Growing up in Edmonton, Daylen Mitansky didn’t feel like the hockey rink was a place that would welcome him. “Don’t say gay was a huge thing,” he said. “Jocks were never [openly] gay, you know. It was just unheard of.” He eventually found his way onto the ice in 2017 at 29, playing with an LGBTQ hockey team in Calgary. He’s now on the board of the Calgary Inclusive Hockey Association, which includes two teams — the Pioneers and the Villagers. Mitansky marvels at how far hockey has come since he was a kid, and at seeing the NHL make strides toward inclusion. But now he’s watching with a bit of concern that the league is taking a step backward.