Oshawa Generals takes a shot at NHL amidst Pride Night decision!

On Thursday, the NHL announced that teams won’t have special jerseys for pre-game warmups during themed nights next season. This came up as an issue when a handful of players refusing to wear rainbow-coloured Pride jerseys this past season. You may remember how Russian defenseman Ivan Provorov, then with the Philadelphia Flyers, refused to take part in warmups in January, citing his Russian Orthodox religion. Then, six more players decided not to take part in pre-game warmups when their teams donned Pride jerseys before games, including goalie James Reimer brothers Eric and Marc Staal of Florida and their Panthers netminder Sergei Bobrovsky. Russian players Ilya Lyubushkin in Buffalo, Denis Gurianov in Montreal and Andrei Kuzmenko of Vancouver also opted out of their teams’ Pride night warmups.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman stated that teams will still celebrate Pride and other theme nights, including military appreciation and Hockey Fights Cancer. They’re also expected to still design and produce jerseys to be autographed and sold to raise money, even though players won’t skate around with them on during warmups.

This all prompted the OHL’s Oshawa Generals to take a shot at the NHL’s decision later on Thursday evening when they announced that they “promise to make our 2023-2024 Pride Jerseys bigger and better than ever before.

“Inclusivity matters. Advocacy matters. Showing up for your community matters.”

There are legitimate concerns about people in the game feeling comfortable in their own skin and that the controversial league decision was made during Pride month.

The Generals’ post is a great way to bring the focus back on what matters: Community, inclusivity and advocacy. Way to go Generals!

Recommended articles:

• NHL scraps Pride Night warmups for 2023-24
• Leafs double down on Pride Night amidst silent protests across NHL
• Leafs won't wear Pride-themed jerseys this evening
• Blues cancel plans to wear Pride jerseys tomorrow
• Yet another NHL team ditches Pride jerseys