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Bruins star & staunch LGBTQ+ ally Brad Marchand shines during Pride Night

By · 11 comments · Updated on December 8, 2023
Boston Bruins player Brad Marchand celebrating a goal on the ice.

The Boston Bruins are the latest NHL team to hold an LGBTQ+ inclusion night, despite the league’s misguided efforts to tamper down Pride events.

On Sunday, the Bruins hosted their annual “Hockey is for Everyone Night,” celebrating the NHL’s wide array of fans. Before puck drop, they welcomed representatives of inclusive hockey organizations onto the ice for a pre-game ceremony.

Following a smattering of controversies, the NHL banned the use of Pride jerseys and tape, only to reverse course when Arizona Coyotes player Travis Dermott openly defied the edict. Despite the league’s ruling, the defenseman wrapped his stick in Pride tape, anyway.

Days later, the NHL reversed the errant policy. (For some reason, the league is still enforcing aspects of its advocacy-uniform ban, threatening Minnesota Wild goalie Marc Andre-Fleury for wearing a mask celebrating his wife’s Native American heritage.)

Multiple Bruins players followed Dermott’s lead Sunday, also wrapping their sticks in rainbow tape.

Fans lauded them for the gesture, outside of a few homophobic outliers.

One of the best teams in hockey, the Bruins defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-1. As an added bonus, the first NHL player who refused to wear Pride regalia last season, Ivan Provorov, plays for Columbus.

The star of Sunday’s affair was Brad Marchand, who pulled off a hat trick (scoring three goals in one game). It was a well-timed triumph, considering the team captain is a vocal supporter of LGBTQ+ people.

A few years back, the Stanley Cup champion lashed out at a fan who fired off a homophobic barb against him on social media.

The fan was so humiliated, he wound up deleting his account.

“This derogatory statement is offensive to so many people around the world,” posted Marchand. “[You’re] the kind of kid parents are ashamed of.”

Marchand is also on the record saying he would accept an out gay teammate, along with the rest of the locker room.

“Guys would accept that, no question,” he said. “We’re a team in the [dressing] room and a family. It doesn’t matter what different beliefs guys have, or where they come from, or whatever the case may be. Guys would accept it. Again, in the room we’re a family. That’s the way it is on a hockey team, and that’s the way it will always be.”

As a team leader, the 15-year veteran’s open attitude towards inclusion spreads to other players. Star forward David Pastrnak, for example, once wore a rainbow shirt to the Celtics’ Pride Night.

The Bruins, who share TD Garden with the Celtics, decked out the arena with rainbow balloons.

With a 17-4-3 record, the Bruins are outpacing the rest of the NHL on the ice.

They’re doing the same in terms of Pride, too.

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