Playing in the New York area, the Rangers and Islanders ditched the idea of wearing rainbow-colored jerseys during their respective LGBTQ+ awareness night.
• Read also: Ivan Provorov: ‘The players are free to decide’
• Read also: Ivan Provorov case: “It will unite the team” – John Tortorella
As reported Wednesday by the daily “New York Post”, the two organizations of the National Hockey League (NHL) were to perform this week: Thursday for the Islanders, who will host the Vancouver Canucks, and Friday for the Blueshirts. , who have a date with the Seattle Kraken. However, possibly scalded by the case of Philadelphia Flyers defender Ivan Provorov, they chose to leave these special bibs behind, without providing too many explanations. Among the Islanders, there will be no jerseys and rainbow ribbons during the warm-up period.
Provorov refused to don the LGBTQ+ uniform ahead of the Jan. 17 game once morest the Anaheim Ducks. The Russian justified everything by his religious beliefs and the story did not seem to bother his head coach John Tortorella, saying the next day that she will weld the ranks of his team.
“Provy did nothing wrong. If you disagree with him, that doesn’t mean he’s done anything wrong,” the pilot said at a press briefing.
Lots of reactions
Openly gay, players’ agent Bayne Pettinger was unimpressed with Provorov and the Flyers. “We’re taking steps forward with all of these initiatives and we’re starting to show some good signs of improvement within the game, and then people are using their platform to attack this and say you’re not welcome here,” he said in an interview on Sportsnet’s “Jeff Marek Show”.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman also commented on the controversy, saying it should not overshadow his organization’s initiatives.
“You know our goals and our values, as well as our intentions, whether at league or team level. However, we must respect a few individual choices. And some are more willing than others to get involved in causes. Contributing to that of diversity and openness means understanding these differences,” he said.
