Pride tape makers disappointed with NHL's ban - ESPN

The makers of Pride Tape are «extremely disappointed» by the NHL's decision to ban players from using the rainbow-colored stick tape in support of the LGBTQ+ community this season.

«The league has used language in recent days that would prohibit the tape from any proximity to NHL hockey. We hope the league — and teams — will again show commitment to this important symbol of combating homophobia,» Pride Tape said in a statement.

The NHL announced in June that teams were no longer allowed to wear «specialty» jerseys during warmups, practices or games. The unilateral ban followed a season in which several players refused to take part in warmups when their teams wore Pride night jerseys. Defenseman Ivan Provorov, then of the Philadelphia Flyers, was the first player to opt out in January, citing his Russian Orthodox religion. Because of these objections, individual teams, including the New York Rangers, Minnesota Wild and Chicago Blackhawks, decided not to have any players wear Pride jerseys in warmups.

The ban on «specialty» jerseys goes beyond Pride nights to include those supporting causes such as Hockey Fights Cancer and jerseys commemorating Black and Latino heritage months and military appreciation.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said that the league's new policy has been «terribly misunderstood and mis-portrayed» and that the NHL still encourages «specialty nights where groups of all different types are honored and consciousness is raised.» The NHL also donates funds to groups involved in the specialty nights.

«What happened last year was that the issue of who wanted to wear a particular uniform on a particular night overshadowed everything that our clubs were doing. So what we said, instead of having that distraction