CALGARY -- Mark Giordano knows what to expect when he and his Calgary Flames teammates participate in the Calgary Pride Parade on Sunday.
The Flames defenseman and captain is a Pride Parade veteran, marching in previous events in Toronto and Calgary.
"You get out there and you have a good time," Giordano said. "You walk in the parade and you see a lot of different people, a lot of different faces in the community. Everyone is there for the right reasons. There's a lot of support, and for us as Calgary Flames, we want to represent our organization in the right way and we're doing that."
Giordano and wife, Lauren, Sean Monahan and girlfriend Brittany, as well as forwards Johnny Gaudreau, Sam Bennett and Curtis Lazar will show support for the LGBTQ community by marching.
Luke Coleman, Dakota Krebs and Mark Kastelic of the Calgary Hitmen in the Western Hockey League, as well as Calgary Sport and Entertainment Corporation staff members, also will join Flames players in the parade.
Monahan, like Giordano, has attended the event in multiple cities during previous summers.
He's excited to get the opportunity to participate again.
"The atmosphere is crazy," Monahan said. "It's really colorful. It's loud. Everyone's excited and smiling. It's a good vibe when you're walking through there. Everyone is just joyful. It's good for the city to kind of get together and support around that. The organization, and me personally, are proud to support it.
"I think it's great. As an organization, as a person, you've got to support everybody. To walk in that and support that in front of that many people with the persona we have, it's great as an organization. Hockey is for everyone and you've got to support anybody in any way."
The Flames have been active participants in promoting inclusiveness, specifically by supporting You Can Play, a non-profit organization committed to supporting the LGBTQ community and fighting homophobia in sports.
It's important, Giordano said, for the Flames to use the platforms available to them, like Pride Parade, to promote inclusiveness for all, on all levels.
"I think it's great that it's really changed in the last 10 years as a society and as a League, and other sports where it's all about inclusiveness," said Giordano, recipient of ESPN's Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award in 2017 and the NHL Foundation Player Award, given for community service, in 2016. "Having kids of my own now, I'd like them to grow up in an atmosphere where they understand that and understand that everyone is the same and you treat everyone the same and you include everyone."
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