Thirty-eight years after the U.S. hockey team won gold against the heavily favored Soviet Union team, which some people considered impossible, the women’s USA Olympic hockey team also did the impossible by beating the Canadian team to win their first gold medal in 20 years. They are being compared to the 1980’s men’s team by earning their “miracle on ice” performance beating a heavily favored Canadian team.
Typically, men’s hockey has higher ratings than women’s hockey; however, this year the women’s team stole the show and the ratings. There was something special about them and they went out to prove something-not only to themselves or to the United States, but to the world.
The women’s gold medal game was the “most watched late-night program in NBCSN history,” according to NBC Universal public relations.
I have been watching hockey my whole life, but haven’t watched much of women’s hockey because their games aren’t usually on local cable channels. However, I was really impressed with women’s hockey in the Olympics this year. I enjoyed watching women’s hockey more than I did watching the men’s team for this Olympics. The USA – Canada game was some of the best hockey I’ve watched.
The USA women’s hockey team not only battled hard to earn their much deserved gold medal but also had to fight an off ice battle of equality.
Prior to the Olympics, the women’s hockey team was planning to boycott the 2017 Women’s Championships due to unfair wages and unequal support for women’s hockey —a boycott that bled into the Olympics.
According to CBS Sports article by Pete Blackburn, the women were only getting paid $1,000 a month during the six-month Olympic training period and receiving fewer benefits
and developmental programs compared to the men’s team.
In 2014, during the Olympic jersey announcement, there was no women’s representative when the jerseys were unveiled. The design was supposed to include each of the gold
medals the USA hockey team has won. When the jersey was revealed,it only reflected the gold medals the men won and left out the women’s 1998 gold medal.
“It was heartbreaking, honestly we put our lives into this team,” USA Captain Meghan Duggan said in Blackburn’s article. “But to USA hockey, we were not even thought of. We were disappointed. It was a slap in the face and another sign of disrespect.”
Subsequently, both sides reached a four-year agreement which would pay women’s hockey players about $70,000, with potential bonus of about $100,000. Also, USA hockey
agreed to provide them with the same accommodations and insurance equal to the men’s team.
The U.S. women overcame adversities on and off the ice. They made Americans and hockey fans proud with their stellar performance. They made their mark on history and proved that in today’s world, women are just as equal as men.
“When you pull on that jersey, you represent yourself and your teammates, and the name on the front is a hell of a lot more important than
the one of the back,” Herb Brooks, 1980 USA Olympic coach, said in the movie “Miracle.”
The women’s team lived by that quote and proved that the USA in front of the jersey is all that matters and not the person’s last name or their gender.
