Don't check with your goddamn wrists

Question

I've just started translating to my navite language the movie "Ice castles (1978)" and I found the sentence in the title. Here is some context:

A girl and her mom are watching an hockey match (one of the players is the girl's boyfriend) and at a given point it looks like the players are starting a scuffle; so the mom says this:

"Come on you pansies, get in there! No! Don't check with your goddamn wrists! Let's have a little blood flow on that ice!"

What could the sentence in the title mean here? Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

"Checking" in ice hockey usually involves full-body contact. The mom is telling the players to go at it without holding anything back.

While there are several kinds of checking, involving different parts of the body, the mom is referring to "full-body checking."

According to the USA Hockey rulebook website:

A hard body check or using body contact/position (Body Contact categories) to gain a competitive advantage over the opponent should not be penalized as long as it is performed within the rules. The focus of the body check should be to separate the opponent from the puck.

Answer 2

From Wikipedia:

Checking in ice hockey is any one of a number of defensive techniques, aimed at disrupting an opponent with possession of the puck, or separating them from the puck entirely. It is usually not a penalty.

Since the wrist isn't a very powerful part of the body, checking with it wouldn't be effective. The next sentence suggests the player is more concerned with looking after themselves than aggressively playing the game.