The 2018 Winter Olympics are five months away, and so far, the United States only has one hockey team—the women’s team. They made headlines earlier this year by fighting against USA Hockey for livable pay during the Olympics and their Olympic training period.
Now, the team is making headlines because as Hurricane Irma pounded Florida, USA Hockey left the women’s team in Tampa to brave the Category 4 hurricane. Almost all other Florida-based athletic teams were evacuated from the area because of the stress and unsafe conditions Irma caused.
According to John Cotey, for Tampa’s Neighborhood News, while the USA Hockey headquarters are located in Michigan, the women’s team moved to a satellite training location in Florida. This move was to help bring about more exposure for hockey in the South, as they also work closely with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Eli Horowitz, from Excelle Sports, said Major League Baseball teams moved their games to hurricane-free areas. The Florida Panthers moved their team and staff up to Springfield, Massachusetts. The Tampa Bay Lightning moved their athletes to Nashville, Tennessee and paid for their employees and families to fly out of Florida.
Natural disasters are stressful no matter who you are. However, these athletes are training for the biggest competition of their lives on the world’s largest stage, and they now have the stress of experiencing the biggest hurricane Florida has seen since 1992.
It does not make sense to leave them, especially when USA Hockey’s facilities are in Michigan, rather than Florida.
A statement from USA Hockey said, “The team was not located in an evacuation zone,” and the team would be moved to only if it became necessary.           
Not surprisingly, moving the team to an evacuation center finally became necessary on September 10.
These women are the reigning world champions with the International Ice Hockey Federation and the silver medalists at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. They are expected to do well at the 2018 Winter Olympics—some people even have them going all the way to win gold.
It was negligent of USA Hockey to leave these athletes in the stress and danger of Irma. This decision a reflection of USA Hockey devaluing their women’s team, despite it having much more success than the men’s.
They let their only Olympic team weather this devastating storm. They have had issues in the past of how they treat their female athletes, and this is another disappointing example.
I am not saying USA Hockey should have relocated the team altogether. However, it would have been very simple for the organization to move the team to Plymouth, Michigan for a week, and then move them back to Florida. This temporary relocation would have been a doable and much safer option.
Evacuating the team would have been the right move. Their decision to neglect the team makes USA Hockey seem as if they only value these women as assets to win, rather than valuing them as human beings.