How is the success of the Olympics measured? By the number of medals? Participation?
This year, Team USA sent 242 athletes to the Winter Olympics, the most in U.S. history. With the games winding down, Team USA has won 16 medals, placing fifth in the medal count behind Norway, Germany, Canada and the Netherlands, respectively.
Although there are still many medals to be earned, one of the most exciting gold medals up for grabs is for Women’s Ice Hockey. The U.S. Women’s Ice Hockey Team played their first international match in 1987.
Throughout the years, the team has become known as one of the most dominant teams in the world, capturing gold or silver medals in every world competition with the exception of the 2006 Winter Olympics, where they earned bronze.
Holding the top ranking in the world, the U.S. Women’s Ice Hockey team has an overall record of 228-72-4.
In this year’s Winter Olympics, the team was successful in their group stage play, finishing with a 2-1 record, and defeated Finland 5-0 in their semifinal match. Their group included Canada, the Olympic Athletes of Russia (Russia), and Finland.
In their semifinal game against Finland, the U.S. exuded dominance throughout. They managed to take 38 shots, as opposed to Finland’s 14.
With this victory, the U.S. secured a spot in the gold medal game against Canada- reviving a long-lasting rivalry between the two countries.
Throughout the years, the two nations have hashed it out on the international stage for world championships and Olympic golds for nearly twenty years. Several players were members of the Olympic team that blew a 2-0 lead to Canada in their 3-2 loss at the Sochi Olympics. The players “leave little to no doubt that they’re seeking vengeance.”
Off of the ice, the team has been successful in protest in the past. In the months leading up to the 2017 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Championship, the players announced that they’d boycott the contest if negotiations surrounding wages and equitable support weren’t met. The negotiations had been going on for nearly a year prior to the World Championship in March of 2017.
As the issue unfolded, the team received support from unions in the NHL, NBA, NFL, MLB, and several members of Congress.
The agreement reached, only days before the intended start of play, is a four-year deal that included payments to players “outside the six-month Olympic period.”
Once negotiations were completed the US Hockey President spoke on the matter saying, “today reflects everyone coming together and compromising in order to reach a resolution for the betterment of the sport. We’ll now move forward together knowing we’ll look back on this day as one of the most positive in the history of USA Hockey.”
The agreement houses much more than solely a wage increase for the players, but also includes the “formation of a women’s high-performance advisory group with current and former players,” which has the goal to “advance girl’s and women’s hockey programming, marketing, promotion and fundraising to augment existing grassroots programs.”