The National Hockey League (NHL) opened its new season Tuesday, and among the highlights was the Tampa Bay Lightning’s 5-3 win over the Nashville Predators.
But as the action returns to arenas across the continent this week, the NHL is making news for activity on the ice beyond faceoffs, slapshots, power plays, and hat tricks.
According to The Blaze, the league has banned players from using rainbow-colored or themed Pride tape from warm-ups, during games, and even at practices. The Blaze cited a report by Outsports, a sports website supporting the LEGBTQ agenda that confirmed the new policy with the league office.
ESPN reported last week that at least eight teams sought the NHL’s guidance after the league released a memo covering rules for activities on “Special Initiatives.”
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Besides Pride events, such programs also included such things as commemorations of military veterans and anti-cancer awareness activities.
In an updated version of the memo, the NHL declared that “players should be encouraged to express themselves off the ice,” and that other activities at games were permissible within limits.
But the NHL apparently stood by its position that “players shall not be put in the position of having to demonstrate (or where they may be appearing to demonstrate) personal support for any Special Initiatives. A factor that may be considered in this regard includes, for example, whether a Player (or Players) is required to be in close proximity to any groups or individuals visibly or otherwise clearly associated with such Special Initiative(s).”
The memo was originally intended to address players wearing Pride-themed gear during warm-ups, which was a controversy last season when at least seven players publicly refused to don such clothes. Many cited their religious beliefs as the reason for their objections.
In its report, Outsports called the tape ban the “most egregious of all” the rules created by the NHL on this topic.
“This is, as far as Outsports is aware, the most stifling, anti-LGBTQ policy any pro sports league in North America has ever issued,” the outlet said in its report “The message the NHL is sending: Hockey is not for everyone.”
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“Disgraceful. Despicable. Outrageous. Petty.”
Outsports even dragged the left-wing lie from Florida’s battle over parental rights in objecting to the LGBTQ agenda in public schools, claiming the NHL had created “‘Don’t Say Gay’ policy on the ice
Rule.”
The Blaze collected several examples of leftists on X (formerly Twitter) labeling the policy with terms like “cowardly,” “horrifying,” “jackass,” “disappointing,” “wrong,” and “ridiculous.”
But the conservative website Twitchy gathered examples of those on the right supporting the NHL on its stance and, perhaps, its desire to not become the Bud Light of professional sports.
“The whole league and their fans hated this nonsense,” one said of the demands to back the Pride mantra. “The first guy to refuse to wear his pride jersey had his real jersey sell out almost immediately.”
Another added, “Refusing to be coerced into wearing something supporting an ideology is not fear, it’s courage. No one owes you a damn thing.”
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