NHL partnering with New York City Gay Hockey Association’s Chelsea Challenge

NEW YORK -- The sweater hangs over Jim Tate's cubicle on the 23rd floor of the NHL corporate office in New York City. Stitched under the left shoulder is a “C” for captain. The centerpiece is the NHL shield logo colored with the six common variants of the rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet), a symbol of the LGBTQ+ community.

"It's a memento kind of thing," said Tate, senior director, support services.

Tate is joining 14 of his New York colleagues to wear pride shield jerseys and matching socks at Sky Rink in Chelsea Piers for the 22nd iteration of the Chelsea Challenge. For the fourth year, excluding 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the NHL will partner with the adult LGBTQ and LGBTQ-friendly ice hockey tournament held by the New York City Gay Hockey Association. Players and registered guests are arriving Friday for a welcome party. Round-robin games commence Saturday morning and run through midday Sunday, with single-elimination playoff games that afternoon followed by a banquet. Division championships start Monday with a champagne brunch and end by 2:30 p.m. ET.

The gathering is festive, the space safe, for one of the largest inclusive hockey tournaments in the United States and a beneficiary of the NHL investing more than $75,000 to support LGBTQ+ organizations this season. All 32 teams hosted a Pride Night to help nearly 100 programs. Pride Tape, an NHL partner since 2016-17, received donations to offer rainbow tape to adult and youth hockey tournaments throughout North America.

To Matty Gaffney, a volunteer president of the board at the NYCGHA, the support from the NHL has meant more than mere words. It's helped LGBTQ+ skaters and fans find their place in the hockey community while growing the sport for new generations of audiences.

"This is one of the most amazing tournaments that's held around the country," said Kim Davis, NHL senior executive vice president, social impact, growth initiatives and legislative affairs. "And I love that it happens each year around Memorial Day weekend because it gets a lot of visibility. This is about making sure that anyone that wants to play our sport, any fan that loves our sport, anyone that wants to love our sport, feels like there's a place for them that is safe and welcoming."

Tate joined a roundtable of teammates 10 days before the challenge for a discussion led by Nora Cothren, manager, multicultural content, audience development and social impact at the League. The first question was why make the choice to be away from family during a holiday weekend for an LGBTQ+ hockey tournament in New York City?

Shane Caming, senior manager, partnership marketing, participated during his first month at the NHL (May 2019), inspired to return by how others reacted to the shield. Matt Herr will be back for many more after missing this weekend to attend his son's high school graduation. He played 58 games as a forward for the Washington Capitals, Florida Panthers and Boston Bruins from 1998 to 2002 before becoming NHL senior director, community development and industry growth, and said the annual event on Manhattan's West Side is one of the best experiences he's had in the game.

"Not only is it different orientations, it's different backgrounds, people that have so many perspectives on life," Herr said. "I think what Nora [has] done to bring people together is unbelievable. To have that group of people come together and be able to meet and talk hockey and then leave and be still connected, that's powerful."

Cothren has volunteered for the You Can Play Project ensuring safety and inclusion for all who participate in sports, including LGBTQ+ athletes, coaches and fans. She coached the under-12 and under-14 girls hockey teams for the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation and played in her first Chelsea Challenge in May 2022, two months after joining the NHL. The personal challenge was figuring out how she fit in as a visibly queer person, and she learned quickly how colleagues helped her realize she belongs on a small team and with an entire organization.

"It's not just, hey, we're here to play hockey and then we're going to go home," Cothren said. "It's going to the banquet. It's going to the opening happy hour. It's really engaging with the community and building relationships and making friends ... that shows how authentic the support is. Men who play hockey have not always been the most welcoming for me in my life."

Gaffney grew up with Cothren in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, about half an hour from Philadelphia, noticing the hockey bug while she played ball and street hockey with boys, started organized hockey in middle school and made the varsity and club hockey teams at Strath Haven High School -- when she first started questioning her sexuality. The locker room reared homophobic language, and hockey wasn't a safe space. Cothren struggled with depression and anxiety, and suicide became an option until her parents got her help.

She otherwise would never have become a beacon for those who might not have a haven like New York City Gay Hockey.

"It is an uphill battle for Nora and even the celebrity players who contribute their voices, but we have to start somewhere," Gaffney said. "Even if it takes 100-plus years to find true equality and acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community in hockey, I'd rather us look back at the long and arduous road of struggle, missteps, sweat and tears that got us there, opposed to giving up along the way because of the painful pace of progress."

Cothren did come out after her senior year as club and varsity captain -- to nothing but love and acceptance. She played at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, among the largest women's institutions in the United States, with attendees from 46 states and 78 countries since opening with 14 students in 1875.

"In college, it was magic," Cothren said. "It was the most inclusive locker room I've ever been in my entire life. You could be your full authentic self and play hockey."

It's shown through the years that LGBTQ+ athletes belong, and the rainbow shield stands for something great. It's evolved with the inaugural NHL All-Star Pride Cup, held during 2024 NHL All-Star Weekend in Toronto, and the League supporting the 2024 Seattle Pride Classic on June 7-9 and the Madison Gay Hockey Association in Wisconsin.

It matters to many like Cothren and Davis, a mother to a son who identifies as queer.

"It validates what we have been talking about for a long time," Davis said, "and that is in order to be relevant to everyone that is a fan or fan in waiting, or anyone that plays the game, you have to be sensitive to the things that are important to them. So our shield and the ability for us to also represent the LGBTQ+ community with a flag makes a big difference and makes people feel like we see them."

Then there was the New Jersey Devils’ Pride Night in Newark, New Jersey, on Dec. 21, 2023, a sample of what NHL chief marketing officer Heidi Browning calls the importance of humans over highlights. Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid scored the first of four consecutive goals in the third period to spark a 6-3 comeback win at Prudential Center. The lasting impression was a three-time Hart Trophy winner and a finalist this season joining, among others, teammates Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Darnell Nurse, and Devils forward Curtis Lazar, as allies during warmups.

Their sticks were wrapped in rainbow tape. Jerseys became mementos. Pride resonated with fans, kids watching and wanting to be like McDavid.

“When a kid goes to a game and sees Connor McDavid going out in warmups with pride tape on his stick,” Caming said, “that kid, first of all, he wants to be like Connor McDavid, so maybe he's more prideful upon his warmup for his youth hockey team. It sends a message that he can be inclusive. If the top athlete in our sport is being inclusive, he can be inclusive.”

And if you can play, you can play. Everyone can play -- and accept the Chelsea Challenge.

"This is at the heart of everything we do," Gaffney said.

For more information about the Chelsea Challenge, visit https://www.nycgha.org/cc