How U.S. women's deal got done with USA Hockey

Meghan Duggan wears the "C" on her U.S. women's national hockey team jersey, a letter that symbolizes that she is the captain, the unchallenged leader of her team.

That letter required her to lead in a vastly different way when she and 22 teammates announced March 15 they would boycott the upcoming IIHF World Championship in Plymouth, Mich.,  if USA Hockey didn't dramatically improve their financial support and place a greater emphasis on the women's game. Duggan told USA TODAY Sports that she called 500 other American players to ask for their help in thwarting USA Hockey's plan to create a replacement team.

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“We said this was about family," Duggan said. "We are all a family, a family of hockey players of all ages, from the past to the present to the future. This process, without everyone involved, didn’t have a chance if we didn’t stick together.”

The outreach by Duggan and the other players worked and she admitted USA Hockey’s inability to field a team of replacement players was crucial to the four-year deal announced Tuesday night. USA Hockey reached out to adult league players and high schoolers after many others — often taking to social media to show their solidarity — passed on the opportunity to don the right white and blue.

But what if USA Hockey was able to fill a roster full of replacement players for the world championships, which begin Friday?

“I imagine it wouldn’t have gone very well for us,” Duggan said. “If they were able to field a team, I’m not sure we’d have gotten here.”

The players will make around $70,000 each per year and potentially more than $100,000 in Olympic years if they win gold, according two people with knowledge of the agreement who are not authorized to release the numbers told USA TODAY Sports. The women’s team players also secured other benefits — like upgraded airfare and accommodations — that put them on par with their men’s national team counterparts.

“Girls and women hockey players across the country stood united,” Duggan said. “You can’t have a success of this magnitude without that type of support, but this was much than just (better benefits) for the 23 girls on this roster.”

That’s because the new contract that has the potential impact the American women’s game years beyond the length of the deal.

“There is a lot of really constructive and positive things that come out of this, especially the creation of the Women’s High Performance Advisory Group,” USA Hockey executive director Dave Ogrean told USA TODAY Sports.  “Going forward, we won’t have to get into a situation like this ever again. We are going to have the players involved far more in a lot of processes and helping us make good decisions.”

The Women’s High Performance Advisory group will include active and former women’s national team players, plus volunteers whose charge will be to help assure that women’s hockey grows and prospers.

While the players’ primary objective was a better financial package, they also wanted a seat at the table in determining the future of women’s hockey in the United States.

The players’ threat of a boycott is what pushed the two sides toward a settlement over the past two days after more than year of negotiations. The Americans, the defending champions, open with a game Friday against Canada.

“We all knew what the date was on the calendar for the women’s worlds,” Ogrean said.

The turning point in the negotiations came when about 70 of USA Hockey’s 92 members of the board of directors came together on a conference call Monday.

One of the directors happens to be Duggan. She recused herself from voting, but asked and answered questions. Former U.S. women’s players were also on the call as directors.

“It was an amazing board meeting,” Ogrean said. “The questions were really intelligent.”

Ogrean believed the presence of the women’s players on the call helped the process.

“It was really good for a lot of board members to hear from the players and really good for the players to hear from the board members,” Ogrean said. “At the end, the board got it. They told the executive committee go forward and do what you think needs to be done responsibly.”

The Americans, winner six of the past seven women’s world championships, will start arriving in Plymouth on Wednesday afternoon.

“They are going to be pumped,” Ogrean said. “Keep in mind that these players have played with each other a lot.  Everyone has seen the NHL players go the Olympics and they only have only one practice on the ice together, then they go play, and they look pretty good.  These women’s players are a lot more familiar with each other than those guys are.”

“We are excited and Team USA is excited that the original team selected to play in for Team USA will be on the ice in Michigan,” Duggan said. “We are 100% ready.”