The U.S. womens national hockey team has ended atwo-week fair pay boycottand will play in the upcoming world championship tournament, after their lawyers reached an agreement Tuesday with the sports governing body.USA Hockey, the sports American federation, and the U.S. womens team announced in a joint press release that they had reached an agreement that will result in groundbreaking support for the U.S. Womens National Team program over the course of the next four years.Today reflects everyone coming together and compromising in order to reach a resolution for the betterment of the sport, said Jim Smith, president of USA Hockey. Well now move forward together knowing well look back on this day as one of the most positive in the history of USA Hockey.The two sides agreed to keep financial terms of the deal private. But the deal includes the formation of a new advisory group made up of current and former players that will assist USA Hockey in efforts to advance girls and womens hockey, the release said.Our sport is the big winner today, said Meghan Duggan, the teams captain. We stood up for what we thought was right and USA Hockeys leadership listened. In the end, both sides came together.The agreement means the U.S. womens team will return to the ice for the International Ice Hockey Federation World Championship, which begins in Plymouth, Michigan, on March 31.To Our Dearest Fans,Together, WE dared to make history. And couldn't have done it without you. See you at #2017WWC#BeBoldForChange #OwnIt pic.twitter.com/ib496rUzCw Monique Lamoureux-M (@moniquelam7) March 29, 2017 More than a year of private negotiations between the players and USA Hockey over compensation and other forms of financial support exploded into a public battle on March 15, when the USWNT threatened to skip the International Ice Hockey Federation Womens World Championship unless they madesignificant progress in talks with the federation.The dispute threatened to leave the tournament without its host and defending champion.The United States won the tournaments gold medal in 2016, and has won six of the last eight world championship gold medals overall.The boycott centered on a lack of financial support for the womens team. The players wanted better compensation from the federation, which they said only provided small monthly stipends during a six-month Olympic training period ' but otherwise did not pay the players during the other 3 1/2 years of each Olympic cycle. They also pointed to insufficient support for travel and marketing, and what they saw as USA Hockeys disparate support for mens and womens hockey at the development level: While USA Hockey spends $3.5 million annually on its national team program for boys, they said, girls receive no comparable support.USA Hockey disputed those claims, and initially began seeking out replacement players to field a team in the tournament.The boycott appeared near its end last Monday, when USA Hockey officials met with nine players and the teams attorneys in Philadelphia. More than 10 hours of productive meetings left players feeling hopeful that a deal was close.But the talks collapsed later in the week, and USA Hockey again extended invites to other players in hopes of placing a team of replacements in the world championship. Womens players at the collegiate, high school and even recreational level, however, remained committed to the national teams cause, publicly posting on Twitter that they had declined the federations invites.Members of the womens team said all along that they hoped to reach a deal that would allow them to return to the ice in time for the world championships.We want to play, Duggan told The Huffington Post the day the boycott began. We want this to get resolved. We want to come to an agreement that USA Hockey and ourselves can both be on board with.As of last Friday, players were willing to show up the day before the game if we have to, USWNT forward Monique Lamoureux told HuffPost.That, in effect, is what they will do. The U.S. will hold its first practice Thursday night, one day before they begin the tournament against Canada.USA Hockeys board met for several hours Monday night, once again fueling hopes that a deal was near. But the evening ended without a resolution.USA Hockey sent a new proposal to the players Tuesday morning, and players voted to ratify the agreement after hours of negotiation over unspecified terms in the deal.In the end, the agreement highlighted the power of the womens commitment to the boycott, and its ability to stretch beyond their sport.Members of the U.S. womens soccer team, who have battled their own federation over equal pay issues, stood behind the hockey team almost immediately.Support for their fight eventually spread across the sports world.Unions representing Major League Baseball, NBA, NFL and NHL players all backed the womens hockey team.WNBA and womens college basketball players tweeted in favor of them; and members of the mens national hockey team reportedly threatened to join themin boycotting the world championship.On Monday, 16 members of the U.S. Senate sent a letter to USA Hockeys executive directorbacking the players and urging a quick end to the dispute.The deal, which will extend beyond the 2018 Winter Olympics, affirmed the larger cause Duggan and the players said they had committed to when the boycott began.Its bigger than hockey, Duggansaid that day. Its bigger than any one sport or individual. Its about equitable support for females in this country. This is a difficult thing for us, but were united and proud and happy to do it. -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
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