Luke Prokop got a phone call on Tuesday morning with some welcome news he’d been waiting for.
The 21-year-old defenceman, who two years ago became the first-ever openly gay player under an NHL contract, got the call from the co-founder of Outsports, Cyd Zeigler Jr., letting him know the NHL was going to reverse its decision to ban the representation of social causes on stick tape.
“When you have guys like Morgan Rielly and Tyson Barrie and even Connor McDavid speaking up about it, you know the league’s going to take notice of that, and maybe that’s why the (ban) was reversed so quickly,” said Prokop, a third-round pick of the Nashville Predators in 2020.
“The way I saw it was if Connor (McDavid) wanted to put Pride tape on his stick for a game, what was the NHL really going to do? Were they going to suspend him? No, because that’s probably not great for the game if they suspend the best player in the world. It goes to show how much of an impact the players have, and the power the players really do have in the league.”
As the NHL announced Tuesday afternoon, it will no longer be against NHL rules for players to use Pride tape or military tape or any hockey tape supporting a social cause.
On Saturday night, Coyotes defender Travis Dermott wore Pride tape on his stick while the ban was still in place. Prokop, who just opened his season with the ECHL’s Atlanta Gladiators, saw Dermott’s show of support via social media.
“I thought it was cool because he did it in his own way. It wasn’t a lot of tape, it was just a little bit at the end of his knob. Most people probably wouldn’t see it with his glove covering it,” Prokop said.
“I respect the hell out of him for doing that.”
When Prokop came out publicly in July 2021, Dermott was outspoken on social media, and sent Prokop a note of congratulations. Prokop called it “a breath of fresh air” to see Dermott sporting the previously banned tape in a game, especially after last season, when seven NHL players decided not to wear Pride jerseys for warmups during their team’s Pride Night celebrations.
Dermott’s show of support was the story on Saturday, instead of the attention drawn by players last season who refused to wear Pride jerseys.
“It was actually the equivalent of one per cent of the league who didn’t wear the jerseys,” Prokop said. “I put myself in those shoes, how would I feel if I was on that team?
“But hearing players speak out this year, seeing Travis go about it in his own way, it goes to show there are a lot of players out there who do care for the community and want hockey to be for everyone, who think everyone should have an equal shot at playing this game.
“It definitely gave me a little bit more confidence that hockey is trending in the right direction, whether that’s coming from the players, not necessarily from the league.”
Prokop feels pride tape is a better representation of support for 2SLGBTQ+ pride than warmup jerseys.
“It’s a use of expression. It’s your choice to use as much or as little of the tape as you want,” he said. “I think the tape does a better job of expressing the players’ impact towards their community.”
And now, it won’t be against the rules to do so in the NHL.
