Vancouver Canucks Welcome Trans Goalie Onto Ice for His Sweet 16

The Vancouver Canucks invited a 16-year-old transgender goalie to take the ice alongside NHL goaltender Cory Schneider at the Canucks' January 23 game against the Calgary Flames, reports OutSports. The date also happened to be the teenager's 16th birthday. 

Cory Oskam, a 10th-grader and transgender man who has been on hormone blockers since age 9, usually plays goalie for his Brittania Secondary School. Last week Oskam was invited onto the ice alongside the professional goalie for the rendition of the national anthem, "Oh, Canada," as part of Minor Hockey Week at Vancouver's Rogers Arena. 

A die-hard fan, Oskam told the Canucks he chose his first name as an homage to team's goalie, Schneider. 

“I’m a really big card collector, I was collecting all kinds of cards and my mom said to pick my favourite and collect him," Oskam told the Canucks. "I opened a pack of cards and pulled a really sick Cory Schneider card. It just clicked; I needed to start collecting him. Around the time I started collecting Schneider, it was time to pick a name. I went through a handful: Will, William, Matt, Matthew, none of them really felt right, then my mom suggested Cory and I started using it around the house. It felt very right. Cory felt very right."

The Canucks have a long record of being LGBT-friendly, according to OutSports, and published a lengthy article about Oskam's inclusion on the team's official website.