Is women's ice hockey the same as the men's game? If you think that ice hockey is a sport just for boys, you would be very wrong. Despite its reputation as a "battle on ice," ice hockey is in fact played by a growing number of women's teams in many countries. Women's ice hockey should become even more popular following its introduction as an official Olympic sport at the Nagano Winter Olympics. The line-up for the Nagano Games will consist of the top five nations in the 1997 World Women's Championships--Canada, the United States, Finland, China, and Sweden--together with Japan as the host nation. The teams will compete in a round-robin qualifying league. This will be followed by playoffs between the first- and second-ranked teams for the gold and silver medals, and between the third- and fourth-ranked teams for the bronze. The rules for women's ice hockey are basically the same as those for the men's game. Each team consists of a goalkeeper and five players. Substitution is allowed at any time and any number of times. A game consists of three 20-minute periods separated by two 15-minute intervals. An important difference from the men's version of the game is the prohibition of body-checking, which involves violent collisions between players. As a result, women's ice hockey tends to be less physical than the men's game. The emphasis is on technique, especially accurate passing.

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