How Montreal Victoire's Erin Ambrose is using fashion to stand up for the 2SLGBTQ+ community

In a photo shoot, Montreal Victoire defender Erin Ambrose sports a bucket hat and a grey t-shirt that shows a fist in the air, covered in a hockey glove and draped in a rainbow flag.

"Be you," is written on the glove.

It's an eye-catching shirt, and in her second year of creating her own Pride apparel line with CCM Hockey, it's the defender's favourite design so far.

"I just think it's a very powerful thing," Ambrose said in an interview with CBC Sports. "You think of just the symbol of a fist up in the air and what that does stand for."

For Ambrose, it's not just a fashion statement. The hockey-gloved fist in the air is a sign of protest, an act of standing up for a community that's increasingly been under attack over the last couple of years.

It's the boldest item that's been released as part of Ambrose's collaboration with CCM Hockey so far, and one that Ambrose is proud to wear.

"It's so important because as welcome as I feel in the community, as accepted as I feel in my day-to-day life, I know that I am still a minority in saying that," Ambrose said.

For Ambrose, it's also a way of merging two parts of her.

There's Ambrose the hockey player, an Olympic gold medallist and 2024 Defender of the Year in the PWHL. You're probably used to seeing her in Team Canada colours or a Victoire jersey.

But there's also Ambrose the person, an openly gay woman who wears her heart on her sleeve, and is always thinking of ways she can make the 2SLGBTQ+ community safer for everyone.

The shirts, hats and sweat suit that are part of her clothing line reflect that part of Ambrose — someone who's grown in what she wears and how she feels comfortable representing herself.

"As I've gotten older, I also am getting more comfortable wearing the