The NHL also pointed to WIRED its partnerships with Pride organizations in the US, Canada and Australia, as well as the pro-inclusivity organization You Can Play, with which it has been working since 2013. The league said it will host its third annual Pride Cup in 2026.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said he was “shocked” heated rivalry on a night and told reporters that all NHL teams celebrate a Pride night. However, as The New York Times reports, this is no longer the case, with some teams opting for more general inclusive events.
Teresa Fowler, associate professor at Concordia University in Edmonton, and Tim Skuse, associate professor at Brandon University, have both been researching hockey culture in Canada for years. Fowler is candid when she speaks about her embrace of the league heated rivalryWhich he feels is demonstrative.
“Where’s your gay friend on your team? You know what I mean?” She says. “It seems very hypocritical when people say, ‘Yes, we would welcome them,’ and yet, the person they call their brother, you know, who they would do anything for, is so afraid to bare his soul.”
Fowler and Skuse published a study on hockey culture in 2023, interviewing 21 elite players from the Junior A level and higher, many of whom they say were current or former NHL players. Fowler says he has also worked with youth players, including U18 players, and youth hockey. One of the main issues that fueled the toxic culture in sports was hazing.
“They would have players dress up like women, and then go into a shopping mall and sing ‘My Little Teapot.’ They would have notches on their belts for sexual conquests. But then, of course, there’s more physicality to it [hazing rituals]: : Drag your testicles across the rink naked, go to the bathroom naked,” Fowler says. “This is absolutely gross. I don’t care how this team bonding is, nothing. Those rituals are sexist rituals, misogynistic rituals, where you’re constantly humiliating women.
In 2022, a Globe and Mail investigation revealed that Hockey Canada, the sport’s national governing body, had used some of players’ registration fees to cover uninsurable liabilities such as sexual assault settlements; Last July, five former Canadian junior hockey players were acquitted of sexually assaulting a woman in a hotel room in London, Ontario.
Hockey Canada did not respond to WIRED’s request for comment.
Skuse, who has played varsity and AAA hockey, says many of the people he interviewed said they “felt uncomfortable” with the hazing but “they didn’t want to say anything about it.” Team bonding is based on getting along with what’s happening.
Skuse says he would like to see a shift away from insult-based harassment rituals toward practices that are more “inclusive.”
With the Olympics taking center stage, the focus is likely to once again be on trans people in sports – a culture war issue Brown says has created a “moral panic”. He co-authored the book 2025 let us play About the issue.
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