USA Hockey and the Undervaluing of Female Players

Who Do You Pay For: USA Hockey and the Undervaluing of Women Athletes

For years, the US national team players have shown up for USA Hockey. Until now.

theicegarden.com

My favourite part is from the beginning:

On December 31, 2015, the puck dropped on what many hoped would become a new tradition: the Women’s Winter Classic. After endless wangling, the NWHL’s Boston Pride and the CWHL’s Les Canadiennes faced off before the Habs/Bruins alumni game. The crowd was sparse and the ice was atrocious; then, less than ten minutes into the 30 allotted for the game, a catastrophe occurred.

The injury to Boston’s huge-hearted Denna Laing became the primary story of that game, overshadowing – understandably – an earlier narrative, in which evil behemoth USA Hockey refused to allow the Pride players who were also members of the U.S. Women’s National Team to miss an evaluation camp (not a game, mind you), even to play on a huge public stage that might meet the organization’s stated goal: “to grow the game.” The players were reminded that their primary obligation was to USA Hockey; if they failed to show up at camp, they would lose their spots on the national team.

So they showed up.

Thanks to the USWNT’s recent decision to boycott the Women’s World Championships, due to start in 16 days on the home turf of Plymouth, Michigan, we now know what USA Hockey thinks this all-or-nothing allegiance is worth: $6000. For four years of planning their lives around staying in Olympian shape, traveling to and participating in mandatory camps, and achieving excellence in a difficult, dangerous game, these women get $125 a month. Meanwhile, $3.5 million is spent on the development of boys and young men, many of whom have lucrative NHL contracts in their future.

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And I loved the ending:

USA Hockey issued a statement that their role “is not to employ athletes, and we will not do so.” They gave the women until 5 pm today to agree to play, or they will explore other options. And they may end up with exactly who they paid for.

No one.