Gabriel scores big win for inclusion with use of Pride Tape in NHL game

But to Jeff McLean, it was a moment in LGBTQ history.Gabriel, a forward for the New Jersey Devils, had rainbow-colored Pride Tape wrapped around the top of his stick on Feb. 25, when he scored the winning goal against the Montreal Canadiens in a game that was nationally-televised in Canada.He became the first NHL player to use Pride Tape in the game, sending a visible message of support of the LGBTQ community's quest for inclusion and acceptance in society."I had goosebumps," said McLean, a co-founder Pride Tape. "Kurtis had just single-handedly scored for acceptance, equality and inclusion in sport."Gabriel thought it would be "kind of nice and people might appreciate" that he had the Pride Tape on his stick after fellow Devils players wrapped their stick blades with it for warmups on their Pride Night game at the Prudential Center, but switched back to their usual black or white tape for the game.He quickly learned how powerful his gesture was when he returned to the locker room following the Devils' 2-1 win against the Canadiens."Coming back in the locker room, seeing my phone, I got messages not only from friends and family about the goal, but messages from social media, all sorts of different people and platforms about how I was using the tape and that I was advocating gay rights and how it's good for a hockey player to be doing that," Gabriel said.The 26-year-old forward kept the tape on his stick for the rest of the season, not out of superstition -- he didn't score another goal after that -- but as a continuous message of support for the LGBTQ community.The message is also personal. [RELATED: NHL, NHLPA to celebrate Pride Month] McLean, a hockey fan, said they decided to focus on hockey and decided that rainbow-colored tape would be the perfect product to convey a message "which speaks volumes without having (its users) say a word."The questions were could they actually make a functional multi-colored tape that looked good on a stick and who would use it?They raised more than $50,000 to manufacture the first 10,000 rolls of tape through a Kickstarter campaign that included contributions from Brian Burke, who was then the president of hockey operations for the Calgary Flames.