Can ‘Hockey Is For Everyone’ put politics aside for NHL, NHLPA?

During the euphoria of Fatima Al Ali’s trip to meet and skate with the Washington Capitals last week, owner Ted Leonsis found himself a little upset.

He loved seeing the reactions of Al Ali, her brother, and the Capitals players and fans, but this small tinge of disappointment was targeted mostly at himself and others who were caught off guard by her hockey skill, along with her knowledge of the game. The 27-year-old Al Ali is part of the UAE’s women’s national team and her visit was made possible based on a chance meeting with Washington legend Peter Bondra during his November trip to Abu Dhabi for a hockey camp and subsequent tournament.

“It was so unexpected, and then shame on us for saying ‘that was unexpected,’” Leonsis said. “That’s what was so amazing in talking to her and her brother, the world is so small. The way she loves the game, the way she talks about ‘I officiate. I work on my shot. I skate as much as I can.’ All the things that she was saying, it would be like my talking to someone at the Reston rink where I would take my son to play where he was growing up. That’s what was so enlightening I think, which was we think we know and we don’t. She was … it was just about hockey, it was just about the game.”

[Follow Puck Daddy on social media: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Tumblr]

Al Ali’s trip coincided with the NHL and NHLPA’s Hockey Is For Everyone month, which was made to push a variety of community-related events throughout February dedicated to inclusiveness for game. The Hockey Is For Everyone initiative that has been going on for several years, but the league and the NHLPA along with the member clubs decided to make it bigger and bolder with February’s celebration.

“We really redefined Hockey Is For Everyone this year so that we are kind of broadening the scope of how we’re talking about inclusion and really wrapping all of the different kind of, underserved groups under the umbrella of Hockey Is For Everyone and I don’t know if we had done that in the past,” NHL VP/special projects & corporate social responsibility Jessica Berman said.

“We obviously did a lot of work in the diversity space with each of these subgroups separately, but it hadn’t been coordinated and organized under the umbrella. And the reason we organized it under the umbrella and used February to celebrate it was to make it feel bigger, so I think it accomplished that objective.”

The decision to make a larger stamp with Hockey Is For Everyone started last summer when Berman took over the project and wanted to further build on the work that had been done before her.

“This was kind of the beginnings of kind of a new approach with a new group of people working on equality initiatives,” she said.

The NHLPA was also more than willing to lend increased support. Since the 2012 lockout, the League and the players’ association had figured out ways to work more closely on social initiatives and the groundwork was there to further their off-ice charitable partnership.

“I think we did five legacy projects coming out of the World Cup of Hockey and some of those legacy projects are actually on the calendar for this month that will provide an opportunity for people to play hockey that wouldn’t otherwise,” NHLPA spokesman Jonathan Weatherdon said. “I think following the discussions we had and working closely with Jessica and her team during the World Cup and then you added on coming into how we were going to kind of revise Hockey Is For Everyone, I think it’s just a start. I think you’ll see it even bigger and more jointly done next year as we move forward with it.”

Part of the ability for the NHL and NHLPA to go grander with their vision involved providing greater role in Hockey Is For Everyone to You Can Play, an organization that “works to ensure the safety and inclusion of all in sports – including LGBTQ athletes, coaches and fans.”

The growth of You Can Play over the last several years, along with its roots in hockey, made it an obvious partner. You Can Play was co-founded by Patrick Burke, a member of the NHL’s Department of Player Safety and son of Calgary Flames president Brian Burke. The league announced that each team will have a You Can Play ambassador to help bring social issues to light at the locker room level.

“It’s incredible. It’s absolutely incredible. It’s a testament to the leadership with the league, the PA and all of the clubs,” said Jillian Svensson, vice president, development and operations for You Can Play. “We have been really working hard together to make sure that we’re able to facilitate any questions on behalf of all of the clubs, the PA and the league. And so for us it has been a work in progress. To have this traction and to be able to come up with such a unified message is a testament to what the league is putting their stamp on and what they’re standing for.”

The Capitals have been one of the more aggressive organizations for Hockey Is For Everyone month, holding several events throughout February, beyond hosting Al Ali. On Feb. 1 they held Chinese Cultural Night. On Feb. 24 they will have their official Hockey Is For Everyone night. For that game goaltender Braden Holtby, who marched in the Capital Pride Parade last summer, will wear a special You Can Play mask.

“I think young people, and our players are young, gravitate towards purpose-based cause-oriented organizations,” Leonsis said. “We culturally said we want to be a double bottom-line business. Of course we want to win a Stanley Cup, of course we want to have the best media rights deal, of course we want to sell the most tickets. But if we can enrich communities, transform neighborhoods, if we can create lifelong memories for a fan-base by winning a championship – if we can touch and change people’s lives and we can metric that and scale it so that it’s everyone in the organization, that’s kind of a noble cause and I think it’s the right thing to do but it’s also good business.”

Despite the positive message of Hockey Is For Everyone, there has still been some public questioning around the way the program was branded for the month.

The decision by Montreal Canadiens forward Andrew Shaw to serve as a You Can Play ambassador was met with some skepticism because of his suspension in last year’s playoffs for using a gay slur.

Those who are involved with Hockey Is For Everyone believe Shaw has learned from what happened less than a year ago and this is an action that shows his personal progress.

“You have to remember, the whole focus of Hockey Is For Everyone month or even if you look at You Can Play is about educating people and making the game available to everyone, so if you can play, part of that is education,” Weatherdon said. “So to me, on the Shaw matter, that tells you everything to know that we’re heading in the right direction that we had an incident, an incident he apologized for and was obviously suspended for, and he has learned from it and has made amends and is working to try to create positive change, which is the whole reason You Can Play is in place.”

But when it comes to Hockey Is For Everyone, there’s been other speculation about the campaign’s motivations.

The last several weeks have seen global protests of many of President Donald Trump’s policies that have been against inclusion of minority groups, which has led to some curiosity about the coincidental timing of the increased scope for Hockey Is For Everyone.

The NHL assures that one has nothing to do with the other, and that Hockey Is For Everyone month had been in the works for a long time and wasn’t created as a political statement.

“We live in reality, so of course those conversations have happened. But most people who live in the real world also know that the launch of an initiative like this, the re-launch of an initiative like this, couldn’t have come together in a matter of weeks or months. So our planning for this dates way beyond any sort of political realities that are happening right now from a social standpoint in our country,” Berman said.

“That’s the first thing I think. The second thing is that we’ve been really clear in our messaging that this is not a political statement. This about inclusion and ensuring that people who want to be part of our sport, either as a player or a fan, are welcome and that we’re going to ensure that they have a safe, positive and inclusive environment to do so.”

When asked if Al Ali’s visit could be construed as political, Leonsis scoffed at the notion and said it was purely a hockey moment.

“I think our fans can smell [BS] a mile away. You can quote me on that. I think our fans can smell [BS] a mile away and that night was our 345th sellout in a row. We have loyal, hard-core, passionate fans. And they felt it, that this was this great moment in this family’s life and it was all around the shared love of the game, and they love the game, so that’s what the connection was about,” Leonsis said.

“It wasn’t about women’s rights. It wasn’t about immigration. It wasn’t about anything other than ‘it’s obvious you love the team, you love Alex Ovechkin, you love the game of hockey. We do too. Awesome, welcome to the family.’ That’s what it felt like.”

Whatever backlash the league and the PA have received has been drowned out by support from all levels of the hockey world. This has made them feel good about how they’ve re-branded the program and its greater levels of inclusion.

“Have there been people in social media on Twitter who say things that make me cringe and I wonder why they would say such a thing? Of course,” Berman said. “But overall I think the feedback and the engagement we’ve gotten from the fans has been overwhelmingly positive and from my perspective I couldn’t be happier with how it has gone.”

– – – – – – –

Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper

MORE FROM YAHOO SPORTS