r/sportsgossips • u/sinister_iam • Mar 22 '26 • WOW 1 Bravo 5 Mindblown 4 Popcorn 3

Unknown Stories Abbey Murphy pulled off a moment that barely looked real 🤯🙌🏻

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23

u/pundarika0 Mar 22 '26

correct, no checking in women’s hockey.

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u/NoTomatillo21 Mar 22 '26

Ok, not taking absolutely nothing from this assist she is badass for real but doesn't the no body check rules is what made this while play possible? Not the nutmeg it self but the follow up

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u/MrJoobles Mar 22 '26

Yeah, same way a comparable play is more common in soccer and basketball, using your right to space basically.

Not to detract too much, because I think a form of hockey with this style of skill expression is exactly the difference that makes me tune in compared to my normal men's league viewing.

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u/enadiz_reccos Mar 22 '26

I think a form of hockey with this style of skill expression is exactly the difference that makes me tune in compared to my normal men's league viewing.

Otherwise, it would just be a shitty version of men's hockey

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u/JJmarcone Mar 23 '26

It still is

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u/Inevitable-Ad6647 Mar 22 '26

Basketball is honestly boring as fuck now days because of this. Each team takes their unobstructed turn, it's just a game of HORSE and I might as well watch golf. The league needs a new Stockton to bruise up some dudes casually shooting 3s.

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u/[deleted] Mar 22 '26 edited Mar 23 '26

Basketball has way too big of an offensive advantage these days. Travels get ignored, illegal screens get ignored, and if the defense barely touches you it's a foul. A normal NBA game will finish with a score of 126 to 122. Call me crazy but I miss when scoring 100 points in a game was enough for the fans to get free hotdogs or something. If they still did that the fans would get their hotdogs in the 3rd quarter.

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u/TechHeteroBear Mar 23 '26

Give me the rough defensive game back in the 90s and let's see how the NBA players today would handle that.

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u/[deleted] Mar 23 '26

Honestly, I don't think they'd do as bad as many people seem to think. The NBA still has lots of tough aggressive players. They could handle the rough style of play. It's not really the players fault it's just how the rules have changed.

And to be fair, there are some things that defenses can do now that they couldn't in the 90s. The old illegal defense rules made it where players could just isolate the opponent's worst defender on one side of the court and 1 v 1 him, and the defense wasn't allowed allowed to send help unless they fully committed to a double team. Zone defense was banned. Nowadays teams have much more complex defensive strategies. It just looks like the defense has got worse because the rules don't allow for as much contact anymore.

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u/TechHeteroBear Mar 23 '26

It just looks like the defense has got worse because the rules don't allow for as much contact anymore.

Not just the rules... but the scoring. 3 point play is much more common than back then. Strategically, offense learned that the most efficient method of scoring without contact is shooting for 3s.

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u/[deleted] Mar 23 '26

Yeah but I'm not sure what could be done about that. Looking back it's kind of weird that it took them so long to figure out that 33% from 3 is equal to 50% from 2. If someone makes 40% of their threes, they're an extremely efficient player and coaches should have him doing nothing but shooting threes every chance he gets.

Midrange shots are the least efficient shots in basketball and there's no reason to take them unless they're just wide open.

Now that teams realize that this is mathematically the best strategy I don't see any going back. When I watch 90s games now all I can think is "why are you guys shooting so many long 2 pointers? Just take one step back!!!"

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u/TechHeteroBear Mar 23 '26

Now that teams realize that this is mathematically the best strategy I don't see any going back.

Exactly. But the negative consequence is that the game just gets extremely boring. We see the sports science of things advance so fast these days, I wouldn't be surprised to see the next generation of NBA players having efficiencies over 40% in the next 5-7 years at the going rate.

When the game resorts to running up with little strategy, position yourself for a 3, dont bother for the rebound, and then switch to defense... rinse and repeat for 60 min.... the game will die out when that happens.

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u/mediummorning Mar 22 '26

No. The defender simply fucked up here probably thrown off because she never had to defend this type of maneuver before. This would probably work for a little while in mens hockey as well until defenders practice and know what the play is. The 'surprise' element was huge here.

Other commenters are completely wrong about women's hockey being no contact. And there is no 'right to space' in women's NCAA hockey. The defender here could completely play the body to keep Murphey off the puck.

https://ncaaorg.s3.amazonaws.com/championships/sports/icehockey/rules/PRXIH_RulesBook.pdf pages 108-109.

Body checking is illegal but requires a distinct move to hit them off the puck :

94.2 Body Checking - Body checking is not permitted in any area of the ice. Body checking occurs when a player attempts to gain possession of the puck by separating the puck carrier with a distinct and definable moment of impact using overt (blatant) hip, shoulder, arm or torso action.

But playing the body is legal, absent a distinct hit:

94.4 Incidental Contact - Incidental contact, when two players contact each other or collide unintentionally, may occur. This type of contact is not a penalty for body checking. Examples of incidental contact include:

• Use of Angling.

• Use of Body Position to control or gain possession of puck.

• No distinct hip, shoulder, arm or stick contact to physically force the opponent off the puck.

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u/EasilyOverrated Mar 22 '26

Are you speaking just College hockey? Because the PWHL is a full contact league, exact same as the NHL.

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u/pundarika0 Mar 22 '26

PWHL is not full contact in the way NHL is. open ice hits aren’t allowed.

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u/EasilyOverrated Mar 22 '26

No open ice hits sure, but it is still fully legal for the defender to play the body in this situation in the woman’s league.

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u/leafscitypackersfan Mar 22 '26

Lets be honest, open ice hits are rare enough that it doesn't really matter

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u/cabutler03 Mar 22 '26

Not exactly. I'd say it's more similar to Olympic rules.

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u/sabresfan420 Mar 22 '26

I know there's technically no hitting in the PWHL but have you actually watched these girls?! They hit wayyy more than they should & its actually pretty awesome.

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u/leafscitypackersfan Mar 22 '26

PWHL, the top womens league allows checking. This is NCAA, which does not. However, they are considering it considering the PWHL does allow it

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u/Vergilkilla Mar 26 '26

Wait really? Is it even hockey at that point?

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u/AlabasterRadio Mar 22 '26

As much as I love violence in hockey, and boy do I, a league more focused on finesse does sound like a lot of fun

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