BEMIDJI—A number of current, former and future Bemidji State women’s hockey players have joined the U.S. women’s national team’s boycott of the upcoming women’s World Championships, which start Thursday, March 30, in Plymouth, Mich.

Former Beaver Stephanie Anderson, a member of Team USA’s player pool, as well as current players Alexis Joyce and Emily Bergland, and incoming freshman Mak Langei, all said they would not be participating in the world championships. Team USA would be defending its gold medal from last season’s world championships.

“It’s been a long process, and we’ve been kind of battling it out for over a year now,” said Anderson, who has represented Team USA in the past but wasn’t on the final roster for the worlds this time around.

Anderson said the boycott was something they’ve discussed for more than a year.

“We kind of talked about it back then if it were to come to this point, we all had to be prepared and be on the same page, and from the get-go we were all on board and nobody had anything against it,” she said. “We knew we were fighting for something bigger. It’s bigger than all of us combined we’re fighting for the generation below us. We’re doing this more for them than for us.”

Players from Team USA took to social media earlier this month to announce they would not play in the worlds due to stalled negotiations with USA Hockey over fair compensation, support and marketing, especially compared to the U.S. men’s national team.

The women’s players have been asking for, for example, four-year contracts instead of the one-year deal they currently receive only in Olympic years. The women’s players have also pointed out that when they fly to international competitions, they fly in coach while the men get to fly business class.

“I think right now it’s crazy,” Anderson said. “Things are starting to come to light. I think everyone’s hearing about how USA Hockey treats us and they’re starting to see more light on the situation and that USA Hockey needs to wake up a little bit and start treating us more fairly.”

After the players announced their boycott, USA Hockey said it still planned on fielding a team for the worlds. So it started contacting potential replacement players such as Joyce, Bergland and Langei.

They started with current Division I players like Joyce and Bergland before moving on to Division III players and then high school players, such as Langei, a former East Grand Forks player.

The three sent an identical Tweet this weekend: “Today I will do what others won’t so tomorrow I can do what others can’t. I said no to USAH & will not play in the 2017WC #BeBoldForChange”

Joyce, a junior defender from Lakeville, said that USA Hockey emailed her and Bergland, a sophomore forward from Thief River Falls, on Thursday and gave them until 4 p.m. Friday to decide. It was a hard decision, she said, but one made easier when she talked to her coaches and friends around the hockey world, like Anderson.

“Ultimately I couldn’t go against the people that have helped me get to the place I am today,” Joyce said. “But it’s hard because you don’t know if saying no to USA Hockey puts you on the wrong side of the list for them in the future.

“I went back and forth so many times, and it was a hard decision but it was the right decision. I wouldn’t have felt comfortable saying yes.”

BSU head coach Jim Scanlan said USA Hockey’s offer put the potential replacement players in a difficult position.

“Obviously it’s a dream for all of them to represent their country, and they certainly all want to be a part of the USA Hockey pool,” Scanlan said. “For them it’s even tougher, since they’re kind of on the outside looking in right now. It’s a tough spot to be put in, but I’m really proud of how they’re handling it.”

According to a USCHO report Monday, at least 37 current, former or future college hockey players had turned down USA Hockey’s offer.

Scanlan said he supported the national team’s decision to boycott but when USA Hockey contacted his players he told them it was their decision to make.

“I told the girls, ‘I’m not going to make this decision for you,'” Scanlan said. “I said I support what the national team is doing, but it’s an individual choice. I just encouraged them and told them, don’t look at it in the short term, look at it in the long term. Just try and see the big picture. But I told them whatever they decided, we would support them 100 percent. And obviously they said they would not go.”

Representatives from USA Hockey and the women’s national team players were scheduled to meet Monday to try and come up with a solution, but at presstime nothing had been announced.

Until then, more people from inside and outside the hockey world had been voicing their support for the women’s team. On Sunday it was reported that the U.S. men’s team would refuse to participate in the worlds if USA Hockey went through with fielding a replacement team.

And Monday, 14 different U.S. senators, including Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., sent a letter to USA Hockey urging them to resolve their dispute.

“I haven’t seen any negative comments about what we’re doing,” Anderson said. “No one knew what we were being treated like since we made this stance and brought everything to social media for everyone can see. Everyone is kind of waking up a little bit and saying, USA Hockey needs to wake up and make a move.”