Footage of the incident has spread across social media

Footage has emerged from an NHL-backed trans hockey tournament showing a transgender male player crashing into the boards in an incident involving a larger transgender female rival.

Daniel ‘Danny’ Maki is a transgender man based in Minneapolis who plays for the Rainbow Dash. Last month, Maki suffered an injury during the Team Trans Ice Hockey Draft in Middleton, Wisconsin.

The clip shows the female-born Maki entering the ice and almost immediately crashing to the ground after apparent contact from the male-born opposition player, who stops to check if Maki is OK while others rush to his aid.

Maki was taken to a hospital nearby and diagnosed with a concussion. Online and in the media, it has been debated whether the hit by the male-born player was intentional or an accident, but Maki has tried to downplay the scenes.

“Get a stretcher! Get a medic!”

Words heard at the first NHL All-Trans Draft Tournament after a male player casually bumps into a female player. The contact doesn’t look serious on video. But the size diff between players is so great that the female suffers a concussion. pic.twitter.com/U4y0huo0oA

— mazeks (@JeanMazeks) December 9, 2022

“I’ve been debating if I should post everything about the Team Trans Ice Hockey draft tournament, given the sensitive content, but here goes,” he wrote on social media.

“I had an amazing time with the wonderful people at the exclusive all trans draft tournament in Middleton, WI the weekend before Thanksgiving,” the player wrote, adding that he was co-captain of his team.

Maki continues by saying “this is where the sensitive content comes: once out I was playing the puck, and I took a very odd fall into the boards, in which I needed medical attention to make sure my neck and extremities were okay.”

Despite suffering the concussion and muscle strains, he insisted he’d “do it all over again.”

The NHL said in a tweet about the event that it was “proud to support this past weekend’s Team Trans Draft Tournament.” 

The NHL is proud to support this past weekend’s Team Trans Draft Tournament in Middleton, Wisconsin. This was the first tournament comprised entirely of transgender and nonbinary players, with around 80 folks participating! #HockeyIsForEveryone #NHLPride pic.twitter.com/OfEoAVXtH5

— NHL (@NHL) November 22, 2022

“This was the first tournament comprised entirely of transgender and nonbinary players, with around 80 folks participating,” it added.

In the comments section, however, some users asked questions such as: “If trans men are men why aren’t they just playing in a men’s league?”

“Congratulations, you just pulled the Woke Walt Disney for all your Sport! Watch the NHL crumble like a stale cookie. Go woke, Go broke!” said another commenter.

“I’m all for this as I don’t want biological men playing in women’s divisions,” a separate party stated.

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Sharing the clip, Jean Mazeks wrote that the “contact doesn’t look serious on the video”. “But the size [difference] between players is so great that the female suffers a concussion.”

A Quillette magazine article that looked into the NHL’s event spoke to a source who said “any [fan] could see that this couldn’t possibly be fair, and that someone could get hurt – and someone did.”

In the piece, it was claimed that the risk of injuries in competitive hockey among biological females are considerable with, research showing that they have 49% less isometric strength, 30% less neck girth, and 43% less head mass which results in lower levels of head-neck segment stiffness at 29%.

The row involving Maki is the latest to engulf trans participation in US sports after Lia Thomas made headlines last year as a transgender female swimmer at the University of Pennsylvania who smashed a number of records.