The Seattle Thunderbirds have Luke Prokop, the only openly gay hockey player in pro or semi-pro hockey right now, but they chose not to hold a Pride Night this year. So fans said fine, we’ll hold our own.
Luke promoted it on Instagram but because it was unofficial, I didn’t expect anything from the players.
Except.
Every. Single. Player used Pride tape in some way for warmups. ALL OF THEM, stepping up in a way grown-ass men are afraid to do.
(Yes, that’s Dylan Guenther)
Several of them kept the tape on either their stick or socks for the entire game, including their goalie, Thomas Milic (who grinned at my kids shaking a huge Pride flag at him and flashed them a peace sign)
A couple more pictures under the cut, including Luke himself
WHY YOU SHOULD BE A YOTES FAN! (or at least like them) (Pt 1)
Social Media admin: the yotes social media admin has lost their mind and honestly i think they're on crack
2. Our jerseys look fly as fuck a.k.a when we lose we lose in style 😎
[⚫Home, ⚪Away, 🟣Alt]
3. Clayton Keller (sean avery's opp): No. 9 is the yotes superstar. He's the unofficial-official captain and his hockey is so fun to watch (also he's a pretty white boy with dimples, you🫵will love him, you have no 🙅♀️ say in this) (btw i'm never getting over that second picture)
4. Travis Dermott is an amazing person🤩. The NHL banned the use of pride tape and Travis Dermott gave the league a massive middle finger (he is literally my hero) (his interview where he spoke out against the NHL) (Via The Athletic)↴
5. the future: Listen i understand we might not be in Arizona in the next 2 years but idc. I'm here to talk about our draft picks. they currently have 34 picks in the next 3 drafts with 20 of them being in the 1st 3 rounds (this is fucking insane and I cannot wait for the future)
5.5) 2022 round 1 draft: This photo isn't relevant but it is to me because I love how short Maveric Lamourex (6'7ft, 2.01m) and Conor Geekie (6'3ft, 1.93m) make Logan Cooley (5'10ft, 1.78m) look
6. like every team you need someone who looks like their mascot and arizona is no exception. Allow me to introduce No. 29 Barrett Hayton and Howeler the Coyotes
7. No. 39, Connor Ingram my precious goalie🫶. He is important to me because he's open about his struggles with OCD & past addiction. And also he's a good goalie (that saves the yotes ass a lot of times) read more here
8. @/did_the_coyotes_lose on Insta or @/didtheyoteslose (twitter) is small community of yotes fans :) and also sometime the main title card is posted by the arizona account
(usually they lose two games after and go on a horrendous losing streak. When will the yotes admin learnt that posting did_the_coyotes_lose is a curse)
9. MIKE SMITH GOALIE GOAL!! HE SCORES WITH JUST 11 SECONDS TO GO! It got in the net with 0.1 seconds remaining on the clock. Needless to say, best goal in yotes history.
10. Father a.k.a Nick Bjugstad (No. 17) and his wife Jackie have a foundation called Goals For Kids, "Provides youth from all backgrounds with the skills to be successful" <- paraphrasing what their website says
11. Travis Boyd (No. 72) he is literally just a family man. That is kinda his whole thing, it's sweet.
12. Michael Carcone (No.53) knows how to serve on and off the ice because his grandfather owned a bar and a pizza joined (but genuinely i need to know if MC53 can serve drinks, it would be great if he can)
13. Logan Cooley my goat 🐐 all you really need to know about him is that he's just a little guy and is good at hockey
14. speaking of little guys clayton keller & logan cooley are both the second shortest (michael carcone is the shortest) but i would like to bring your attention to this photo, it's beautiful 🥹
15. barrett hayton & clayton keller are in love (bromance) (to add more BH29 profile picture on insta is a picture of them)
16. Lawson Crouse (No. 67, Alt captain) his nickname is "the sheriff" because of his style of play (not important but he's ginger and i felt the need to mention this because they're a very rare breed)
17. Dylan Guenther - another little guy (he's 6'2💀) - scored THE game winning goal for Canada at world juniors in the gold medal game against czechia (it was a beautiful moment)
18. Barrrett Hayton serves cunt on and off ice (i mean look at this goofy ass hat, only someone with confidence can pull this off)
19. Harvard graduate Alexander Kerfoot (No. 15, alt captain). He did a Q&A with The Athletic in 2019 and I think it say all you need to know
20. No. 63 Matias Maccelli, oh i love this man. He looks like a teddy bear and if you squeeze him for long enough he will squeak. And also he's good at hockey and is going to beat his season high points scored (49)
21. Jack McBain (No. 22) if i'm being honest idk much about him and i couldn't find out much. But something i know is that his insta is private and i respect that🫡
22. No. 38 Liam O'Brien or Big Tuna. He's an enforcer with the most penalty minutes in the league (133) (he's a ginger, a very rare breed) also he's going to be a girl dad 🔜
23. One Step Coyotes is a program that allows adults with special needs to play hockey (@/onestepcoyotes on insta)
24. The short leash line was a line with Keller - Schmaltz - Garland in the 2020-21 season. It was nicknamed this by rick tocchet and it has got to be my favourite line name
25. this video is actually everything to me 🥹
Lawson Crouse saying, "You go baby go ahead." changed my brain chemistry.
And the Cooley repeating to himself, "don't fall, don't fall, don't fall..." 😭😭😭😭
again so proud of the whole team and amazed at the brotherhood formed. all the love to the whole team, and respect to czechia for how far they came and the accomplishment they achieved for their country.