I was told it's wrong to hit a girl | February 18, 2007 | 01:28

Played the Empire State women's hockey team tonight in an exhibition match. They were agressive and chippy, maybe to compensate for being small and not terribly gifted.

Still, they didn't hesitate to play dirty, and since the ref didn't seem wont to call penalties against them, they had no motivation not to slash, hook, cross check and interfere with us, a team comprised entirely of men but for the two women on our roster.

The girls we played threw their sticks between our legs, got us up high and essentially played a really ugly, undisciplined game. One of them got her stick up high on me, so I held it between my arm for a little while ... to make a point. When the ref yelled that I let it go, I did.

I didn't expect the girl to charge at me from behind and throw a hit, then try to punch at me and rip off my helmet. It was ridiculous. They were so revved up over a completely nothing game, so much so that because they were playing dirty one of them felt the need to try and fight with me.

I had a Hobson's choice whether to fight back or just take it, but I did say something really vile to her, which I won't repeat. I felt like words were my only recourse; I couldn't exactly punch back at her.

So, in the end, the captain of my team came in and broke it up ... because the ref was fucking useless ... and I and the girl with too much testosterone got tossed from the match.

My team won 2-0, though, so that's vindicating ... but it really burns me up that I got thrown out of the game, and that when I was attacked, I had no right to stand up for myself because she was a girl. It was a lose-lose situation for me all the way, and I took what I thought was the high road, though I feel like a schmuck for letting a girl go at me. I'd really have liked to give her back what she was putting out, but in our society ... even at the rink, that's just not allowed.

Equality of the sexes my ass.