Dear Hockey of Tomorrow reader,

We've got some really exciting news to announce: our digital publishing platform will go live in exactly a week!

The support you've provided for this newsletter made it evolve into a full-fledge vision of changing the conversation in hockey.

We want to create a home for everything innovation + culture + social + positive impact within hockey. The hockey, without the hockey.

We're proud to have you join this journey. More on this next week though.

Until then, here are the top stories captivating the hockey world:

• Alphabet Sports Collective launch a hit

• NHL Pride Nights in jeopardy

• Hockey Canada makes bold ban

• MySports App for Swiss Hockey

Massive support for new community

Brock McGillis has been waging the good fight for years now, and it's all culminating into meaningful real action. The passionate and well-versed LGBTQ+ activist was the very first openly gay professional hockey player and he has taken bold action to try and make the hockey space more inclusive and welcoming.

McGillis understood early that community will change community and that it will require some bite to his approach. He's assembled a star-lineup of board members to make an impact with this nonprofit focused on creating a welcoming hockey culture free of fear.

Take that in for a second. Free of fear. That's the baseline. How can we not be in favour of reducing fear across hockey?

Left to right, CAA agent Bayne Pettinger, Ryan O'Reilly, Christine Simpson, Brock McGillis, Kurtis Gabriel and Mark Fraser attended the launch of the Alphabet Sports Collective.

Congrats to the whole organization!

Uh-oh: NHL Pride Nights a thing of the past?

Pride Nights are great when they sell jerseys, but what about when they actually work and make an impact in the hockey world? Well, in that case, they need to be re-evaluated, according to commissioner Bettman.

Let's be fair: there's been a tremendous amount of work accomplished across the past few years by the hockey community to level up the playing field and help welcome everybody and anybody in the game.

We can't throw the baby out with the bath water. But we're not anywhere near where we could be, or should be. Hockey is clearly not for everyone. With that being said, it's not an exaggeration to say the NHL has drawn the ire of everybody, being called "woke" by outlets, pinned down by Tucker Carlson a few months ago but conversely challenged by those calling out hypocrisy in their support of players backing out of Pride Night involvement.

It seems that we're in this mess not because of red vs blue politics, or the rainbow flag.

Instead, it was all about how quickly and easily can they get the green. You can't please everyone at the same time and the balancing act will keep getting more and more complicated.

Here's to hoping we keep moving forward positively with Pride Nights, in a respectful manner for everyone involved.

Hockey Canada blacklisted the 2018 junior roster

In a proactive bold move, Hockey Canada has barred all 2018 world junior participants from international play until the sexual assault investigation that involves that team is completed.

Although this might seem extreme, it seems extreme measures are necessary.

A report on the problematic situation by a private firm was to stay private, but the House of Commons committee has decided otherwise a few days ago.

The group is forcing Hockey Canada to hand over the paperwork. Finally, we're waking up.

New app for Swiss Hockey streaming

In some tech news, a new app was launched across Switzerland which gives access to all of the National League hockey games, replays and provides fan engagement opportunities.

The National League has been quite proactive in providing access to the game in different forms, lowering the barrier for entry to experience the game.

Instead of the classic quick cash-grab monetization approach, they're facilitating ease of access and ease of experience as a gateway to wider fan adoption.

We love that.

That’s it for this edition of the Hockey of Tomorrow newsletter. As we continue to highlight the best, most diverse, and most interesting, off-ice hockey stories, we would appreciate any feedback you might have.

Thanks again for reading this edition of Hockey of Tomorrow.

Tom Sychterz, Founder

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