The NHL is going through a truly unfortunate battle with their pride support campaign this season. A small vocal minority of players have made a big stink about wearing their team’s warmup jersey that is designed to support the LGBTQ2+ community and show that the NHL is a place this extremely marginalized community can feel welcomed.
Well, that has been completely undermined this season because a few players with archaic ideologies don’t want to put on a jersey with a rainbow on it for 20 minutes. Because this is a brand new problem, and most of these players have worn pride jerseys in the past, their voice are being amplified, while the actual issue of support for the pride community is being drowned out.
The Calgary Flames are not without their faults, but they have come through in a big way on this issue this season.
Tonight, the Flames have committed that every single player will wear the pride jersey in warmups, reiterated by head coach Darryl Sutter in a media availability yesterday.
The jerseys were unveiled yesterday are nothing short of exceptional.
The jerseys were designed by local artist Megan Parker and feature elements of flora and fauna from the local prairie landscape. The details are phenomenal and this is easily one of the best pride jerseys worn by any team this season.
It seems crazy to applaud a team for wearing a warmup jersey, but unfortunately it isn’t something every team can say they’ve done this season. Good on the Flames organization, players, and management for doing this the right way.
