Heated Rivalry<\/a> inspired Kortuem to come out as gay, believing it shows attitudes within the sport have shifted for the better.<\/p>\nHis Instagram post has since gone viral, leading to a “very surreal” start to the year.<\/p>\n
“I’m just so grateful for where my life has ended up,” he tells BBC Sport. “To finally have that relief… to bring 110% of myself into the locker room. Something was speaking to me through the show – I had to let something out.<\/p>\n
“Then that release was shared with the entire world. For the first couple of days, it was shocking, but now it is humbling – people have reached out to say it inspired them to have the conversation with their parents. I’m honestly speechless.”<\/p>\n
Kortuem played ice hockey in local leagues in Minneapolis during his teenage years, and occasionally dipped back into the amateur game as an adult. <\/p>\n
It was not until he joined Cutting Edges, an LGBT-inclusive team who play across North America, in 2017 that he re-engaged with the sport – and it was only this year that he felt comfortable to be open about his sexuality with the wider hockey community.<\/p>\n
Now 40, Kortuem says he had to “edit” himself in hockey – and life – to fit in.<\/p>\n
But seeing the show, in which two athletes enter a loving relationship, stirred repressed feelings.<\/p>\n
“I had to hide, and looking back now it was tough,” he says. “It was still a place of comfort, but a place I had to edit myself.<\/p>\n
“It was time to put a real face to what this story has done for athletes, to get it out there. And it took off!”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
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