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NEAR WEST SIDE — Andrew Sobotka stopped playing hockey in high school because, as a closeted gay player, he felt he didn’t belong. More than two decades later, Sobotka proudly hits the ice every week with a rainbow hockey stick in hand.
Sobotka returned to the sport he loved in 2009 after he learned about the Chicago Gay Hockey Association, a group he’s since helped grow from a team of about 20 to nearly 100 players. Sobotka was recognized for his work with the association earlier this spring when he was named one of the three finalists for the National Hockey League’s Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award.
While Sobotka did not win the $25,000 top prize, he was awarded $5,000, which he donated to the Chicago Gay Hockey Association. He said that being named a finalist and a promotional video the NHL produced to spotlight him has helped attract more attention to the team.
“My hockey team are the people I call first for everything,” the Forest Glen resident said. “They’re my chosen family.”
Sobotka, a Detroit native, has been around ice for as long as he can remember. His father drove a Zamboni at Detroit Red Wings games for decades, and Sobotka started playing organized hockey when he was just 5.
But Sobotka said that as he got older, the “blatant misogyny, homophobia and racism” in the locker rooms made the sport feel toxic at times.
“Those high school years were tough,” the 39-year-old said.
He stopped playing for a few years, but kept his gear and played intermittently when he was a student at Michigan State University. In 2009, two years after he moved to Chicago, a former college classmate convinced Sobotka to check out the Chicago Gay Hockey Association.
The association had barely enough players for a full team at the time, but Sobotka said the support and encouragement he experienced hooked him right away. He served as president of the association from 2010 to 2024.
Started in 2002, the Chicago Gay Hockey Association is one of many gay hockey teams across the country. The Los Angeles Blades became the first openly gay and lesbian team in the U.S. in 1985. Most major cities in North America now have gay hockey teams, while and Madison, Wisconsin, and Toronto have their own gay leagues.
During Sobotka’s 14 years as president of the association, he helped quadruple the team’s size and focused on the its social and charitable efforts.
The team partners with Hockey on Your Block, a nonprofit that offers free hockey and ice skating classes to Chicago youth, hosts regular watch parties for different NHL games and internally fundraises to help members with equipment costs and membership fees.
The Chicago Gay Hockey Association formed a partnership with the Chicago Blackhawks Foundation in 2010 after the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup. The association invited the Blackhawks to join them in the Chicago Pride Parade with the Stanley Cup. According to EPSN, it was the first time a professional sports trophy had been featured in a pride parade.
The Stanley Cup returned to Chicago Pride when the Black Hawks won it again in 2015, Sobotka said.
The association is hosting a Market Days Classic hockey tournament at the Blackhawks’ Fifth Third Arena in August, and Sara Guderyahn, the Blackhawks’ executive vice president of social impact and civic affairs, was the person who nominated Sobotka for the Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award.
“One of the inspiring things I think about in terms of Andrew’s leadership at Chicago Gay Hockey Association is he wanted to give back to the community,” Guderyahn told the NHL.
Paige Murray joined the Chicago Gay Hockey Association shortly after she moved to Chicago two years ago.
The Boston native started playing hockey when she was just 3 years old. Up until high school, she played on the boys’ team. She said she can still remember hearing aggressive shouts from the stands like, “She’s a girl, hit her!”
Murray met Sobotka at a friends and family skate outing. She said he kept following up, trying to get her to join the association.
“I felt welcome and I felt wanted,” Murray said. “It’s my home away from home. If it wasn’t for CGHA, I probably would have wound up moving back to Boston.”
Murray, who is now co-vice president of the CGHA Board, said Sobotka has been “relentless with recruitment.”
When she joined, the Chicago Gay Hockey Association only had one team. They launched a second team about a year ago and are gearing up to launch a third this fall.
Murray said the group is now focused on adding more coaches and training opportunities so players get more time on the ice.
Chris Hall, the other co-vice president of the CGHA Board, has also been playing hockey all his life. He said playing with the association has allowed him to enjoy all the fun parts of the sport without the excessive competitiveness.
“I’m having way more fun than when I played competitively in high school. It’s similar, hockey players are still hockey players and the game is still the same, but this time we all have the same goal,” Hall said. “The world’s a scary place, but we can take an hour every week and have fun with each other and then go drink some beer.”
The Chicago Gay Hockey Association, which also includes straight allies, accepts all players, even those who have never skated before. Sobotka encouraged anyone interested to give the team a try.
“We want you here,” he said.
You can learn more about the Chicago Gay Hockey Association and how to join on its website.
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