Hoffman on Why He Used Pride Tape

Mike Hoffman made a choice.

Told before the San Jose Sharks’ Pride Game on Saturday afternoon against the Buffalo Sabres that there would be rainbow tape available for the players to use during warm-ups, the veteran winger chose to show his support.

“We’re inclusive, hockey is for everyone,” Hoffman told San Jose Hockey Now. “It’s nice that we can kind of show our way of advertising, do our job to help out as much as possible.”

Hoffman joined Anthony Duclair, Kyle Burroughs, and Fabian Zetterlund as San Jose Sharks players who opted to use Pride tape during warm-ups.

Zetterlund and William Eklund also guest-coached LGBTQ+ adult hockey team, the San Francisco Earthquakes, in their second-annual scrimmage against Sharks employees at SAP Center last Wednesday.

Other San Jose Sharks players showed support by signing Pride jerseys for Side by Side, a Bay Area organization that reaches “nearly 2,500 children, young adults, and family members per year with much-needed services related to behavioral and mental health, early intervention in schools, LGBTQIA+ support, transitional housing for foster youth, and special education.”