The Washington Capitals announced they will be hosting Pride Night tonight against the Boston Bruins. To help the local LGBTQ+ community, the Caps are holding an auction for the fifth consecutive year that benefits SMYAL, a nonprofit that supports and empowers lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth in the Washington DC region.

Items that are available for auction include autographed player-used sticks wrapped in rainbow-color Pride Tape, signed rainbow-color pucks, and an autographed rainbow-color flag.

You can view all the available auction items here.

Players who donated signed sticks to the auction include Craig Anderson, Brenden Dillon, Carl Hagelin, Conor Sheary, Daniel Sprong, Garnet Hathaway, Jakub Vrana, John Carlson, Justin Schultz, Lars Eller, Michal Kempny, Nic Dowd, Nick Jensen, Nicklas Backstrom, Richard Panik, Ilya Samsonov, Jonas Siegenthaler, TJ Oshie, Tom Wilson, Vitek Vanecek, Zdeno Chara, and Trevor van Riemsdyk.

The auction concludes at 3 pm on Thursday, April 15.

The Capitals also updated their avatars on social media to show support to the LBGTQ+ community. It featured their W logo in white overtop a rainbow-colored background.

More from the Capitals:

Capitals and MSE Foundation Auction Featuring Pride Sticks Now Open

Arlington, Va. ā€“ The Washington Capitals and Monumental Sports & Entertainment Foundationā€™s Pride auction featuring autographed player-used sticks wrapped in rainbow-color ā€˜Pride Tapeā€™ is now open at WashCaps.com/PrideAuction.

The players will wrap their sticks with Pride Tape for warmups during Capitals Pride Night on April 8 versus the Boston Bruins. The Pride fundraiser also features autographed Capitals Pride pucks and a rainbow flag. The auction concludes at 3 p.m. on April 15 with proceeds benefiting the nonprofit organization SMYAL (Supporting and Mentoring Youth Advocates and Leaders).

Committed to diversity and inclusion, the Capitals are hosting a Pride Night for the fifth-consecutive year. Last seasonā€™s auction raised $14,645 for SMYAL. In addition, Monumental Sports & Entertainment has participated in the Capital Pride Parade for four years. The Capitals also partnered with local artist Lisa Marie Thalhammer to install a rainbow mural at 2412 18th St NW in 2019.

For exclusive Pride theme night coverage, join the Virtual Gameday Experience presented by NBC Sports Washington at washingtoncaps.com/virtualgameday.

About SMYAL

Based in the Washington, DC, metropolitan region, SMYAL (Supporting and Mentoring Youth Advocates and Leaders) supports and empowers lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) youth ages 6-24.

Through youth leadership and daily programs, SMYAL creates opportunities for LGBTQ youth to build self-confidence, develop critical life skills, and engage their peers and community through service and advocacy. Committed to social change, SMYAL builds, sustains, and advocates for programs, policies, and services that LGBTQ youth need as they grow into adulthood. In addition to working in schools and communities across the DMV, SMYAL has a comprehensive housing program for homeless LGBTQ youth that provides safe and stable shelter, food, case management services, crisis intervention, and community support for its residents. SMYAL expanded their housing services this March with the opening of an Extended Transitional Housing program that provides support to residents for up to 6 years.

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