Just a week before the 2017 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Women’s World Championship, which will be held in Michigan from March 31 to April 7, USA Hockey is facing troubles with the women’s national team over wage issues. The 23-member women's national team had announced last week that it would boycott the world championship over ongoing wage concerns, reports said.

After multiple media reports surfaced Thursday that USA Hockey began to seek out replacement players for the tournament from the National Women's Hockey League and college programs, representatives for the U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT), released a statement in response to it. The statement said that the USWNT players are aware that USA Hockey is attempting to secure an alternative team to play in the Championship. Unless there is a forward-looking agreement between the USA Hockey and USWNT, the players remain firm with their decision of skipping the World Championship.

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There was nearly a 10-hour session between the USA Hockey and the USWNT Monday, however, both the sides could not yet reach a consensus over the wage issue. They referred to the talks as "productive" and Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson, an ice hockey forward, said the team was “hopeful” about reaching an agreement. The women's team training camp was scheduled to start from Wednesday but it was canceled, according to reports.

“It’s important for everyone to understand clearly that our objective is to have the players we named as the U.S. Women’s National Team be the ones that compete in the world championship,” Dave Ogrean, executive director of USA Hockey, said in a statement provided to USA Today Sports. “Productive conversations have taken place this week and are ongoing in our collective efforts to reach a resolution," he said.

Although USA Hockey is searching for potential players, it said in a statement to the Associated Press Thursday night that it wants the original women's team to take part in the tournament.

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