For decades the call from women for equality has been fought on and debated within every aspect of life, with the female role in competitive sports being no exception.

Four years ago a new chapter in this book was opened here in Madison, when the UW women’s hockey was born.

Women’s hockey players, in particular have faced a long road to gain respect from their male counterparts. A sport known for its fistfights and Canadians with missing teeth is a little different when the women do it. The checking is gone, but the intensity remains.

One particular woman who can speak volumes about the difference between the two sports is freshman forward Nikki Burish. Burish was the first girl to ever play on the Edgewood High School men’s hockey team here in Madison.

“There was no girls’ team. I could’ve played with my club girls’ team year round, but for the competition I wanted to play with the boys,” Burish said. “My brother played on the team so coach knew who I was. So he said it would be fine as long as I tried out and made it, and I did.”

In school Burish was a National Honor Society member and finished in Dane County’s top four percent among high school graduates. She was a 2002 All-State Scholar nominee, a WIAA Scholar-Athlete nominee, and a Badger Conference Scholar-Athlete. All these impressive credentials opened many doors for her when choosing a college.

When she was forced to make her final answer as to where she would play, suiting up in red seemed to be the best fit

“I always wanted to play for Wisconsin and when I heard they had a women’s team it was what I wanted to do. I looked at Yale, Brown and Harvard and I actually was going go to Harvard until I figured out that coach Johnson was going to come here. That made up my mind,” Burish said.

To be successful in hockey, Burish learned she needed the brawn to go with her brains. That was a lesson well learned in the four years she played in high school.

“I had to hold my own out there and keep in there mentally with the boys and not let them intimidate me.” Burish said.

After her experiences playing with the guys, Nikki started this season ready to bring that intensity to women’s hockey, but has been limited to 14 games due to injury. She did however manage to score seven goals to put her in a four-way tie for third most goals on the team.

“The main difference is the physicalness of the game, and also the girls are different than boys in their sensitivity,” Burish said. “With boys you can goof around more while with girls they’re a little more sensitive to what you say and do. Boys are a little more wild and out of control. With the boys, people are out and looking just to nail you so you got to keep your head up and look around.”

With such an emphasis in women’s hockey on finesse and the outlawing of checking, the differences between men’s and women’s hockey are evident.

“I think at a certain point it gets to be that the men are at a different physical level than the women are,” Burish said. “Men are just totally on a different physical level than the girls so I just think that it’s good that the girls’ sports and guys’ sports are separate.”

Having played with guys and girls, Nikki Burish may be considered an expert on the role that gender plays in sports. Expert or not she’s living proof that women can do anything.