In 2006, USA Hockey chairman of the board Walter Bush and American legend Cammi Granato entered a war of words. In this dive into the THN Archive, we look at the debate.
Women's hockey is still facing sexist opinions from many. In 2006 however, that criticism came from USA Hockey chairman of the board Walter Bush.
Bush's comments came after members of Team USA suggested they may skip the 2008 Olympics if Ben Smith remained head coach.
“The girls should be happy they’re playing,” Bush said at the time. “They sound like the Russians used to sound with (Viktor) Tikhonov. In 15 years women’s hockey has come a long way. The world goes on.”
It was not a comment taken lightly by American legend Cammi Granato.
"I was angry,” Granato said hearing the comment. “That is something you could maybe get away with saying 20 years ago, but to say it out loud to a reporter…what is this, the ’50s? It pretty much sums up how we have been treated in the years I have been with USA Hockey. It’s like, ‘Shut up and play hockey…you’re lucky you have a team.’ Over the years we tried to fight for some rights, but they basically laughed at us.”
That fight continued for another decade as members of USA Hockey repeatedly advocated for better rights and compensation as members of the national team.
THN Archives is an exclusive vault of 2,640 issues and more than 156,000 for subscribers, chronicling the complete history of The Hockey News from 1947 until today. Visit the archives at THN.com/archive and subscribe today at subscribe.thehockeynews.com