{"id":1309898,"date":"2019-05-02T11:48:01","date_gmt":"2019-05-02T17:48:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/womens-hockey-stars-announce-boycott-in-demand-for-1-league\/"},"modified":"2019-05-02T11:48:01","modified_gmt":"2019-05-02T17:48:01","slug":"womens-hockey-stars-announce-boycott-in-demand-for-1-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/womens-hockey-stars-announce-boycott-in-demand-for-1-league\/","title":{"rendered":"Women\u2019s hockey stars announce boycott in demand for 1 league"},"content":{"rendered":"
FILE – In this Nov. 10, 2018, file photo, Canada goaltender Shannon Szabados watch as U.S. players celebrate a win during the Four Nations Cup hockey gold-medal game in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. More than 200 of the top female hockey players in the world have decided they will not play professionally in North America next season, hoping their stand leads to a single economically sustainable league. The announcement Thursday, May 2, 2019, comes after the Canadian Women’s Hockey League abruptly shut down as of Wednesday, leaving the five-team, U.S.-based National Women’s Hockey League as the only pro league in North America. The group of players, led by American stars Hilary Knight and Kendall Coyne Schofield and Canadian goaltender Shannon Szabados, hopes their move eventually pushes the NHL to start its own women’s hockey league as the NBA did with the WNBA. (Liam Richards\/The Canadian Press via AP)<\/strong>
AP | The Canadian Press<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Unhappy with the status quo, more than 200 of the world\u2019s top female hockey players declared Thursday they will not compete in North America next season in a dramatic attempt to establish a single, economically viable professional league.<\/p>\n

The players announced their decision in a joint statement released to The Associated Press before being posted on social media in a move that has the potential of drawing the NHL further into the conversation of backing women\u2019s hockey. The group includes stars such as Americans Hilary Knight and Kendall Coyne Schofield and Canadian national team goalie Shannon Szabados.<\/p>\n

The players pulled together in a united front in less than a month and said they wanted to express their dissatisfaction with the current state of the sport while demanding a say in establishing a league.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not playing anywhere professionally in North America. We just want to build something better,\u201d Knight told The AP. \u201cNow, what that looks like could be a handful of different things. But our main purpose and goal is to promote the growth of the game and increase the visibility. But ultimately, we need the sustainability factor to make us all feel better about what we\u2019re doing on a daily basis.\u201d<\/p>\n

The players\u2019 announcement stresses cross-border unity and cites the obstacles they\u2019ve had to contend with in being paid as little as $2,000 a year, while also paying for their own health insurance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe may have represented different teams, leagues and countries \u2014 but this is one family. And the time is now for this family to unite,\u201d the statement read. \u201cThis is the moment we\u2019ve been waiting for \u2014 our moment to come together and say we deserve move.\u201d<\/p>\n

The announcement comes little over a month since the Canadian Women\u2019s Hockey League made an abrupt decision to cease operations due to financial issues. The CWHL\u2019s demise left North America with just one pro league, the five-team U.S.-based National Women\u2019s Hockey League.<\/p>\n

Rather than make the jump to the NWHL, the players spent the past two weeks reaching a consensus to risk sitting out an entire year.<\/p>\n

The decision has the potential of having an adverse effect on the NWHL, which will have fewer players to draw from in preparing to restock its rosters. It also has the potential of hampering the NWHL\u2019s plans to expand into Toronto and Montreal next season.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously we want to be on the ice, but I think that kind of speaks volumes to how critical it is and how important it is to us,\u201d said Szabados, who spent last season playing for the NWHL Buffalo Beauts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s strength in numbers. It\u2019s coming from all of us. It\u2019s not just a few of us,\u201d Szabados added. \u201cIt\u2019s not just players who play for one league or the other. It\u2019s over 200 of us that kind of want to stop being pulled in 10 different directions and kind of get all our resources under one roof.<\/p>\n

The players\u2019 decision places an emphasis on the NHL to play a larger role in women\u2019s hockey, as well as the nations\u2019 two governing bodies. The NHL has provided financial support to women\u2019s hockey, but has resisted further involvement including the possibility of sponsoring its own league.<\/p>\n

Commissioner Gary Bettman previously told The AP he doesn\u2019t want the league to be seen as \u201ca bully\u201d in pushing either of the two out of business. As for assuming control, Bettman has repeatedly said the NHL doesn\u2019t believe in either of the league\u2019s business models.<\/p>\n

Bettman reiterated his position during an interview with The AP this week.<\/p>\n

He referred to the CWHL ceasing operations as something that \u201cproved the point that we have genuine concerns about sustainable models.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019ve repeatedly said is if there turns out to be a void \u2014 and we don\u2019t wish that on anybody \u2014 then we\u2019ll look at the possibilities and we\u2019ll study what might be appropriate,\u201d Bettman added. \u201cBut at the end of the day, we\u2019re not looking to put anybody out of business. And if the NWHL can make a go of it, we wish them good luck.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not good enough, goalie and CWHL Players\u2019 Association co-chair Liz Knox said in reciting Bettman\u2019s stance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe NHL\u2019s saying, \u2018Until there\u2019s a voice in women\u2019s hockey we\u2019re not going to step in,\u2019\u201d Knox said. \u201cWell, here\u2019s a void. Here\u2019s the players saying this is not enough. We\u2019ve earned better than this. We\u2019ve earned the respect we have, and we deserve what we\u2019re asking for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Knox also placed the onus on Hockey Canada and USA Hockey for providing more resources to develop the women\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

\u201cTake a look in the mirror, Hockey Canada and USA Hockey,\u201d she said. \u201cI mean, these are your players who are winning you Olympic medals saying, \u2018We\u2019re just not getting enough right now.\u2019 \u2026 I would certainly hope it\u2019s a moment for them to self-reflect and say, \u2018OK, where are our interests and where do we see it fitting in the future?\u201d<\/p>\n

The six-team CWHL operated as a not-for-profit league and was restricted by Canadian tax laws in how much it could pay its players. Though established in 2007, the CWHL didn\u2019t begin paying its players what was considered a stipend \u2014 ranging between $10,000 and $2,000 \u2014 two years ago.<\/p>\n

The NWHL was established in 2015, and became the first league to pay its players annual salaries which ranged from between $26,000 and $10,000 in its inaugural season. Financial difficulties, however, led the NWHL to slash salaries by as much as half a little over a month into its second season.<\/p>\n

The NHWL no longer publicly releases player salary numbers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe NWHL has time and time again shown it\u2019s not that long-term, viable option for women in hockey, and it does not showcase the best product of women\u2019s hockey in the entire world,\u201d said Coyne Schofield, who most recently played for the NWHL\u2019s Minnesota Whitecaps. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of things that go into it. \u2026 The business model is one of those, the salaries, health insurance, the treatment of the players. There\u2019s a lot of things that make it really tough to be a professional athlete in the NWHL.\u201d<\/p>\n

What makes the pledge notable, Knox said, is getting a majority of non-national team players to also commit to the decision because they in some ways have more to risk in not playing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re making the ultimate sacrifice to say, \u2018I would rather not play another professional game this year and possibly the rest of my life than live another day knowing we\u2019re in a world that professional female hockey players do not have the stage they deserve,\u201d Knox said. \u201cAnd I think that\u2019s a powerful thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FILE – In this Nov. 10, 2018, file photo, Canada goaltender Shannon Szabados watch as U.S. players celebrate a win during the Four Nations Cup hockey gold-medal game in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. More than 200 of the top female hockey players in the world have decided they will not play professionally in North America next season, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1309898","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-16 12:28:47","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1309898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1309898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1309898\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1309898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1309898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1309898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}