Pride Tape ingrained part of hockey culture, spreading to other sports

Jeff McLean and Dean Petruk had modest expectations for Pride Tape when they created it five years ago.

"We said to ourselves, 'If we can reach one person, if one person at any level of hockey, whether grassroots or semipro, pro, whether it was at a league game in minor hockey or a practice with professionals, if one player put it on their stick and someone else saw that and amplified that message of the tape being on the stick that hockey is for everyone, we would have been happy," McLean said.
The rainbow-colored hockey tape, created to show support of the LGBTQ+ community's quest for inclusion and acceptance in society, took off within the sport.
Players on NHL teams have used the tape on their sticks in warmups or during team Pride events. Forward Kurtis Gabriel, who played for the San Jose Sharks this season, created a sensation Feb. 25, 2019, when he scored the game-winning goal for the New Jersey Devils in a 2-1 victory against the Montreal Canadiens at Prudential Center with Pride Tape wrapped around the top of his stick in a game that was televised across Canada.

Today, Pride Tape has become more than a fixture on sticks in youth hockey, beer and professional leagues.
The multicolored adhesive has transcended the sport it was created for, helping to spread its message to a wider audience than McLean ever envisioned.
In short, Pride Tape is everywhere.
"People have sent pictures to us of it on their bicycles, on rowing oars," McLean said. "I've seen it on ax handles, balcony rails, curling brooms. People get genuinely excited about using it different ways and its that creativity that's really exciting. And showcasing that message of inclusivity is wonderful and its best if it comes from everywhere."
Some members of the UCLA women's softball team wrapped it around their bats earlier this month, in time for the Women's College World Series.
"The people that saw it thought it was great and cool and wondered where they could get it," said UCLA coach Kirk Walker, a co-founder of the Equality Coaching Alliance. "Anything in general, during Pride Month or anytime, showing support for the LGBTQ community is a positive action."

Walker said he has passed some rolls of the tape along to Major League Baseball teams and to some members of softball teams that will represent the United States, Canada and Mexico at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which begin July 23. He said the players are using the tape leading up to the Summer Games.
Several players in the eight-team Premier Lacrosse League have been using Pride Tape on their sticks since 2018.
"It's a great way of showing support and being an ally," said Kyle Harrison, PLL director of players and inclusion and captain of the league's Redwoods Lacrosse Club. "I love the guys over at Pride Tape. They have been extremely supportive of the PLL and its players and they've certainly been extremely helpful in helping to make sure we educate ourselves, educate our players, and be the best allies we possibly can be."
But hockey always will be Pride Tape's home. Patrick Farabaugh, founder of the Madison Gay Hockey Association in Wisconsin, said the tape has been able to leverage advocacy into action among NHL teams.
"You've seen some NHL teams embrace it," Farabaugh said. "I can't use a metric to quantify the value of that level of visibility and reach. It's certainly farther than an organization like MGHA can reach."
Rebecca Morse, a defenseman for the Metropolitan Riveters of the National Women's Hockey League, has wrapped Pride Tape at the top of her sticks during the past three seasons and it's almost always a conversation-starter.

"For me personally, it's introduced me to a network of people from the LGBTQ+ community and their allies beyond just women's hockey, which is so important," said Morse, who identifies as lesbian. "It's really cool to have that network of people and feel safe and supported within hockey and beyond it."