Body checking is now legal in top leagues in Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, and across Eastern Europe, as well as in the PWHL. Players across the globe are preparing for hitting, but it's still barred in the NCAA and U Sports. Could that change for 2026-27?
While NCAA hockey commissioners always have a long slate of issues to resolve, perhaps the biggest topic on the docket for NCAA women's hockey could be the addition of body checking to their rules.
With body checking now legal in the PWHL, SDHL, PostFinance Women's League, and EWHL, preparing for contact at the professional level will become a new focus for many elite collegians in both the NCAA and Canada's U Sports.
Currently however, the first legal body check many women's hockey players will take is at the professional level facing women who have been hitting for years. While the NCAA and U Sports are already physical leagues maximizing the allowable body contact, the gap between college hockey and pro hockey is widening.
According to NEWHA commissioner Robert DeGregorio, it's been a topic of conversation in the NCAA recently, and with a new rules committee established, it's something that continues to be discussed.
"The NCAA, for the first time, has established a Division 1 Women's Ice Hockey Rules committee, and this is a rule change year," explained DeGregorio via email. "It will be interesting to see how the women's game will be changing and if more contact will be part of the game in the future, which could be the 2026-2027 season. It has been an ongoing discussion amongst the Commissioners for the last couple of years."
While the conversation continues, October's Women's College Hockey Summit, hosted by Union College at the Ice Breaker Tournament, allowed for more in depth conversation. While NCAA commissioners acknowledge the need to prepare athletes for checking, a development step they believe should occur before the professional ranks, they also agreed that adding more contact to the current NCAA offerings is something that needs to be carefully considered.
"All of the women's commissioners and official supervisors met with the NCAA to discuss rules and how to grow the women's game. Part of that discussion was body contact and how best to implement safe practices while modernizing the game," ECAC Hockey commissioner Doug Christiansen explained to The Hockey News.
"The group agreed that it is a nuanced issue but that the best place to learn body contact is not at the professional level or in college. The group also believed that the body contact in college currently is the correct amount. However, it is important to work with the PWHL, as well as, USA Hockey, Hockey Canada and others to ensure that players who come to college are prepared for the increased physicality of the college game."
As other commissioners stated, that conversation is going to continue as women's hockey continues its evolution, driven by the PWHL.
"This is a topic of conversation amongst the national coaching body each year at our annual meetings and I expect we’ll continue to talk about it with leaders in the game again this year," Hockey East commissioner Brian Smith told The Hockey News.
"The AHA coaches and D1 Commissioners continue to monitor what other leagues have moved forward with in allowing a more liberal physical standard of play," Atlantic Hockey America commissioner Michelle Morgan told The Hockey News.
"The Commissioners frequently meet with leadership from the PWHL to better understand their data and how minor tweaks may better prepare players that matriculate from D1 college hockey to higher levels of play, such as the PWHL. While there are no immediate changes on the horizon, there continues to be awareness and collaborative discussion as to how we best set our players up for success in the future while maintaining a standard of play that can be upheld across all D1 conferences."
One conference who may lead the charge in any future push for checking and more physicality in NCAA women's hockey is the WCHA, which has emerged as the top conference in the nation. This year the WCHA piloted a new rule allowing high sticking of the puck, including to score. The WCHA is also the leading source of players heading to the PWHL and senior national teams, so preparation of athletes for higher levels is a focus for the loop.
"The WCHA has had discussions about increased body checking," commissioner Michelle McAteer told The Hockey News. "This is a topic that is being considered nationally in each D1 league."
McAteer said some coaches are in clear support in order "to better prepare players for the PWHL" and to positively impact consistency of officiating by removing subjectivity, while others are concerned about potential injuries, player size discrepancy, or believe the physicality at the current level is appropriate.
"I can't say if we have a consensus yet, but it will continue to be discussed," McAteer added.
While the coaches and commissioners have yet to reach consensus, according to McAteer, at least in the WCHA, the spot consensus exists is among the players. McAteer polled the WCHA's Student Athlete Advisory Committee which has a representative from each team and "they all stated definitively that they would like to move towards embracing body checking in the NCAA."
Whether it's in time for the 2026-27 season, or a campaign beyond next year, body checking will remain on the NCAA women's hockey radar, and is likely to be implemented to some degree in the future.