The Blackhawks Ice Center was filled with laughter, skate aids and occasional falls during an open skate that took place on Saturday, Feb. 21, as part of a collaboration between Chicago Pride Hockey and the Brave Space Alliance. The event, primarily marketed towards the LGBTQ+ community, is meant to be a safe space for adults who want to make more friends without the fear of not being accepted by their teammates.
All proceeds of the event went to the Brave Space Alliance, which aims to create a sense of belonging for the queer people in Chicago, specifically for those on the South Side.
Knowing how to play hockey is not required to be a part of the growing community of Chicago Pride Hockey. Wanting to learn and have fun is the only thing needed.
Zack Dessent and Shelby Domabyl-Deiters, who helped organize the event as league representatives, work together to review the interest forms that come in online and oversee community engagement. Both said that after the rise of “Heated Rivalry,” interest and participation in the league has grown drastically.
“A lot of those forms said they’ve been wanting to play for years or thought that this is something that they wanted to do but didn’t feel like they had the space for it, and the show kind of prompted that,” Domabyl-Deiters said.
Being able to give back to the community in a physical way is incredibly important to all the members of the league, Dessent said. So when developing manager of the Brave Space Alliance Troy Taylor approached the group with the idea of doing an open skate fundraiser, everyone was on board.
“I feel like it shows that we care about people, and we’re not just saying it to save face. This is a community for everyone, and we’re going to protect everyone,” Dessent said, noting the importance of fighting against policies that harm others even when they do not harm him personally.
Similarly, Taylor said it was important for people to come out and support the community while also being joyous in a safe space. “We want to just bring people together and just feel queer joy during such a really heavy time. … Our whole motto is being able to help the whole person to take one braver step back into the world,” Taylor said.
Building up a community is important to players in the league, whether it’s through adding more players to the team or meeting people who want to support from the sidelines. Recent alumna Ellie Bradley was one of the attendees of the open skate who came with a few friends after hearing about it on Instagram.
“I think it’s so necessary to be queer in every space to make sure everybody’s taking up space everywhere so no one can ignore us,” Bradley said.
Carmella Cain along with her husband Devin Butridge came to show their five-year-old son Graham Butridge how important inclusivity and belonging are for everyone, Cain said. As young Butridge begins to play hockey, his parents want to make sure he grows up as a leader and puts in effort to make sure everyone feels included.
“Winning and improving are important, but being a respectful teammate, supporting others, and showing good character is what really lasts,” Cain said.
Domabyl-Deiters said she felt an immense sense of pride in helping the Brave Space Alliance put on such an impactful community event.
“I spend a lot of time at that rink, and I’ve never seen that many queer or that diverse of a group on the ice at the same time, and that was really cool to see,” Domabyl-Deiters said.
Hockey has not always been an inclusive sport and still struggles to be inclusive to this day. Currently, no players in the National Hockey League are publicly out as queer.
As of November 2025, there have been 36 openly LGBTQ+ players in the Professional Women’s Hockey League out of 206 players currently active in the league. In the history of the NHL, there has never been an openly LGBTQ+ player in the league. Representation is key to being able to challenge these statistics and increase diversity in the NHL by any amount, Domabyl-Deiters said.
“I never had a lot of fun playing I would say,” Dessent said about his experience playing hockey growing up being gay and not being out. “I was always worried that I would be outed, or someone would say something. So I always kept myself separate, and because of that, I was never able to actually make friends playing hockey.”
Despite his hard past with the sport, Dessent joined the Chicago Pride Hockey in June 2021 to join a community he has always wanted to be a part of. Since then, he has watched the league — and the friendships around him — grow continually.
“If you want to have fun on the ice, you have to have fun off the ice too,” Dessent said.
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