Luke Prokop (born May 6, 2002) is a Canadian professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the latter a reference to ...

for the

Seattle Thunderbirds The Seattle Thunderbirds are a major junior ice hockey team based in the city of Kent, Washington, south of Seattle. They are part of the U.S. Division of the Western Conference in the Western Hockey League. They play their games at home in acc ...

of the

Western Hockey League The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior h ...

as a prospect for the

Nashville Predators The Nashville Predators (commonly referred to as the Preds) are a professional ice hockey team based in Nashville, Tennessee. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and ha ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL), who selected him in the

2020 NHL Entry Draft The 2020 NHL Entry Draft was the 58th NHL Entry Draft, held from October 6–7, 2020. The draft was originally scheduled for June 26–27, 2020, at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, but was postponed on March 25, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pan ...

. In 2021, Prokop

came out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

as gay, becoming the first player under contract with an NHL team to do so.

Playing career

Prokop is from

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

. He became a fan of

Shea Weber Shea Michael Weber (born August 14, 1985) is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman under contract with the Vegas Golden Knights of the National Hockey League (NHL). He played sixteen seasons in the NHL for the Nashville Predators and M ...

, a right-handed

, when he watched Weber playing

ice hockey at the 2010 Winter Olympics Hockey at the 2010 Winter Olympics was held at Rogers Arena (then known as GM Place, and renamed ''Canada Hockey Place'' for the duration of the Games due to IOC sponsorship rules) in Vancouver, home of the National Hockey League's Vancouver Can ...

for the

Canadian men's national ice hockey team The Canada men's national ice hockey team (popularly known as Team Canada; french: Équipe Canada) is the ice hockey team representing Canada inter ...

. Prokop became a fan of Weber's team, the

of the

(NHL), and began wearing jersey number 6 in his honour. Prokop attended the Pursuit of Excellence Hockey Academy in Kelowna,

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. The

Calgary Hitmen The Calgary Hitmen are a major junior ice hockey team based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The Hitmen play in the Central Division of the Western Hockey League (WHL). They play their home games at the Scotiabank Saddledome. Bret "The Hitman" ...

of the

(WHL) selected Prokop with their first round selection, the seventh overall, of the 2017 WHL Bantam Draft. He played for Canada's national under-18 ice hockey team in the

2018 IIHF World U18 Championships The 2018 IIHF U18 World Championship was the 20th IIHF World U18 Championship. The tournament was played from 19 to 29 April 2018 in Chelyabinsk and Magnitogorsk, Russia. United States lost to Finland. Top Division Match officials 12 referees an ...

. The Predators selected Prokop in the third round, with the 73rd overall selection, of the

. In December 2020, he signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Predators, and spent the 2020–21 season with Calgary. Prokop was traded from the Hitmen to the

Edmonton Oil Kings The Edmonton Oil Kings are a major junior ice hockey team based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, that play in the Western Hockey League. As of July 2008, they are owned by Daryl Katz's Oilers Entertainment Group, which also owns the Edmonton Oilers ...

on October 13, 2021.

Personal life

Luke's older brother, Josh, is also an ice hockey player. The Calgary Hitmen signed Josh in September 2018. They both spent time playing with Calgary, before Luke was traded to the

. On July 19, 2021, Prokop came out as

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

, becoming the first player under contract with an NHL team to do so.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Prokop, Luke 2002 births Living people Calgary Hitmen players Canadian ice hockey defencemen Edmonton Oil Kings players Gay sportsmen Ice hockey people from Alberta Canadian LGBT sportspeople LGBT ice hockey players Nashville Predators draft picks Norfolk Admirals (ECHL) players Seattle Thunderbirds players Sportspeople from Edmonton