Joey Gale had been getting the question since 2019.
“When they’d hear about our organization or they find out about what we do, one of the first questions is, ‘Well, when are you starting a league?’” said Gale, vice president and co-founder of the Seattle Pride Hockey Association. “Or, ‘How do I participate in your league?’ They almost assume we have one.”
Now that league has come to fruition.
The Seattle Pride Hockey League launched with its first four games April 6 at Sno-King Ice Arenas in Kirkland, Washington, about 20 minutes northwest of Seattle. The NHL and NHLPA Industry Growth Fund donated money to help launch the league, which features four teams and 70 players participating in an 18-game season that runs through the end of August.
Eighty percent of the league’s participants represent the LGBTQ+ community, and the goal is to foster an inclusive environment for all hockey players.
“To finally be able to say that we indeed have a league, that it’s full of 70 participants that were majority LGBTQ+ players is so exciting for us,” Gale said. “The fact that we were able to do it so quickly, given the NHL’s financial support, it was sort of the ignition we needed to push this across the launch line.”
