Team Trans Ice Hockey hits back after concussion of male trans athlete

‘Everyone knows there is a risk of injury’: Team Trans Ice Hockey hits back saying ‘there’s no ill will between the two’ after female trans player left male trans athlete with CONCUSSION in brutal shove in NHL-backed game

• Team Trans Ice Hockey (TTIH) hit back after a player injury at their tournament
• A female trans player left a male trans athlete with a concussion in a Nov game
• Lexi Seaton, 32, earned backlash after knocking Danny Maki out on the ice  
• TTIH tweeted that playing hockey comes with risks – widely known to athletes
• They also said that they’d organized the event, not the National Hockey League
• TTIH said there is no ‘ill will’ between the players and Maki had recovered since 

Team Trans Ice Hockey have hit back after a female trans player left a male trans athlete with a concussion following a brutal shove in an National Hockey League-backed game.

Lexi Seaton, 32, earned backlash after leaving Danny Maki knocked out on the ice when she slammed into him during the Team Trans Ice Hockey draft in Middleton, Wisconsin, late last month.

Seaton, who also identifies as bisexual, is a member of the New York City Gay Hockey Association and a member of the Rensselaer Rejects amateur hockey team.

Team Trans Ice Hockey on Wednesday tweeted playing hockey comes with risks which are widely known to athletes who play the winter sport.

Speaking about the Trans Draft Tournament held on November 19 and 20 in Middleton, Wisconsin, it said it wanted to ‘clear up a few statements.’

Lexi Seaton plays No. 90 on the ice. She is a member of the New York City Gay Hockey Association and a member of the Rensselaer Rejects amateur hockey team

Seaton (left) who plays hockey with her wife, Jessie (right) are seen here on the ice rink while wearing Team Trans Ice Hockey hoodies

Trans hockey player Danny Maki (pictured) was left with a concussion following the tackle

‘While the NHL is supportive of providing accessibility to all organizations that love hockey, this tournament was organized by Team Trans not the NHL and was done with [the intention] to create teams with even skill levels,’ the statement reads.

‘Each player graded [themselves] on skill and was required to provide a coach’s referral with which we were able to confirm each player’s ability. Each team picked a certain number of players from each skill level.’

The statement said the majority of games throughout the tournament ended within one or two goals between the sides.

‘The two teams in the championship game played each other, prior to that game ending in a tie,’ it continued.

‘During the championship game a player was injured. Everyone who steps on the ice to play this sport knows there is a risk of injury.

‘The injured player has recovered and there is no ill will between the two players involved.’

Team Trans Ice Hockey tweeted that playing hockey comes with risks which is widely known to athletes who participate in games adding that there was no ‘ill will’ between the two players

Team Trans Hockey said the tournament was about ‘community’ and explains that there aren’t ‘many safe spaces’ for people to gather and play the game they love.

‘The family that has been built among Team Trans athletes is the most important aspect of this organization,’ the statement said. 

‘The hockey bring us together, but the community keeps us together.

‘We look forward to continuing to be a space where trans and nonbinary athletes can come together over hockey.’ 

Seaton’s non-binary wife, Jessie, 33, was on the same team playing goalie at the time of the incident. 

She is a software developer and IT consultant who has previously lashed out at ‘terfs’ – trans-exclusionary radical feminists, including JK Rowling. 

Seaton, of South Glens Falls, who was the 15th overall draft pick for the Rensselaers, currently plays as No. 90 for the group’s Green and Rejects team. 

According to the Rensselaers’ roster, Jessie joined her wife on the team this season.

A recent Facebook post suggests that neither women have plans to stop playing hockey in games that promote trans and non-binary players. 

However, some have criticized November’s incident as a prime example of the dangers of letting stronger and more powerful transgender women compete against smaller biological females, or transgender men.

Seaton, 32, earned backlash after knocking Maki out on the ice during the late November game 

Seaton, who also identifies as bisexual, is a member of the New York City Gay Hockey Association and a member of the Rensselaer Rejects amateur hockey team

Maki was playing for Team Black against Seaton’s Team Pink for the tournament when he was struck on the ice by the pink-and-blue-haired player. 

The force of the blow knocked Maki off his skates and sent him spinning into the rink wall.

He was left lying immobile on the ice, and was stretchered off to hospital afterwards, where he was diagnosed with a concussion.

 After the tournament, Maki posted a statement announcing he was okay, but gave a confused explanation of what happened.

‘I was playing the puck, and I took a very odd fall into the boards,’ he wrote, explaining he was concussed and left with some muscle strains, but made no mention of the hit from #90.

Maki’s teammate Mason LeFebvre was acting as goalie for Team Black and was reportedly visibly shaken by the scene.

After letting a goal in from the tackler in a subsequent play, LeFebvre broke down in tears and collapsed in a corner, and had to be coaxed back to his skates as the crowd chanted ‘We love Mason.’

Quilette journalist Jonathan Kay watched the tournament in person, and accused the NHL, Vice, and Hockey News magazine of covering up the accident, as well as what he claims was an obvious advantage enjoyed by the trans-woman dominated Team Pink.

Danny Maki is slammed into the boards after the clash – players are then seen gathering around his immobile body

A recent Facebook post suggests that neither Seaton (pictured) nor her wife have plans to stop playing hockey in games that promote trans and non-binary players

Maki (above) was left with a concussion and muscle strains after the much larger opponent slammed into him

The NHL posted a tweet hailing the groundbreaking tournament as a model of inclusivity – but made no mention of the outcome of the tournament.

Vice News sent a five-person camera crew to record the games, but hasn’t published or broadcast anything about the clash.

Hockey News parroted a line from Team Trans Ice Hockey’s official Twitter account saying that ‘the arena was buzzing with trans joy for two solid days.’

Neither the NHL nor Team Trans Ice Hockey responded to DailyMail.com’s request for comment. 

Kay pointed out that Team Pink – which was largely comprised of trans women – not only won the entire tournament, but flattened the opposing Team Black – which had only two trans women – in the finals with a 7-1 win.

‘There [was] just an enormous difference in size between the two teams -height, weight, shoulder width, muscles – the differences were plain to even a child,’ Kay quoted a member of the audience telling him. 

‘I don’t know how the teams were made,’ they added. ‘But any [fan] could see that this couldn’t possibly be fair, and that someone could get hurt – and someone did.’

In just the second period of the championship match, Team Pink could reportedly be heard discussing how to end the game early, with one player suggesting the game be called on the spot with the announcement that ‘everyone won.’

Players in the tournament huddle up. Seaton can be seen with her #90 jersey near the center

University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas tied for 5th in the 200 Freestyle finals at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships on March 18

Thomas competed on the school’s men’s swimming team for two years before transitioning to a female and joining the women’s team

The hockey tournament is the latest incident in the ongoing debate about the role of trans athletes playing in sports divisions for the genders they identify with.

The row was largely sparked by University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, who competed on the school’s men’s swimming team for two years before transitioning to a female and joining the women’s team.

Though Thomas underwent hormone therapy – as per the NCAA’s guidelines at the time – she went on to dominate the national competition, smashing records on the way to winning the women’s 500-yard freestyle at the NCAA championships.

Transgender athletes have now become a prominent political target, with many conservative states pushing through laws that require high school athletes to compete as the sex they were assigned at birth.

Critics say the bills target an already very vulnerable minority, most of whom just want to join in with school sports for enjoyment, rather than competitive reasons.  

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a proclamation that declared the NCAA runner-up, Florida-born Emma Weyant, as the real winner of the women’s 500 title.

The NCAA has changed its transgender eligibility guidelines to allow each sport to follow the rules set by each sport’s national governing body.

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