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Steven Thompson didn’t know what to expect when he started playing hockey in Seattle four years ago.
“I was very nervous and afraid of the unknown,” he said. “What kind of people would I meet? What kind of personalities, attitudes? Since I’m a gay player, I didn’t know what to expect.”
Thompson said his experimentation with hockey has been encouraging and welcome, but his first intimidation gave him the idea to establish the Seattle Pride Hockey Association in April 2019 as a way for LGBTQ + community members to participate and enjoy the sport without worry. or judgment.
“I wanted to be a voice to other people who might not be as brave as me,” he said.
SPHA will host Symetra’s first major event, The Seattle Pride Hockey Classic, on Saturday and Sunday at the Olympicview Arena in Mountlake Terrace, Washington.
SPHA members are among 56 players, mostly from the Pacific Northwest, but as far away as Los Angeles, competing on four teams during the two-day event. They’ll be on the ice for four months before expansion Seattle Kraken makes their next season’s NHL debut.
“It sold out in eight hours, and we have a very deep waiting list for 50 people,” Thompson said. “This will give us encouragement and motivation to expand the tournament next year.”
Krakens are among the organizations and companies supporting the event. The team’s broadcaster and radio-play-by-play announcer Everett Fitzhugh will be calling the championship on Sunday.
“We are excited that they are part of our community, we are excited to be able to strengthen and share their message with our wider community,” said Kyle Boyd, Kraken’s Director of Youth and Community Development. “About a year ago, we had our first event, it was a virtual event, and we talked about what it meant to be a‘ non-traditional ’hockey participant to cover different groups, but especially LGBTQ + youth and their allies.
“We talked about what it was like to have an inclusive hockey culture to show, to feel. So we’re excited that they’ve taken the next step and will bring the Seattle Pride Classic to life.”
Thompson and SPHA founder Joey Gale postponed holding the first classic in June 2020 due to concerns about a coronavirus that hit Washington State hard in the early months of the pandemic. The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the United States was reported north of Seattle in January 2020.
But as coronavirus vaccinations and COVID-19 levels fell, the association decided to move on to the classic this year, albeit a reduced event.
“Last year, we only had huge plans to get nearly 100 players,” Thompson said. “We had to count back because the state insists you don’t host tournaments and big gatherings. We can skate on a fine line and not classify it as a tournament because we’re not going to host social communities or mixers or gatherings.”
Still, Thompson hopes the classic will pay attention to SPHA and its mission. SPHA emphasizes that it is more of an organization that is open and inclusive to everyone, not just the LGBTQ + community.
“We hope we get a decent-sized, remote audience of people who may have never played hockey before,” he said. “We hope that seeing all kinds of skill levels of players, including brand new people who have only played for a month, attending the event will help motivate them and encourage them to feel like it’s a safe space to play.
“Seattle is a very progressive city, so the hockey community is very inclusive, hospitable and encouraging. We want to be a supporter of everyone – LGBT, Asians, Women, Asian Americans and Pacific Islands. We don’t want to give up that atmosphere of being exclusive.”
The classic gives a nod to LGBTQ + history by letting four teams name the LGBTQ + rights battle in honor of key people. The milk team is named after Harvey Milk, a late member of the San Francisco board of directors and California’s first openly elected official, who was assassinated on November 27, 1978.
Team Johnson honors Marsha P. Johnson, a gay liberation activist and key figure in the Stonewall riots in New York in 1969. Team Windsor honors Edie Windsor, a gay rights activist who raised the case that led to a major decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. in 2013, same-sex marriage was recognized for the first time.
Team Cox recognizes transgender actor and LGBTQ + activist Laverne Cox, who rose to fame for his role in the award-winning show “Orange is New Black.”
“We kind of wanted to highlight the important roles they played in the history of the community,” Thompson said. “We have a lot of allies playing in the tournament, so we wanted to make sure they knew who these people were and the roles they played in our rights we have today.”
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