Last week as the Olympic hockey tournament played out, I received multiple communications from friends, students, former students and family members about the games. Following the Four Nations tournament last year, I had taken an active dislike to the face of the men’s USA team. The Tkachuk brothers in particular are the epitome of what our Canadian neighbors call “ugly Americans”, and do not represent my version of the USA. So, I was rooting for Canada, and yes, they deserved to lose for failing to convert many, many chances in the gold medal game.
Along the way, I was cheered by the Hughes brothers, who seemed supportive of their mom, Ellen, herself a former NCAA hockey star, now a coach for the USA Women’s Hockey team. I was also pleasantly surprised by what appeared to be sincere indications of support by the men’s team for their female counterparts, attending games, making positive media statements, etc. The women’s team was on a legendary run, going 7-0 in the tournament, outscoring opponents by 33-2. Think about that. No team scored a powerplay goal on them. Their goalies let in TWO goals period. It is a run of dominance never seen before in either men’s or women’s Olympic ice hockey.
Meanwhile, the USA men clipped the Canadians to take home the title in OT behind stellar goaltending. Like most of the country, I teared up watching the Geaudreau children in the team picture. And then, overnight the video emerged: drunk US men’s players in the locker room inexplicably with FBI Director Kash Patel and on the phone with Donald Trump. The boisterous oafs (no other word for it) hooted with derision when Trump invited the team to the State of the Union, noting that he would “have to invite the women too or else I’d be impeached”. Standing front and center in that video: former hero, now goat (and not in a good way), Jack Hughes, son of Ellen.
It hit me immediately: this is who I thought they were, and they just proved it. They are the product of USA Hockey, which has long been riddled with misogyny. The antifeminist messaging out of Pennsylvania Avenue is right in line with the blatantly inequitable treatment USA Hockey has engaged in throughout its history. Awful ice times. (Fun fact: our daughter’s ice hockey game was scheduled DURING the 2010 gold medal game that the US famously lost to Canada so the boys wouldn’t have ice time that would conflict with the Olympic coverage. The girls kept running out off the bench in between shifts to watch.) Stranding the women’s team in Tampa Bay while in training during a hurricane. Not providing sufficient training and medical support. Not even giving Olympic tickets to players families – although they certainly did for the men. See https://ublawsportsforum.com/2018/02/23/usa-usa-usa/ for the laundry list – and that’s only up until 2018!
USA Hockey has unabashedly treated girls and women as second class citizens, whose participation in the game is at best tolerated, and not welcomed. The 25 men on the 2026 Olympic roster are part of that culture, steeped in it, and NOT ONE had the courage to push back against the bro culture in that locker room and stand up for their female colleagues, friends and even MOTHER!!!
The time has come to burn it all down. This embarrassing episode clearly requires decisive action. The only way for girls and women to have equal access AND RESPECT in ice hockey is to have their own National Governing Body, administered and operated by women. Let USA Hockey try to clean up its own mess without the mothers, wives, sisters and girlfriends. We can run leagues, rent rinks, schedule games and practices, coach, referee, play and most of all support each other in a positive environment where women’s hockey is the focus, not the afterthought. And oh, by the way, we might know a thing or two about being good role models as well. Haven’t seen any videos of drunk USA Women’s hockey players engaging in rude behavior, have you? Who are the REAL professionals we want representing the red, white and blue?
Helen A. “Nellie” Drew is an expert in sports law, including professional and amateur sports issues ranging from NCAA compliance and Title IX matters to facility construction, discipline of professional athletes, collective bargaining and franchise issues. Drew formerly served as an officer and in-house counsel to the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League, after previously working as outside counsel to the Sabres and the NHL. Among her more interesting experiences were assisting former USSR superstar Alexander Mogilny in obtaining asylum status in the U.S. and working on multiple NHL expansions, including San Jose, Ottawa, Florida and Tampa Bay.
Drew teaches a variety of courses that incorporate topics such as drug testing in professional sports and professional player contract negotiation and arbitration. She is especially interested in the evolving research and litigation concerning concussions in both amateur and professional sports.
Leave a Reply