Uconn hockey team is reaching out

Joins initiative to end homophobia

Storrs— Gay and play hockey?

You’re welcome at the University of Connecticut.

That is the message the school’s men’s hockey team is sending out in two videos for a program called You Can Play.

The goal of the international initiative, which was launched in March, is to work to end homophobia in hockey.

“We thought it was a great idea to show the community how we feel about homosexuality in sports, and let people know that anyone can play on our team,” said Uconn captain Sean Ambrosie.

The public service videos are posted on Youtube and the Uconn website, and are scheduled to be featured in the coming days on the You Can Play site.

In them, the players pledge to support “any teammate, gay or straight, that can help us win games.”

The program was created by Patrick Burke, a scout for the Philadelphia Flyers and son of Toronto Maple Leafs General Manager Brian Burke. It was launched in memory of Patrick’s brother Brendan, who died in a car accident in 2010.

Brendan made headlines when he came out in November 2009 while serving as the manager of Miami of Ohio’s college hockey team.

So far about 100 athletes, including 50 from the NHL, have signed on to pledge they would play with gay or transgender athletes, Patrick Burke said.

But Uconn is one of just eight teams have joined as a group.

“When a whole team stands up to do something like this, that’s very important,” Patrick Burke said. “For a young gay hockey player, who is looking for a place to play hockey, he knows that Uconn is an option, that he will be safe at Uconn, that he will be accepted at Uconn.”

Uconn coach Bruce Marshall said the videos were not done to be “a nice beacon for the university.” He said it was the players’ idea, and he told them not to do it unless they were ready to stand behind their words and deal with any negative fallout.