The National Hockey League is finally back with on ice action following an eventful offseason filled with plenty of headlines. Right as the first puck was dropped in the opening game, the league announced some new rules that ban on-ice theme night gear, barring clubs from having players wear rainbow sweaters or use multicolored tape on sticks during Pride Night, for example, officials confirmed Tuesday.
The NHL has been a league that has dealt with the turmoil of being forced to have these Pride Night’s as the woke mob is making everyone pander to the lowest common denominator and push for LGBTQIA+ tolerance in a sport where 93.14% of the workforce identifies as straight or heterosexual.
The move by the league was first reported last Monday by the LGBTQ news site Outsports, following a 2022-23 season when a handful of players – including Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov and then-San Jose Sharks goaltender James Reimer – declined to participate in their clubs' Pride Night celebrations.
The NHL has seen plenty of other players and even a handful of teams opt out of the pride nights due to these events conflicting with players' religious beliefs.
League Commissioner Gary Bettman has voiced his frustrations previously with the reception of the pride night events and how players have decided to opt out of the night that celebrates a small fraction of Hockey Fans.
“That’s just become more of a distraction from really the essence of what the purpose of these nights are,” Bettman said back in June of 2023. “We’re keeping the focus on the game. And on these specialty nights, we’re going to be focused on the cause.”
Bettman finally has come to his senses and has said enough is enough as he has decided to ban all the special events that include the pride nights indefinitely with a chance these changes become permanent.
In regards to the rule change, commissioner Bettman said that the league's new policy has been "terribly misunderstood and mis-portrayed" and that the NHL still encourages "specialty nights where groups of all different types are honored and consciousness is raised."
The NHL also donates funds to groups involved in the specialty nights throughout the league year and beyond.
“What happened last year was that the issue of who wanted to wear a particular uniform on a particular night overshadowed everything that our clubs were doing.” Said Bettman to ESPN this week on the ban. “So what we said, instead of having that distraction and having our players have to decide whether or not they wanted to do something or not do something and be singled out, we said, 'Let's not touch that.’”
Kurt Weaver, the chief operations officer of the You Can Play Project, told NBC News this week that a league-wide memo went to clubs Thursday discussing the ban.
Weaver’s “You Can Play” project is a partner of the NHL and its "Hockey Is for Everyone" campaign, aimed at stomping out homophobia and spreading the game to underrepresented groups. These events included Pride Nights where teams would have LGBTQIA+ themed warmups, tape on their sticks, and other forms of pride paraphernalia.
“When you start to take away what is our most visible representations, what carries the most weight in messaging, is those heroes that you see on the ice standing up for what they believe and what they believe is right,” Weaver said about his failed attempt to “stop homophobia” in Hockey. “And removing those from the ice is a tough one.”
Despite his failed attempt to try and push the LGBTQIA+’s anti-catholic and unorthodox message in a sport where most players practice some form of Orthodox Catholic or Christianity – which is a religion that frowns upon being homosexual – Weaver remained stubborn on the idea that the Pride Night’s failed. He doubled down by saying the league made a big mistake by discarding the event and thanked the league for years of effort by the league for fighting against “Homophobia” in Hockey.
“It’s hard to reconcile that right now, with decisions like this. But I see too many great things that the clubs do, that hockey in general does. It’s success after success," Weaver said. "But that right now is clouded by a really poor decision that’s going to overtake all that good work.”
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“The league has used language in recent days that would prohibit the tape from any proximity to NHL hockey.” Said the creators of Pride Tape, “We hope the league - and teams will again show commitment to this important symbol of combating homophobia.”
McDavid and Boston Bruins Forward Brad Marchand were pretty clear that they were on the same page as Kurt Weaver when it came to the banishment of these event’s that the NHL holds, including Pride Night.
“I’ve expressed (my) disappointment in not being able to wear the various jerseys or the tapes,” said McDavid. “Whether that's Pride tape or pink tape. Is it something that I'd like to see back into place one day? Certainly.”
“I truly believe in my heart that if there's something you support, then you support. Then if not, it's OK to have your own beliefs and feel your own way about things.” Said Marchand to ESPN, “But to be pushed to do something you don't want to do, or to be banned from something you do believe in, there's gotta be a line where we can all have our beliefs and support each other.”
The two Canadians feel that the NHL is acting a bit extreme but if the league is suffering from negative press for players not wearing gear that panders to the lowest percentage of employers and fans due to religious beliefs, they should just cut their losses while also doing damage control.
The damage control will unfortunately cost the league all of these event nights like ones that may support different causes like Cancer Awareness, but if it meant getting rid of the PR nightmare that was Pride Night, the league seems okay with doing this.