men in high level competition. She may have won 1/20 against 16 year old me but she would be far more more likely to sustain a career ending injury than beat 20 year old me. The same goes for 16 year old her and 16 year old me.

Like I said, if someone truly can make any league I support that. However, I think the odds of a women Skater making it to CHL or above are vanishingly small. We know the best women players in the world are not as good as the best 15 year old boys in a city and that is without considering contact...

I have a daughter and sons. If my son who is 6"1' told me he wanted to be a Centre in the NBA, would I be doing him a service by encouraging him? Not really. Same if my daughter wanted to play in the NHL.

It's sad that women's sports don't get more support. I would happily see a modest and reasonable tax on men's pro sports to support more womens leagues for a certain amount of time. But after a while if they couldn't stand on their own, I guess society would have spoken.

Lmao, big yikes energy

Haha. I'm not the one coming online to lie about my marshal arts experience.

 

[Mrb1p]

To be clear, I am absolutely not against her being drafted or, if by some miracle, making the league on merit.

I am irritated by the Virtue Signaling going on. People insisting that she has a realistic chance. People saying that there are current female players that "could dominate the CHL". There is alot of wish thinking going on and I don't think it is healthy for (parts) of society to believe what they would like in the face of reality and evidence.

I happily train with people in Judo of all weight classes and genders. It's low stakes and not full out so people are not likely to get injured. However, I don't think it would make sense for women to fight men in high level competition. She may have won 1/20 against 16 year old me but she would be far more more likely to sustain a career ending injury than beat 20 year old me. The same goes for 16 year old her and 16 year old me.

Like I said, if someone truly can make any league I support that. However, I think the odds of a women Skater making it to CHL or above are vanishingly small. We know the best women players in the world are not as good as the best 15 year old boys in a city and that is without considering contact...

I have a daughter and sons. If my son who is 6"1' told me he wanted to be a Centre in the NBA, would I be doing him a service by encouraging him? Not really. Same if my daughter wanted to play in the NHL.

It's sad that women's sports don't get more support. I would happily see a modest and reasonable tax on men's pro sports to support more womens leagues for a certain amount of time. But after a while if they couldn't stand on their own, I guess society would have spoken.


Haha. I'm not the one coming online to lie about my marshal arts experience.

Marshal

 

[Silky Johnson]

Marshal

Your point?

 

[ViD]

I pity the fool that decides it’s all equal and hits her hard into the boards

 

[Deep Blue Metallic]

It's worth noting that the Vancouver Giants "In The System" webpage lists Chloe.

I'm guessing she'll attend camp so the Giants can tick the "first female to attend a WHL camp" box, to great fanfare, and their publicity stunt will end there.

 

[Deep Blue Metallic]

Your point?

I assume he questions your judo experience because you misspelled "martial" arts.

 

[Deep Blue Metallic]

I pity the fool that decides it’s all equal and hits her hard into the boards

If she attends camp, I'm certain the lads will be told precisely what they can and can't do when she's on the ice.

The Giants wouldn't want their feel-good story to end poorly. Might get a bad writeup in The Province.

 

[Jussi]

12 pages already of typical HFBoards assclownery, yet not a single one talking about the most important aspect: how is her puck poise?

 

[Silky Johnson]

I assume he questions your judo experience because you misspelled "martial arts".

I got that. I made a typo. Oops. He is making claims that a BJJ practitioner would know are false.

 

[PAZ]

To be clear, I am absolutely not against her being drafted or, if by some miracle, making the league on merit.

I am irritated by the Virtue Signaling going on. People insisting that she has a realistic chance. People saying that there are current female players that "could dominate the CHL". There is alot of wish thinking going on and I don't think it is healthy for (parts) of society to believe what they would like in the face of reality and evidence.

I happily train with people in Judo of all weight classes and genders. It's low stakes and not full out so people are not likely to get injured. However, I don't think it would make sense for women to fight men in high level competition. She may have won 1/20 against 16 year old me but she would be far more more likely to sustain a career ending injury than beat 20 year old me. The same goes for 16 year old her and 16 year old me.

Like I said, if someone truly can make any league I support that. However, I think the odds of a women Skater making it to CHL or above are vanishingly small. We know the best women players in the world are not as good as the best 15 year old boys in a city and that is without considering contact...

I have a daughter and sons. If my son who is 6"1' told me he wanted to be a Centre in the NBA, would I be doing him a service by encouraging him? Not really. Same if my daughter wanted to play in the NHL.

It's sad that women's sports don't get more support. I would happily see a modest and reasonable tax on men's pro sports to support more womens leagues for a certain amount of time. But after a while if they couldn't stand on their own, I guess society would have spoken.


Haha. I'm not the one coming online to lie about my marshal arts experience.

I agree with a lot of points to a certain extent.

If someone like Haley Wickenheiser went through all the same training, hockey camps, etc. as their male counterparts growing up i'd feel pretty confident saying she'd be able to play in the AHL/Euro leagues. Do I think she'd be a star? No. But I think she could have a short career in the AHL before heading over to the Swiss league and having a comfortable career there.

Outside of the obvious points, one of the major differences is the training - you can simply see far hockey has advanced from the 90s to today, a large part due to the training and investment. CHL players live and breathe hockey, there isn't the same opportunity for women. Even if they wanted to, it would be against significantly inferior opposition, and you can only learn so much that way.

It's still a huge anomaly and near impossible to happen since it would have to be the female version of McDavid and them committing to hockey at a young age.

 

[Silky Johnson]

I agree with a lot of points to a certain extent.

If someone like Haley Wickenheiser went through all the same training, hockey camps, etc. as their male counterparts growing up i'd feel pretty confident saying she'd be able to play in the AHL/Euro leagues. Do I think she'd be a star? No. But I think she could have a short career in the AHL before heading over to the Swiss league and having a comfortable career there.

Outside of the obvious points, one of the major differences is the training - you can simply see far hockey has advanced from the 90s to today, a large part due to the training and investment. CHL players live and breathe hockey, there isn't the same opportunity for women. Even if they wanted to, it would be against significantly inferior opposition, and you can only learn so much that way.

It's still a huge anomaly and near impossible to happen since it would have to be the female version of McDavid and them committing to hockey at a young age.

Sure. Maybe. I don't think so personally because of the physicality & speed of these leagues but I could be wrong (in reference to Wickenheiser).

Point being that the possibility of a once in a lifetime anomaly that could maybe be ok in the AHL is an exception rather then the rule. Better to strengthen Women's Hockey than postulate that Mens Hockey is a plausible alternative.

 

[SNESChamp]

It's worth noting that the Vancouver Giants "In The System" webpage lists Chloe.

I'm guessing she'll attend camp so the Giants can tick the "first female to attend a WHL camp" box, to great fanfare, and their publicity stunt will end there.

View attachment 571565

"It's just a publicity stunt" makes them more disgusting, not less so.

It means they're willing to sacrifice the integrity of the competition so they can signal to the NHL and larger organizations that they believe women are the same as men (better, in fact). Saying that they know it's a hoax ("publicity stunt") just affirms they're sniveling, submissive weaklings.

I got that. I made a typo. Oops. He is making claims that a BJJ practitioner would know are false.

Nonsense!

Why the UFC has mixed-sex fighting, don't you know? Ronda Rousey beat TJ Dillashaw to earn her 135-pound belt.

 

[SNESChamp]

Better to strengthen Women's Hockey than postulate that Mens Hockey is a plausible alternative.

Why?

What's wrong with women's natural choices? Why, exactly, are Hockey Canada, USA Hockey, the NHL, et al so obsessed with changing women? Why must women do the same things men do? Why is a woman who spends her fertile years playing hockey superior to a woman who gives birth and creates baby boys who can grow into far superior hockey players?

(If the answer is, "So the corporations can take money from women, too", that's incomplete, because it doesn't explain the moral preening and vicious attacks on those who disagree with such a marketing strategy.)

Sexual dimorphism and natural differences are good. Corporate-funded, politically-enforced sexual engineering is bad.

 

[Mrb1p]

I got that. I made a typo. Oops. He is making claims that a BJJ practitioner would know are false.

You probably got caught in a few too many d'arces my guy because you clearly dont understand anything that is being said here and are just here to further advance your misogynistic agenda.

I dominate anyone on the ground because Im stronger than everyone, a 130 lbs male or female will get ragdolled by someone 225 lbs like me, theres no way around it.

Chloe or Caufield, they will both get ragdolled by Parayko.

A team of Caufields would never win a game in the NHL, probably not even against AHLers. Cole Caufield in a team with an average NHL height, weight and strength? Ya.

Its pretty simple to see. MPP didnt have any trouble making 6'6 Joe Vrbtic look like a pee-wee in training camp just this month... Why would she struggle to put the puck in the net with 9 more bodies around her?

The womens pro team vs kids doesnt work because the level of the women pro team is low, they have other jobs, they do other things, the kids pretty much just train and talk to girls. How would MPP fair if she was dropped in any league with men as teammates? That is where her skills take over and not her size, the same way any undersized player can.

 

[4thline]

12 pages already of typical HFBoards assclownery, yet not a single one talking about the most important aspect: how is her puck poise?

Skoula like.

 

[abo9]

3 goalies have played in the q going back to Rheaume in 91-92. She played one game then bounced around the echl and some other minor pro leagues playing a handful of games with bad stats. Labonte got 28 games wth Acadia-Bathurst at the turn of the century, again with bad stats. 20 years later, Gascon got two games, again with bad stats.

Szabados played one game 20 years ago in the dub and there’s been nothing since there. I don’t believe any women have played in the ohl. Am I missing anyone?

This hardly shows progression of any sort. It’s not as if women playing against men is becoming more regular, that they are having a greater impact, reaching higher leagues etc. I know Wickenheiser made an attempt in Finland at lower levels that did not go well.

I just don’t see it or understand how anyone can think women will play in the nhl soon, even as a goalie. It would have to be this amazing, out of this world talent that has never existed to date. There are just too many physical differences and that’s simply how it is. Inclusivity is important in life but when we’re talking about pro sports everyone should be there based on merit. I totally agree that misogyny holds capable women back in the business world and that’s not ok but it isn’t the reason there aren’t more of them playing mens hockey.

You're end up your post saying that "everyone should be there based on merit".

That's great, and why exactly would Primarano be exempt? Was her play not good enough to warrant a selection? I can only stats watch, but based on stats alone she doesn't stick out like a sore thumb compared to other draftees around her.

Am I the only one brave enough to say I DON'T LIKE IT? This was done for publicity, not because she is really good or comparable to her male counterparts. Tell me what guy in a physical hitting league is going to want to hit her? Men/Boys and Women/Girls have different body types and bone structures, and if she or any girl ever got hit hard by a guy, either on purpose or accident, they would very likely get hurt pretty bad. Women don't play with men in any other major pro sport, so why are hockey fans wanting hockey to be the one to break this norm? Hockey is the roughest sport other than football and rugby out there, and there is a reason men and women don't play in leagues together that have physicality.

I know, I will get labeled misogynist for this comment, but pretend that all you want, I don't care. Men aren't being excepted into the WNBA, and we here not a peep about it, nor should we, and basketball is one of the more ideal sports that men and women can play together. No women play in MLB, and there is no on purpose contact in the sport.

II don't completely disagree, part of me is wondering if these young athletes understand the risk associated with the sport - and even if the oarents signed a waiver, is it enough to out kids at such risks?

but another part of me wonder if she's not old enough now to make that decision, as do her men counterparts when they decide to play in leagues with players older than them. Can she decide for herself if the sport is too rough for her?

She's still competing with the guys and seems to be doing well. It could absolutely change in the WHL, but that's her decision to make no?

Women do have the idds stacked against them in terms of physicality, but tyese are averages, not absolutes. An outlier can exist in theory - extremely unlikely but possible, one needs to enable them the challenge of competing at the highest levels though.