LGBTQ+ hockey organizations see growth in return after pandemic

Avery Cordingley finally felt whole again in September.

The Madison Gay Hockey Association in Wisconsin resumed league play after shutting down in April 2020 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus.
Cordingley, MGHA's president, said a part of him was missing during the closure because of the lack of a hockey safe space, the absence of competition on the ice and a sense of camaraderie off it.
"Hockey is what gets me through the day," Cordingley said. "At the end of the day, I have my cats, but hockey is my passion. But hockey is my passion so to not be able to play, regardless of the reason, hurt. It was challenging."
MGHA was among several LGBTQ+ hockey organizations that returned to play after the pandemic prompted rink closures or league deciding that it was too dangerous to attempt having a season given the contagiousness of COVID-19.
Fueled by the advent of COVID-19 vaccines and the strong desire to compete against and socialize with fellow players, LGBTQ+ hockey is back in action and going strong on and off the ice.

The New York City Gay Hockey Association held its Chelsea Challenge tournament May 27-29 at Sky Rink at Chelsea Piers for the first time in two years.
"It was very exciting to get it back," said David Wender, NYCGHA's treasurer. "I don't know if it was our biggest ever, but it felt like one of our largest events in the history of the Chelsea Challenge. We had 17 teams (including one representing the NHL) this year. And to see everyone back together again was amazing."
Adam Sloboda, commissioner of the Toronto Gay Hockey Association, said players were so excited about getting back to league play, that it is weighing expansion.
"I don't know if it was it was pent up demand from COVID, but we're looking at expanding our league into possibly 13 teams," said Sloboda said, whose association has about 200 active members. "And we're ready to go, not that I'm saying without COVID because we unfortunately are still mid-pandemic. But we're ready to open the league and operate it as usual, just with more health protocols for people to be more aware in the dressing room or playing on the ice."
Without having ice time or in-person gatherings as the pandemic raged, LGBTQ+ hockey associations and leagues had to get creative to provide a sense of connectivity among its members.
The Toronto association held its large annual fundraiser via Zoom, complete with drag queens and a two-hour set of music recorded by a DJ who usually provides music for league games, Sloboda said.
"I think the first and foremost would be we really wanted to make sure that we played a role in having a positive impact on the mental health of our members," Sloboda said. "With COVID, it really forced people to internalize, staying at home, isolated. … Everybody was struggling, it wasn't a group of people or a few people. We all had our own personal struggles. I guess we wanted to create a sense of relatability that you weren't alone."

NYCGHA also held regular meetups and chats on Zoom, including a 2020 session with Ngozi Ukazu, author and illustrator of "Check, Please," a popular web comic and graphic novel about a gay former figure skater from Georgia who loves baking pies and playing hockey on his northern college's team.
But the Zoom sessions could only do so much, Cordingley said.
"It was not a satisfying thing just to see people on Zoom," Cordingley said. "As the months wore on, fewer and fewer people logged into the Zooms because it was exhausting. Zoom does not give you the same fulfillment that the experience of playing the sport you love does. Zoom is a means to an end. It was hard."
Some NHL teams played a role in helping keep LGBTQ+ hockey players engaged.
The New York Rangers invited eight NYCGHA members to Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final against the Tampa Bay Lightning on June 1 to kick off Pride Month. They invited NYCGHA members to attend watch parties for Games 3 and 4 at iconic Wollman Rink New York City and Bryant Park.
The team also provided 275 NYR Pride-branded pucks, a stick autographed by defenseman K'Andre Miller and a puck signed by forward Mika Zibanejad for the Chelsea Challenge.
The Rangers with Delta hosted about 60 NYCGHA players for a scrimmage at Madison Square Garden on March 25 with former players Dave Maloney and Steve Valiquette serving as honorary coaches.

The New York Islanders supported NYCGHA through its Hockey with a Heart program. NYCGHA received 25 percent of the proceeds from a 50/50 raffle during the Islanders' Pride Night game against the Vancouver Canucks on March 3. The association also received about $8,931 from a Pride Night Mystery puck raffle that game.
New Jersey Devils alumni Bruce Driver, Grant Marshall and Colin White participated a pregame skate at Mulberry Commons Winter Village Ice Rink across from the Prudential Center on Jan. 25 that included NYCGHA members. The Devils donated Prudential Center ice time to NYCGHA in 2021 that helped the association raise $1,700.
"All the NHL teams around here have been good to us," Wender said.
The Toronto Maple Leafs hosted 25 TGHA members at Scotiabank Arena for Toronto's Pride Game against the Washington Capitals on April 14; hosted 100 other TGHA and Women's Hockey Club of Toronto members for a Pride Game watch party at a local restaurant; donated game-used sticks to TGHA for auction in 2021; and provided 25 tickets to TGHA and WHCT for Toronto's 2020 Pride Game through You Can Play.
Sloboda said he never wants to return to those dark, uncertain early days of the pandemic in 2020. But he believes that TGHA, and perhaps other LGBTQ+ hockey associations, came out of it a little stronger.
"Because we had to figure out ways to survive where, in some cases, many organizations didn't," Sloboda said. "But we chose to fight on, and we were happy we did."