The Detroit Red Wings, in partnership with the NHL and the National Hockey League Players’ Association (NHLPA), hosted the Hockey is for Everyone celebration at the award-winning Little Caesars Arena as the Red Wings hosted the Calgary Flames.

The Red Wings invited about 100 guests from several local and national organizations to the game, including:

• Affirmations, a Ferndale, Michigan-based nonprofit that provides a welcoming space for people of all sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions, and cultures.
• Representatives from the Detroit Hockey Rink Collaborative, a component of the Detroit Red Wings’ Learn, Play, Score program.
• Members of the adaptive sled hockey team who represented the Detroit Red Wings in the USA Hockey Sled Classic lined up alongside Red Wings players during the singing of the National Anthem.
• Flint Inner-City Youth Hockey Program founder and 2019 Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award-winner Rico Phillips performed the ceremonial puck drop.

Hockey sticks with rainbow-colored “pride tape” used by the Red Wings players during pregame warm-ups are being auctioned at www.DetroitRedWings.com/Auction through Sunday, March 1. Proceeds benefit Affirmations and You Can Play, a national organization dedicated to ensuring equality, respect and safety for all athletes.