LAUREL, Md. — Over the weekend, Players Against Hate held their second annual Play for a Purpose game.
The organization began after a 13-year-old hockey player was the victim of racially motivated taunts.
To show support for their fellow teammate and friend, Tammi Lynch, the mom of another player designed a logo with a hockey stick crossing out the word racism.
The team then played with these stickers for the rest of the tournament, and the movement went viral.
WMAR-2 News Shawn Stepner profiled the organization a few years ago and on Saturday he joined them on the ice for a friendly game with plenty of action.
"Overall, our goal is to stop hate in the sport of hockey and all youth sports. I know that we have a lot of work to do, but at some point, hopefully, this organization won't be needed and no kid will be taunted or not feel safe on the ice," said Tammi Lynch, founder of Players Against Hate.
Players Against Hate also has an incident reporting system and curriculum to help young athletes end systematic racism in hockey.
WMAR-2 News was a proud sponsor of the event.
The black team ended up defeating the red team 7-4.
