The NHL decided in June to ban special jerseys for the next 2023-24 season. This includes any jersey worn for pride, military support or Hockey Fights Cancer.
This month, the NHL expanded its policy by banning specialty tapes, such as Pride tapes. While other specialty tapes have been used for Military Appreciation Night or Hockey Fights Cancer, the Pride tape has by far been the most visible and controversial.
With the banning of Pride Tape (also a brand), the NHL fails to recognize the importance of publicly expressing its support: a blanket ban is a cowardly outcome.
“When you make decisions like this, it erases our community,” said Dani Bennett-Danek, league director of the Twin Cities Queer Hockey Association.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said the decision to ban all special jerseys was to avoid a “distraction.” Instead, the NHL created a whole new problem for itself.
“In the LGBT sports space, this is one of the most significant landmark moments I have seen in 25 years of leading Outsports; this is the defining moment for the community and we are not going to back down,” said Cyd Zeigler, co-founder of Outsports.com, a site that covers LGBTQ+ athletes across all sports.
The reaction was immediate, with organizations like You can play, Pride of the Twin Cities And Pride Band all issuing statements of disapproval.
The progression of pride in the NHL has been slow. Bennett-Danek believes it is one of the last sporting spaces supporting the LGBTQ+ community.
“I always say the last stand against homophobia in the sports world is the NHL and the NFL,” Bennett-Danek said.
It wasn’t until the 2016-17 NHL season that the league partnered with Pride Ambassadors. Then the Pride stripe made its first appearance when the Edmonton Oilers used it.
The NHL threw that progress out the window.
Last season, some players clearly expressed their refusal to wear the Pride jersey. Some, like the Staal brothers, have publicly stated that it goes against their religious beliefs, even though Eric Staal had worn the jersey previously.
The others were Russian players, traditionally opposed to supporting the Pride with jerseys or tape. In 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law banning the promotion of anything related to LGBTQ+ communities. Perhaps this is why so many Russian players spoke out against this system last season.
The decision the NHL made during Pride Month shows how tone deaf the league is.
“I just thought, could you use Google? Could you have known when to make this announcement and made it at a better time? Can someone answer the phone? Call a homosexual? If you don’t know how to use Google and make better decisions,” Bennett-Danek said.
Although the decision to ban special jerseys was drastic, it is clear that it was aimed at Pride.
“No one refused to wear the cancer jersey or the military nightshirt,” Bennett-Danek said.
Although the decision to ban jerseys is wrong, it makes sense. Specialized jerseys become uniform. It’s something that is imposed on every player. If someone doesn’t want to wear the jersey, they shouldn’t have to.
“The jersey issue affects an entire team, it’s not an individual choice… I think they could have helped teams address the subject before people started refusing to do it,” said Zeigler.
Communication is another problem for the NHL. Teams and the league make decisions without consulting the people who will be affected.
Last season was just the second Pride Night for the Minnesota Wild. When the team decided not to wear Pride jerseys last season, it was done without any communication with the Twin Cities LGBTQ+ community, according to Bennett-Danek.
“Next time use your resources, call us, we could have suggested something different,” Bennett-Danek said. “We tried to explain to them that when you make these kinds of decisions in such a progressive state, it sets aside their relationship with the larger community. »
To Wild’s credit, they continue to support the LGBTQ+ community even without Pride jerseys or now Pride Tape.
“They are committed to our community. They give thousands and thousands of dollars to our queer community in the Twin Cities as a whole,” Bennett-Danek said. “There isn’t a time Twin Cities Pride can’t call them with a family in need, especially around the holidays. And they drop everything and make sure that this family is taken care of, that this queer family is taken care of.
Eliminating the Pride band removes the already limited visible support for the LGBTQ+ community. Open support for the LGBTQ+ community is important, especially for the NHL, which has never had a player come forward, according to Zeigler.
“The NHL is the only league where no current or former player or coach has ever made a public statement,” Zeigler said. “They haven’t even publicly outed a former player. And that’s what’s so tragic about this… of all the (sports) leagues that need more visibility for LGBT people, the NHL was first and they just gave us the middle finger. community.
It’s not just that no former players have come out. No one in the front office or league executives ever came out.
Bennett-Danek also wants more support. The Minnesota Twins, White Caps and Minx have all figured out how to support the Pride, according to Bennett-Danek.
“I want you to make this bigger and better than the 15 minute warm-up and in my opinion, if the local women’s professional hockey team doubles down, and it shows again in our community, it will make you look like “We’re still late,” Bennett-Danek said of Minnesota’s new women’s professional hockey team.
Since the announcement, several players have said they will still use the Pride band during warmups. The NHL has yet to announce any details regarding the penalty if players decide to use the tape, again showing the lack of thought involved in their decision.
“The players will do it. And what are you going to do? Are you going to start fining players for this? And all this does is create more controversy and even more backlash. They started a cycle that they didn’t anticipate,” Zeigler said.
Zeigler said he and others will continue to speak out.
“We are not going to be silent about this. The NHL thinks this will go away. They sought to avoid any distraction. This will haunt the NHL for the rest of the season. I promise,” Zeigler said.
