from Rachel Brady of the Globe and Mail,

Members of the U.S. women’s national hockey team didn’t flinch on Thursday when USA Hockey gave them a deadline to commit to playing in the coming world championship.

The women stood together as one and allowed USA Hockey’s 5 p.m. ET deadline to pass. The players, who are being represented pro bono by a Philadelphia law firm, say they won’t play, citing more than a year of stalled negotiations with USA Hockey to secure fair wages and support.

The biggest event of the year on the women’s hockey calendar is set for March 31 to April 7 in Plymouth, Mich., but the reigning champs say they won’t show unless there is progress in the discussions with the U.S. governing body. USA Hockey has said it still intends to assemble a competitive team for the tournament.

“We’ve communicated with all the groups who they might possibly get to replace us – women who play in the world university games, those from our U-18 team, the U-22 and the National Women’s Hockey League,” said U.S. star Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson, a two-time Olympic silver medalist with Team USA and a five-time champion. “They all have expressed a lot of support for us. I don’t think many young women are going to want to play for that team, not ones who dream of a future with Team USA. How do you think that would set up a young player to be accepted by the team?”

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