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Team Trans takes the ice and turns some heads

An all-trans hockey team shines in their first-ever series.

By Karleigh Webb
twitter.com/@kat_fergie

They were perhaps the most unusual of pickup teams. A group of 16 hockey players from across North America, some of whom boast professional pedigrees. They met up in one of the USA’s premiere hockey towns to play a pioneering inaugural series this past weekend.

The common thread of this team? Every player was transgender.

They are known as Team Trans, a collaboration with Boston Pride Hockey. This past weekend they took on a BPH Select team two weekend series in the Boston area. It was Team Trans’ first go as a unit.

The team was led by trailblazers such as Harrison Browne, who retired from professional play after consecutive National Women’s Hockey League Championships in 2018.

Joining him is Jessica Platt, the first openly transgender woman to compete in a North American professional hockey league. Currently, she’s a part of the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association effort to rebuild a professional league on the continent.

Toronto Furies
Platt, shown here in the CWHL, had a key goal in razor-thin opening loss for Team Trans last Saturday.
Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty Images

“We often feel hostility and are forced to potentially quit playing sports,” Platt posted on Instagram: “I felt I had to at one point. So to have a series like this is incredible.”

These new pages of LGBTQ sports history began with a Saturday tilt on a sheet of ice in Cambridge, Mass. The match itself was a nip-and-tuck game. Twice in the third period, Team Trans fought to tie the game on goals by Platt and Heather Galla, but a late BPH push provided a game-winning goal. Te BPH Selects escaped 4-3, but the fans in attendance gave Team Trans a rousing ovation.

Their place in history was what they won, and more than made up for a tough loss.

The Sunday game was a tougher climb. Again, the BPH Selects got out of the gates after a scoreless first period and took the lead in the second. Team Trans answered with a goal to cut the lead to 2-1, but their opposition carried the second period with 3 more goals and then cruised home to an 8-3 win.

Of course, the scoreboard is secondary in this series. From this Massachusetts arena to social media digital domains, trans sports fans felt this team achieved a miracle on ice.

And while this may have been the first weekend for Team Trans, it undoubtedly will not be their last.

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