DENVER, CO — A Bruins fan says he was physically and verbally attacked for being gay after attending a hockey game in Denver last week.
Cadien Shaw told The Denver Channel he was outside the bar Brooklyn’s at Ball Arena after the hard-fought Bruins-Avalanche game when three men approached him.
“At first, it was more of a hockey banter type of thing from them. You know, ‘Oh you lost.’ Like, ‘What do you think about that hit?’ You know, just trying to kind of provoke me,” Shaw said. “I remember saying something along the lines of, ‘You know, we’ll get you next time.’
Suddenly, Shaw said, the exchange took a turn, the men hurling homophobic slurs at him. That prompted them to attack, he said.
From there, they tackled me to the ground were calling me [expletive], gay,” Shaw said. “My head was in my arms, and I was kind of in a ball while they were kicking me and punched me.”
Denver police confirmed their Bias-Motivated Crime Unit is investigating the incident.
As Shaw recovers from bruises to his knee and elbow, as well as a “knot” in the back of his head, his injuries are not nearly as painful as the memories the alleged attack brings back.
“It makes me think back to that younger kid whenever I didn’t want to come out to fully be myself, and the reasons why you don’t do that,” Shaw said. “And these are [the reasons] why you’re scared to.”
But Shaw, a die-hard Bruins fan, refuses to let the ordeal prevent him from enjoying another game.
“If the Bruins are there, I’ll be there,” Shaw said.