Flyers’ Pride Night ‘trending in the right direction’ a year after the Ivan Provorov controversy

Almost exactly a year ago, the Flyers’ Pride Night celebration was overshadowed by one player’s decision not to participate. There were no such distractions from this year’s event, when the Flyers hosted the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday.

The concourse was decorated with rainbow balloons, Gritty skated around with a Pride flag, and members of the community were honored throughout the night during the Flyers’ 3-2 win. The team gifted tickets to 13 LGBTQ+ organizations from across Philadelphia to be a part of the festivities.

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For Flyers forward Scott Laughton, advocacy goes beyond Pride Night, as he has been an ambassador for the You Can Play project for years and regularly hosts members of the LGBTQ+ community at games. But Wednesday was a particularly special occasion, as he invited his previous guests from the last three years to Pride Night and met with them afterward.

“It’s not very hard. It’s five minutes after a game, go meet some new fans. And that’s the biggest thing for me, I think, is the new fans that it’s brought to the game,” Laughton said. “A lot of the people that I meet after games, it’s their first time coming to a Flyers game, and they always seem to want to come back. So I think that’s the main thing about this whole thing, is creating a welcoming environment and to grow the game.

“I think, through this whole initiative, it’s grown it a little bit. And if I can play a part in that, it’s a huge success.”

Last year, former Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov sat out warmups rather than wear a Pride jersey as part of the themed night supporting the LGBTQ+ community. Provorov cited his religious beliefs for his decision and ultimately played in the game that night.

“I focused on the good aspects, I think,” Laughton said. “Obviously, there was a story that people had to write about that maybe overshadowed it, but we still had a bunch of police officers, firefighters, everyone that came out, met a lot of great people. So I felt like it was a great success; obviously got a little bit overshadowed, but that’s going to happen nowadays on social media. Even some of the tweets that I get about it, it’s pretty disgusting, but it happens. And that’s the world we live in.”

While Provorov was the first NHL player to take that stance publicly, other players around the league followed suit and sat out their respective teams’ Pride Day celebrations — including Flyers defenseman Marc Staal, who then was a Florida Panther. This culminated in the NHL banning all themed jerseys from being worn in official warmups.

The Flyers previously also had worn themed jerseys for Hockey Fights Cancer Night and Military Appreciation Night.

“To be honest, it didn’t really affect me that much last year,” Laughton said. “I thought it still was a great night.”

James van Riemsdyk partnered with Laughton on many of his Pride initiatives when they were teammates. With van Riemsdyk now on the Bruins, other players have stepped in to join Laughton in his support for the cause. On Tuesday, Joel Farabee and Cam Atkinson accompanied him on a visit to the Mazzoni Center, an LGBTQ+ health and wellness center in Center City.

Flyers Charities made a $25,000 donation to the Mazzoni Center in support of its cancer program, while Laughton and Dan Hilferty individually made $5,000 contributions.

“It was really cool. We’ve had those conversations throughout in this room, kind of what it’s all about, and we’ll continue it that way,” Laughton said. “I think it’s come a long way. And I’ve said it before, still got a ways to go. But we’re trending in the right direction.”

In addition to jerseys during warmups, the NHL initially banned the use of rainbow “Pride tape” at the beginning of this season. When the new regulations were made public, Laughton told media that he would display the tape regardless of league action, and “if they want to say something, they can.”

The NHL ended up walking back the ban after Arizona’s Travis Dermott used a strip of Pride tape on the shaft of his stick during a game. Rather than impose a punishment on Dermott, the NHL rescinded the ban, allowing players to “voluntarily represent social causes with their stick tape throughout the season.”

“I think you have to take a stand in something you believe in and something that is close to you,” Laughton said. “And it means a lot to me. So that’s something I was going to do regardless, and I’m very happy that they changed it. It just brings even that much more awareness to how this community sometimes is treated.”

» READ MORE: Flyers’ Scott Laughton says he’ll use Pride stick tape even as the NHL bans it

Several Flyers opted to put Pride tape on the blades or shafts of their sticks for warmups on Wednesday night. Signed jerseys and some of the sticks used in warmups, including those belonging to Laughton, Carter Hart, and Travis Konecny, are available for auction.