2017: The Year of Women's Hockey
Photo by the International Ice Hockey Federation
2017 was a landmark year for the sport of women's hockey.
It all began back in March when members of the USWNT posted on social media that they would be boycotting the upcoming World Championships being held on home soil if the governing body did not reach an agreement with the women of the team if they did not offer them a living wage and stipend while they trained to represent them at World Championships and the Olympics.
It was bold, it was big, to say the least. The United States had a rare chance to defend their World Championship on home soil for the first time in the tournaments 27 year history. The US had never won the tournament on home turf before and they were heavily favored to do so for the first time here in Plymouth, Michigan. Not only was this big for the team itself, but big for USA Hockey, who would be hosting their first major tournament at their newly acquired USA Hockey Arena that was home to the Men's U18 and U18 National Team Development Program.
After the team released their initial statement, USA Hockey gave each woman a deadline of 5pm a few days later as to if they were going to play in the tournament.
None of them replied.
And when USA Hockey threatened to send a replacement team?
Hilary Knight said, "I'd kinda like to dare them to try."
USA Hockey began going to collegiate players, both NCAA D1 and D3, and even Minnesota High School players and U19 AAA players across the country.
But USA Hockey soon learned that the women's hockey community is a tight knit one and that hockey playing and non hockey playing women alike across the country all stood with the US Women's National Team. Because enough was enough not just for the USWNT, enough was enough for every woman and girl who had ever had to dress in a bathroom instead of a locker room. Enough was enough for every female hockey player who had to hang up their skates because there was no place to for them to play. Enough was enough for the women that had spent years fighting for equal treatment and equal opportunity. Every hockey playing woman and girl across the country had all felt the effects of the little attention and funding and marketing that USA Hockey had provided for their women's teams and programs.
The USWNT wanted exposure, wanted a schedule prior to the Olympics so that they could expose girls around the country to the game and the team. They wanted better arrangements during their camps, places where they wouldn't find bedbugs in their beds at night and they wanted insurance, the same things that the men's teams already had.
That seemed to be too much to ask for for weeks on end, months to be realistic, USA Hockey and the USWNT had been trying to negotiate for over a year when the decision to boycott came.
But by the Tuesday before their Friday opener against Canada, the players of the USWNT signed contracts promising the players better working conditions, a living wage of at least $70,000 a year and better treatment by their governing body.
And it wasn't just a win for the women of the USWNT, it was a win for all female athletes and perhaps the biggest win thus far in for female hockey players.
The USWNT went on to claim their first World Championship on home soil this past April in a thrilling overtime victory. The game was sold out at USA Hockey Arena, the arena packed with fans of all ages.
I got to travel to Plymouth that Thursday for the team's first practice before the tournament, my brother and I with signs in hand thanking them for being bold for change, for taking a stand. We sat behind the bench and were the only fans in the arena other than various media outlets. One by one, as they each saw our signs, you could see the look in their eyes, see that they knew that they had made a difference and that they appreciated the support of the hockey community.
I took the sign I made to the game against Russia that Saturday of the tournament, my mother, brother and I were sitting two rows up from the glass and a few sections over were a few young girls, both in USA jerseys with a sign that read "THANK YOU FOR BEING BOLD", that's how you knew, this was a win for every hockey playing woman and girl, from the little girls with pink laces up to the women playing college hockey.
The next big victory for women's hockey came in the National Women's Hockey League, the first North American women's hockey league to pay their players that had just wrapped up its second season as a league.
On October 4th, 2017, the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League, announced that they would be investing in the then New York Riveters (Now the Metropolitan Riveters). The Devils gave the Riveters a new home at their practice facility for no cost and agreed to help the team with sponsorships, ticket sales and marketing endeavors as a franchise.
On October 28th, 2017, the newly renamed Metropolitan Riveters squared off against the Boston Pride at the Prudential Center, a historical night for the NWHL as the two teams played in the first professional women's hockey game at an NHL arena. Katie Fitzgerald would come out as the first goaltender to win a professional women's hockey game at an NHL facility, blocking 30 of 31 shots she faced.
“To have an N.H.L. franchise putting their stamp of approval on us, it’s game-changing,” said Dani Rylan, commissioner and founder of the NWHL, to the New York Times back in October when the deal was announced.
Just a week ago, the Pegula Sports and Entertainment group announced that they had purchased the Buffalo Beauts of the NWHL, becoming the first outside group to own a professional women's hockey team.
Kim and Terry Pegula already owned the Buffalo Bills of the NFL, the Buffalo Sabres of the NHL, the Rochester Americans of the AHL, the Buffalo Bandits NLL and the HarborCenter complex that the Beauts hold home contests, prior to purchasing the Beauts. The Pegulas became the first outside owners of a professional women's hockey team as the four teams of the NWHL were all owned and operated by the league prior to this December.
"This is monumental," Dani Rylan said to the New York Times, "This sets the stage and really has the opportunity to ripple effect across the rest of the league and really put us at a different level."
"We want to contribute to the growth of women's hockey," said Kim Pegula in a statement, "HarborCenter has allowed us to make a positive impact on the game at the amateur, high school and collegiate levels, and we believe this is the perfect time to expand our reach to include professional women's hockey through the NWHL."
And Kim Pegula could not be more correct, their purchase of the Beauts came at the perfect time to show the world that women's professional hockey is truly legitimate, that the league and sport in general are no laughing matter.
Now, in two months our women will lace up their skates once again to take on the Olympics, vying for their second gold medal exactly 20 years after their first gold medal victory in the first Olympic Women's Hockey Tournament. With all of the victories that have taken place over the last calendar year for women's hockey, I cannot wait to see what will happen in 2018 when the world will be watching.