U.S. PREPARES FOR BOYCOTT
Wages, equitable support at issue
Cassie Campbell-Pascall isn’t surprised that American women’s hockey players are talking about boycotting the upcoming world championship in Plymouth, Mich. She called U.S.A. Hockey’s long-term treatment of the group “ridiculous.”
“I don’t think it’s a new thing. It’s just my opinion, but this goes back to why Cammi Granato was cut,” the broadcaster and former Canadian national team stalwart said, pointing to when the Americans released star player Granato, then 34, in the months leading up to the 2006 Winter Olympics.
“She fought and fought and fought to make things better for players. I had American players tell me afterwards that they didn’t realize at the time how much she had tried to do for them. I bet she had started fighting after 1998 (Nagano Olympics),” CampbellPascall said.
“They aren’t asking for anything crazy. They want more medical coverage. They want things like that. They want, when you unveil a new U.S.A. Hockey jersey, to at least have a woman there, too.”
The U.S. team, which copped their third straight world title last year in Kamloops, B.C., with a 1-0 overtime victory over Canada, is slated to open a training camp in Michigan on March 21. Various players tweeted a statement Wednesday, saying the team will not compete “unless significant progress has been made on the year-long negotiations with U.S.A. Hockey over fair wages and equitable support.”
In a news release Wednesday, U.S.A. Hockey said they remain “committed to continuing dialogue,” but also said they “will field a competitive team,” in Plymouth.
Canada and Team U.S.A. are set to play in the tournament’s opening night on March 31.
The American players reported they received US$1,000 a month from U.S.A. Hockey during their six-month Olympic residency and nothing the rest of the time.
Hockey Canada held a conference call with reporters on Wednesday that featured program general manager Melody Davidson and players Marie-Philip Poulin, Brianne Jenner, Lauriane Rougeau and Haley Irwin.
The Canadians neatly danced around questions about what they are paid, but said their situation with Hockey Canada is different than what their Americans rivals experience — although they were hesitant to elaborate.
“We can’t comment on their situation,” Poulin said. “We don’t have any details on it. We hope that they can come to an agreement in the short term.”
Campbell-Pascall, 43, who won two Olympic gold medals and six world championships during her career, said Canadian players are treated much better financially than their American counterparts, but didn’t want to elaborate, except to say: “Hockey Canada has done a good job involving the female team in the process.”
Granato, 45, who now lives in the Vancouver area with her family, was quoted by The Associated Press as saying about the American players’ stance: “It says a lot for what they’re fighting for. It says a lot for the fact that there needs to be change. This takes a lot of courage.”
Rougeau said she received the news of the Americans’ decision via a text message Wednesday morning and said all she knew was what she had read online.
“It’s unfortunate,” she said. “We respect their decision. We hope this situation gets solved.
“For us as players, it doesn’t change our preparation. Next week, we’re heading just outside of Windsor to start preparing. Our goal as a team is to bring back gold.”
Poulin added: “Waking up this morning, it was kind of surprising, but after today we have to focus on ourselves and moving forward.”
Canada and the U.S. have played in the final of all 17 world championships, which suggests women’s hockey is a small world.
The Canadian players, though, said they hadn’t yet had discussions with their American counterparts as of Wednesday afternoon.
“I’ve yet to have anyone reach out from that side,” Irwin said.
“No one has reached out to me,” Jenner said.
American veteran Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson told The Associated Press: “We all want to go play. But it’s been 14 months and we haven’t seen progress, so if there’s progress within the next week and a half, we’ll see. But there needs to be significant steps taken and hopefully U.S.A. Hockey finds this significant enough to want to start making progress with us.”