SAINT PAUL, Minn. — Separate and unequal.
It may be only now that the U.S. National Women’s Hockey Team’s righteous fight for equal opportunity has become part of the public’s consciousness, but the struggle to rectify these anachronistic conditions has been ongoing for a generation.
“I can’t say that I’m aware of the specific details of the talks here or of the timeline, but I know enough to say that they have been trying to settle this for a while before it became public,” the great Cammi Granato, a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, the International Hockey Hall of Fame and the captain of the Yanks’ 1998 Olympic Gold Medal-winning team, told Slap Shots on Friday. “And this certainly isn’t something that’s new.
“The year leading up to the 2002 Olympics [at Salt Lake City], our group tried to sit down with [USA Hockey] about these same issues. We had no luck. During that time we had a summit with our soccer team, they had also won a gold, we spent a lot of time with each other, we really bonded and we were interested in the same issues.”
That soccer team, of course, became known as the “ ’99ers” — the women featuring Mia Hamm, Brandi Chastain and Julie Foudy who captured the country’s imagination and the World Cup while playing in front of nearly 79,000 fans at Giants Stadium and almost 100,000 at the Rose Bowl in the tournament that changed the course of women’s soccer in the United States.
“So we tried to have a dialogue back then about getting equitable treatment. The soccer team had the same issues. That’s what it was about then, and that’s what it’s about now,” said Granato, who received the 2007 Lester Patrick Award for her contributions to U.S. hockey. “But we didn’t get anywhere. They wouldn’t negotiate anything. They gave us something to sign and told us if we didn’t sign it that we couldn’t play. So we signed.
“The door was just slammed on it.”
Fifteen years later, our women are again knocking on that door, threatening to forfeit the opportunity to defend their title at the IIHF World Championships in Plymouth, Mich., that begin on March 31, pledging to boycott the event if constructive progress is not made in correcting the inequitable support the women receive when compared to our men.
The authoritarians at USA Hockey have countered by releasing what the administration purports to be its offer and the team’s demands. Of course the officious ruling body’s objective is to make these women seem greedy. It is a timeworn trick in labor/management disputes.
“That these girls are willing to give up the opportunity to play in an event that means so much to them, just shows you the magnitude of what’s going on,” Granato said. “That they’re even considering something like this speaks volumes about how much needs to be changed.
“It’s about equitable treatment, getting the same support that boys do as they go through the U.S. program. No one is looking to get rich over this.”
Granato, Karen Bye, Angelo Ruggiero, Katie King, Gretchen Ulion, Sara DeCosta and Sarah Tueting led the way in Nagano in ’98. Now, women such as team captain Meghan Duggan, Hilary Knight, Monique Lamoureux-Morando, her twin sister Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson and Amanda Kessel are among those leading the way for this group.
The U.S. team is represented by Ballard Spahr LLP. The law firm’s press release announcing the potential boycott — which would commence Wednesday at the scheduled opening of training camp — noted USA Hockey devotes $3.5 million to the boys’ National Development Team Program — which has spawned such players as Patrick Kane, Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel and J.T. Miller — and nothing to a comparable girls’ program. The development team plays a schedule of 60 games a year. In non-Olympic years, women play nine games.
“The women just don’t get a lot of support from USA Hockey, and that covers everything. They’re not looking for salaries,” Granato said. “I’m sure boycotting is the last thing they want to do, but again, it shows you how much this means to them.”
You don’t find this gender schism in Canada, where the men and women are treated as equal partners. You never would have had Hockey Canada overlook an Olympic championship team, as USA Hockey did when the 2014 Olympic Teams unveiled uniforms denoting the men’s 1960 and 1980 gold medalists but not the 1998 women’s champs.
“I hope progress is made, and I know they’re receiving a lot of support,” said Granato, whose brother, Tony, still holds the Rangers record for goals in a season by a rookie with 36 in 1988-89. “I think this is the right time, where social media is such an integral part of our lives and can bring more attention to this and maybe add some pressure.
“My hope is that this is a catalyst for change, because that’s what this is all about. These players are doing it for the next generation and the one after that and the one after that. It’s not about them. A lot of these girls don’t even have five years left, some might not even make it to the next Olympics.
“It’s a push for change. I think it’s amazing,” the Hall of Famer said. “These girls are showing so much courage. I’m so proud of them.”