Marc-Andre Fleury wears Native American Mask despite NHL Ruling
In Friday’s matchup against the Colorado Avalanche, Minnesota Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury paid tribute to his wife by wearing a Native American heritage mask. But because of ruling from the NHL earlier this year, Fleury wasn’t able to wear it, but in classic Fleury fashion, he refused.
As part of Native American Heritage Night and to honor his wife, who is native, Marc-Andre Fleury had a custom-designed mask created by Cole Redhorse Taylor. Mask quotes his dad on back, has names of his kids.
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) November 24, 2023
He’s bummed the NHL has informed him he can’t even wear in warmups pic.twitter.com/wTR1BtkLOI
Only weeks back before the start of the 2023-24 NHL season, the NHL updated its rules regarding theme nights. The NHL didn’t rule out theme nights altogether, but they ruled our players promoting those certain themes, including Hockey Fights Cancer, Native American Heritage night and celebrating pride. As expected, the community didn’t take it too well, leading to players not listening to these rules and going forward to promote the themes.
One of those players is Arizona Coyotes defenseman Travis Dermott, who used Pride tape on his stick during a game earlier this year.
“You don’t really want to go against rules that are put in place by your employer, but there’s some people who took some positive things from it,” Dermott said to Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports in late October. “That’s kind of what I’m looking to impact.“
“You want to have everyone feel included and that’s something that I have felt passionate about for a long time in my career. It’s not like I just jumped on this train. It’s something that I’ve felt has been lacking in the hockey community for a while. I feel like we need supporters of a movement like this; to have everyone feel included and really to beat home the idea that hockey is for everyone.”
After an outcry from players, the NHL would then revoke their ban on pride tape for “social causes.” But rules against other forms of promoting are in full effect.
Fleury’s new mask features his wife and member of an indigenous tribe in Canada Veronique Larosee Fleury and a quote from his late father Andre in French. Should he avoid punishment? Let us know in the comments!
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