The United States hockey governing body has been in the news a lot recently and for good reason.
With the women’s world hockey championship set to start on March 31 in Flint, Mich. the women announced they are going to boycott the games.
Why?
Because they are in search of better funding.
The women as it stands now currently are not even being compensated what they call a “living wage.”
Women’s hockey is currently at the stage that men’s hockey was at many decades ago where in order to play hockey these athletes are required to pick up a second job just to make a living.
Here’s where that becomes difficult.
These women are required by USA Hockey to uproot their lives at various times throughout the year for training camps and competitions.
And if they refuse to do it they become black listed and are not asked back.
The problem is during this time USA Hockey does not exactly pay the athletes either, as they are essentially only compensated for the six months leading up to the Olympics.
And it is not like the women’s hockey team is not good either.
The Americans are the three time defending World Champions, and have won six of the last seven times.
They have also won a gold, three silver, and a bronze in five trips to the Olympics.
Hardly anything to sneeze at.
That Olympic gold medal for the women was also a point of contention as the US jersey at the last Olympic games featured two dates on the neck of the jersey, 1960, and 1980 commemorating the two men’s Olympic gold medals, but nothing for 1998 when the women won gold.
All this while the women have been out performing the men on the world stage.
The men to their credit has announced they may also boycott the world championships to show their support for the women.
It is nice to see that despite it not being an issue for the men they are still willing to stand up to USA Hockey to help the women.
And so they should.
This whole situation should not even be a topic of discussion.
It is time USA Hockey stands up and compensates the women for their work.
Whether that happens in time for the world championships will be interesting to find out since USA Hockey stands to lose a lot of money hosting a world championship they are not competing in.
