U.S. team threatens boycott over wages

USA Hockey hosting the world championship at end of this month

The U.S. women’s hockey team threatened to boycott the upcoming world championship tournament on home ice Wednesday unless there is significant progress in settling a wage dispute with USA Hockey that they say has dragged on for months.

Players said they informed USA Hockey that they would not report to training camp next week without clear steps toward what they hope is a four-year contract. The U.S. is the defending champion.

“To voluntarily take ourselves out of the running to (repeat) is not easy, but it’s what’s right and we’re asking for what’s right and fair,” forward Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson said by phone. “It’s definitely hard. But as a group we’ve made this decision and as a team and I’m proud to do this with my teammates and to stand arm in arm with them and to say enough is enough.”

USA Hockey said the organization and the U.S. Olympic Committee provide national team players with financial support, training opportunities, camps, and strength and conditioning programs.

“We acknowledge the players’ concerns and have proactively increased our level of direct support to the Women’s National Team as we prepare for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games,” USA Hockey executive director Dave Ogrean said. “We have communicated that increased level of support to the players’ representatives and look forward to continuing our discussions.”

USA Hockey said each player participating in the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea could receive up to $85,000, which also includes medal incentives. Team captain Meghan Duggan called the statement “completely misleading and dishonest,” and the law firm representing the players said no $85,000 offer was made.

“It’s an example of them kind of disregarding anything that we’re asking and basically disregarding our request to be under contract for a four-year period and any of that,” Duggan said, adding that the players are also asking for insurance and travel expenses that they don’t feel are provided on an equal level as men’s players.

Neither USA Hockey nor the players would reveal details of the wages in dispute or how the men’s team is compensated. The U.S. men’s team consists of highly paid NHL players, as are most established national teams.

Lamoureux-Davidson said she and the other players recently received a bonus payment for its December series against Canada.

“Other than that one check, we virtually get paid nothing,” she said. “We get paid for six months out of a four-year span.”

The U.S. team was already in the midst of change after Ken Klee was replaced as coach by Robb Stauber just a few weeks ago. USA Hockey said it planned to “field a competitive team” for the tournament, which comes less than a year before the Olympics.