The Face of Hockey Is Changing

Are we really ready for the smiles of toothless women, their dentition blasted away by 100-mph hockey pucks?

Get ready, says USA Hockey, which reports women’s hockey participation has quadrupled since 1990. It will be a medal sport at the 1998 Olympics and, of course, Nike is coming out with women’s hockey gear.

Can the Women’s National Hockey League be far behind?

“We feel diversity [of the NHL’s fan base] is vital to our growth as a sport and a business,” said Ken Yaffe, NHL vice president for fan development. “Young girls will soon see hockey as a participatory sport, like volleyball, soccer and basketball.”

Trivia time: What is the nickname of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Class A team at Augusta, Ga.?

Tough as . . . : Here’s a name to watch in the NFL draft: Jamie Nails, offensive tackle from Florida A&M.;

At the NFL’s combine workout at Indianapolis, Nails, 6 feet 6 and 387 pounds, bench-pressed 225 pounds 37 times, causing a stir among NFL scouts, who cheered every lift past 30.

Florida A&M; Coach Billy Joe was at Central State of Ohio when Dallas all-pro Erik Williams was there and told scouts he believes Nails can be as good as Williams.

The downside: Nails ran a 5.79 40-yard dash, slowest at the Indy workout.

Add combine: A total of 205 players at Indianapolis attempted the strength test, the 225-pound bench press.

Twenty-one failed to reach double-digit repetitions, 18 of them defensive backs. And six failed to lift 225 once.

Too Tall Hun: Any chance that 7-foot-9 North Korean Ri Myong Hun might wind up in the NBA?

Regarding a proposed NBA workout for him in Canada, the league has sent a memo to every team, pointing out that no team can sign Hun, since the State Department would view it as a violation of the “trading with the enemies act.”

OK, but what about Canadian teams?

“That’s an interesting question, and one we’re not going to explore,” Toronto Raptor executive Glen Grunwald said. “Our scouts don’t think he’s that good.”

Did anyone notice? ESPN says its 4.0 rating for the recent Tennessee-Old Dominion women’s NCAA championship game was the highest for any ESPN basketball game--men or women--since 1990.

The 4.0 equates to 2.85 million households, ESPN said.

Trivia answer: The Green Jackets.

And finally: Pernell Whitaker, who fights Oscar De La Hoya tonight, talking to the Baltimore Sun’s Alan Goldstein:

“Yeah, he’s the Boy Wonder, but I’m Batman.

“Really, he’s just a baby as far as boxing’s concerned. The fight media has been breast-feeding him, doing what a mother does for her baby. But this daddy is going to show him the real world Saturday night.”