Canadian hockey? Or US hockey?
High level or low level.
Because this is "the" team bonding/gay bashing locker room activity. Prove you are not gay, and even if you are gay this is so gross you can not admit to anything outside your team or your parents.
The anti-gay sentiment in Canadian competitive hockey is off the chart compared to anything in US sports. I can see an NFL or NBA player coming out before an NHLer does.
The unwritten codes and bullying nature of hockey is just on a completely different level. Coming out would mean betraying so many of those unwritten trusts and codes between players and teams.
I live in Minnesota. Also known as the State of Hockey.
I have grown up around hockey players my entire life. My father played through college, my aunt played through college, alot of my best friends played or continue to play. I have met literally dozens, perhaps hundreds of people who have played hockey in this state and I have never once heard of anything or seen anything to prove the contrary.
Perhaps it is different up in Canada, but the only thing that is different from football or basketball, when it comes to hockey or lacrosse, is that it tends to be a more close knit and intimate group of people playing. Football players, in my experience, have friends on the football team but typically hang out with people both on the team and off. Hockey and lacrosse players, the former especially, pretty much only hang out with other hockey players from my experience.
I don't really see a "bullying nature of hockey" that you claim to be off the charts compared to other sports. The only thing off the charts is the commitment to time and to your team that hockey players need moreso than other players in other sports. If you want to be good at basketball, you pick up a ball and shoot until your hands blister. Work on some agility stuff that you can do in a pair of $20 shoes you get at walmart. Football? You work on your running, beef yourself up by working out, and depending on position, get someone to either catch your balls or throw them to you.
Hockey is a whole other beast. You need to work on your skating. That means either living in a cold climate where you can go outdoors, or finding ice time indoors. That costs money. You can get cheap skates for $50, but you need to have them constantly sharpened. Over a winter, that can truly add up. You need to work out and have good body conditioning. You need to work on your stick skills, which requires, at minimum, a $20 stick, along with a puck or ball. Hockey adds up more than any other sport, and when you get onto a team, you know that every other person on that team has to put in the same amount of effort, if not more. New people are hastled, yes, because you can't just "start playing hockey" at a later age. You need to get into it when you are young or you truly are screwed. That is the only thing that I could see as qualifying for a "bullying nature of hockey".
I have never noticed anything close to the apparent gay bashing that you claim, but I can't help but feel that you have some type of agenda with the way your post came across.