For the first time in at least five years, the Stars will not host a Pride Night. The Stars have hosted a night dedicated to LGBTQ+ inclusivity in February or March of each of their last five seasons. 

Instead, the team will host a game dubbed “Hockey Unites Us: Women in Sports Night” on March 23 against the Carolina Hurricanes. 

“The new Hockey Unites Night allows our organization to use our platform to celebrate and support a different underrepresented community each season,” Stars spokesperson Joe Calvillo said in a statement. 

The Stars declined to comment further when asked why the team chose not to have a Pride Night in addition to a women in sports night. 

The NHL leaves the decision up to the teams for which theme nights to host. The Stars will have events in honor of Black history, Hockey Fights Cancer, Noche Mexicana, the military, first responders and teachers but are set to be one of the only NHL teams to not host a Pride Night this season.  

Last season, the Carolina Hurricanes, Los Angeles Kings and Utah Mammoth were the only three NHL teams to not host a night to celebrate LGBTQ+ inclusion. The Boston Bruins have never hosted a dedicated Pride Night but include the LGBTQ+ community in their broader Hockey Is For Everyone celebration held annually since 2017-18, according to reporting by The Athletic. 

The Kings, however, are bringing back Pride Night next season, and the Hurricanes have a Hockey Is For Everyone Night scheduled for March.  

The decision also comes less than a year after the release of the TV series “Heated Rivalry,” a romance show about two professional men’s hockey players. The show’s release helped the NHL reach a far wider fan base seemingly overnight. 

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said earlier this season that he binged the show in one night, crediting it for helping grow the game. The show has been renewed for a second season, set to come out in April. 

“There are a lot of things about the game that we think are driving more and more people to the game, and I do believe ‘Heated Rivalry’ is one of those things,” Bettman said in January. 

Bettman added that he believes the NHL has embraced the LGBTQ+ community through team Pride Nights and the league’s work with You Can Play, a group that promotes LGBTQ+ inclusion in sports. 

North Texas sports fans are familiar with the absence of Pride Nights for local teams. The Texas Rangers remain the only team in MLB to not host a Pride Night.