On Wednesday, 43 players announced that they will not be competing for the Women's crowns in this week's planned pre-season camp in Stockholm and in next week's training tournament in Finland. There are several reasons, among other things, that the agreement regarding remuneration during national team meetings was not extended.

Last season, when the women's crown played in the World Cup's A-group and not in the B-group that will be the case next year, the Swedish ice hockey association and the men's league SHL supported the national team with SEK 800,000 for lost earnings. This after several ladies players had noticed the tough financial situation.

Huge salary differences

In Finland, players receive money for lost working time in connection with national team collections and financial support from the nation's Olympic committee. The crown of women's support from the Swedish Olympic Committee (SOK) was withdrawn after the failure of the Pyeongchang 2018 Olympics when the team finished seven.

- Our 25 best players are doing pretty well. You should not have to make a national team investment with money from your own pocket, says Pasi Mustonen, the national team captain for the Finnish national team who took home the World Cup silver at home this spring, to the news agency SPT.

The Swedish Ice Hockey Association does not award any compensation to any of its national teams. But in the club-team environments, the men's and women's players live in different realities. Tre Kronor has players who earn millions a year both in the NHL and in the SHL. The Womens Crown SDHL players earn most of their income through civilian jobs alongside the ice hockey rink.

According to SVT, the average remuneration of the SDHL players from the clubs was 3.6 percent of what a male top player earned in Sweden in December 2017.

Affects tournament

- The situations are completely different. The ladies receive no such salaries from the club team. If Sweden wants a national team in the world top, the union must at least be responsible for the lost working hours, says Mustonen.

The Swedish Ice Hockey Association made a statement via a press release on Wednesday.

“We are surprised by the message we have now reached. The union has no compensation for any players in any national team, we make no difference between women's and men's national teams. The compensation that the players have at national team meetings stands for each club through the agreements the Swedish Ice Hockey Association has with leagues and clubs at the highest levels, "said Secretary-General Tommy Boustedt.

The players' decision to boycott came just six days before the upcoming five-nation tournament in Vierumäki, St. Michel and Kervo, which takes place on August 20-24.

- The players are absolutely right, but the timing is wrong. They could have announced in good time that they were not playing the tournament. Now their message affects many people, says Pasi Mustonen.