LGBTQ+ inclusive hockey leagues play on amid challenges and fresh interest due to ‘Heated Rivalry’

SEATTLE (AP) — Steven Thompson began playing hockey in 2017, but it wasn’t until he met Joey Gale that he truly felt seen in his new sport.

Thompson said he had a few teammates who are part of the LGBTQ+ community on previous teams but one day he ran into Gale, who had doctored up his stick with Pride tape. .

“That was the first time I had seen that in the wild, if you will,” Thompson said. “And so I immediately ran up to him and identified myself as a gay player and just wanted to reach out and just wanted to offer myself as a connection.”

In 2019, Thompson and Gale co-founded the Seattle Pride Hockey Association to bring hockey closer to underrepresented communities. It is one of more than a dozen leagues across the country that have long provided places for adults and youths in the LGBTQ+ community to play. Some organizations have grown despite new challenges.

Mike Marisco, who also played for New York City Pride Hockey Alliance, started Pittsburgh LGBTQ+ Hockey when he moved back to the Steel City with his husband in the early 2010s. When the team started 14 years ago, it featured eight or nine players.

Now? There are multiple squads, and Pittsburgh LGBTQ+ Hockey hopes to add a third team soon in addition to offering clinics and ice time. The support of the Pittsburgh Penguins and former president of hockey operations Brian Burke was pivotal. Burke has long worked to eliminate homophobia in sport following the death of his gay son Brendan in a car accident in 2010.

“(Burke) was great for LGTBQ stuff, and when he came to the Penguins, they already had a little bit of momentum,” Marisco said. “But, he amped that up. So right away, the Penguins took a prime spot not just amongst other NHL teams, but they took a leadership role amongst all the other professional sports teams in Pittsburgh.”

Gina Malizio, president of the Chicago Pride Hockey Association, has witnessed a significant uptick in participation in her league over the last few months. It has been correlated with the debut of “Heated Rivalry,” a hit TV show that traces the romance of two professional hockey players who embarked on a secret romantic relationship.

Malizio estimated that new player inquiries number in the hundreds since the show’s first episode.

“Some of that is people that have played before wanting to join, knowing that we’re out there, knowing this is a thing,” Malizio said, “and people then wanting to play the sport now feeling more comfortable seeing themselves potentially be represented in a TV show.”

Different climate

The Chicago league’s growth has been more of a rarity than evidence that hockey’s relationship with the LGBTQ+ community is trending in the right direction.

There are still public detractors like Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Ivan Provorov, who cited his Russian Orthodox religion as the reason he did not participate in Pride activities while he was a member of the Philadelphia Flyers three years ago. The team wore Pride-themed jerseys and used sticks wrapped in rainbow Pride tape in warmups that night.

“If the Kraken put on a Pride night and they post something about it, if you go look at the comments, you’ll see all the hate and bigotry that’s in those comments,” Thompson said.

The Seattle association did not even operate during the 2025-26 season due to a lack of available ice time in the Emerald City. And as of April 1, USA Hockey reversed a 2019 policy to limit male- or female-only teams to athletes assigned those sexes at birth. The organization acted to comply with guidance from U.S. Olympic officials following an executive order from President Donald Trump.

“They’re saying ‘Hockey is for everyone, except this group of people,’” Malizio said. “So, as far as Chicago Pride hockey, as far as we’re concerned, it’s not a ban that we want to support in any way. We don’t think that banning people from the sport is being a steward of the sport at all.”

Tony Tiet, who plays for San Francisco Earthquakes LGBTQ+ Ice Hockey Club, said the current climate is difficult for the community.

“Back in 2010 or so, when the Stanley Cup was in the Chicago Pride Parade, there was a huge momentum and then just maybe in the past four years they kind of stepped back,” he said. “We’re losing a lot of sponsors and a lot people are taking away simple stuff such as wearing your tape, Pride tape.”

A welcome haven

Jacob Lassner, who now works for the Pittsburgh Penguins radio network, greatly appreciated playing in an inclusive hockey league — Boston Pride Hockey — when he lived in the Northeast. Lassner, who is gay, noted that most hockey locker rooms aren’t necessarily the most inviting spaces for members of the LGBTQ+ community, especially for closeted individuals on competitive teams.

“A lot of players,” Lassner said, “they love hockey so much that they take it and just keep playing in spite of things that are said.”

And yet, inclusive leagues across the country have persisted despite hockey’s complicated relationship with the LGBTQ+ community. No matter what the future holds within the sport for some of these more marginalized groups, folks like Alex Marsh, a queer trans man who plays for Pittsburgh LGBTQ+ Hockey, is simply glad to have found both a space and a sport that have brought him so much happiness while some leagues have struggled to stay afloat.

“I’m so glad that I didn’t let my fear of not being welcome because I was trans stop me,” Marsh said. “I’m just so lucky that I have this team to play with here in Pittsburgh. The joy and connection is giving me the strength to keep fighting and resisting, and keeping me moving forward.”

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AP video journalist Haven Daley contributed.

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