For most of his life, Matt Kenny experienced hockey through two very different realities.

The first was the one everyone could see.

​

He grew up in rinks. Early mornings. Long bus rides. Wet equipment. Hockey gave him structure, discipline and identity. Like so many kids growing up in Canada, the game became the center of his world.

​

The second reality was the one nobody could see.

While pursuing high-level hockey, Matt was also learning how to survive inside environments where being fully known did not feel safe. Long before he had the language to explain it, he understood that parts of himself needed to stay hidden in order to belong. Over time, silence stopped feeling temporary and started feeling normal.

​

Hockey taught him resilience. It also taught him how to disappear.

​

For years, Matt lived with the pressure of trying to succeed while carefully managing who he was, what he said and how much of himself the world was allowed to see. Like many athletes, he became skilled at performing strength while privately carrying fear, anxiety and isolation.

Today, Matt speaks openly about the emotional cost of silence, not only in sports, but in any environment where people feel forced to choose between authenticity and acceptance. His work explores identity, masculinity, performance culture and belonging, and the ways institutions can unintentionally teach people that survival matters more than honesty.

His story took another unexpected turn when he was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.

As his symptoms progressed, Matt slowly began losing his ability to run. At times, even walking became difficult. The physical decline collided with years of silence, fear and emotional exhaustion, pushing him into one of the darkest periods of his life. At one point, he seriously considered ending it.

​

Then he came across a sentence that would change everything:

“One day, you will tell the story of what you went through and it will become someone else’s survival guide.”

​

For the first time in a long time, he decided to stay. And fight.

Not long after his diagnosis, Matt was told that marathon running would likely be too physically demanding on his body. Instead of walking away from the challenge, he signed up for one anyway.

Nearly one year to the date of his diagnosis, Matt crossed the finish line of the Toronto Waterfront Marathon.

That moment changed the trajectory of his life.

Crossing that finish line showed him that his world did not need to become smaller because of Multiple Sclerosis. It could become larger.

​

Since then, Matt has completed nine marathons and is now pursuing a goal that very few people living with MS have attempted: completing all six World Marathon Majors. Chicago, New York City and London are already complete, with Berlin Marathon next on the journey in September 2026.

​

Ironically, it was that process of rebuilding himself that eventually led him back to hockey.

In late 2025, a surge of conversation around LGBTQ+ inclusion in hockey, combined with the cultural impact of the series Heated Rivalry, gave Matt something he had never truly experienced growing up in the sport: the ability to see parts of himself reflected back in the game he once loved.

​

Watching the public response to those conversations forced him to confront a difficult question:

Had hockey changed while he was away from it, or had he finally changed enough to be brave enough to come back as his full self?

​

Matt decided to tell his story publicly. What followed exceeded anything he imagined. His story was featured by publications including the The New York Times, CBC, Global News and The Daily Telegraph, while his content and advocacy work have now reached more than 15 million people across social media.

That attention ultimately led him back onto the ice, not as the person he once pretended to be, but as himself.

​

Today, through his work as an Ambassador and Educational Consultant with You Can Play and as a keynote speaker, Matt works with athletes, teams, schools, military organizations and leadership groups to help create environments where people no longer feel they have to hide in order to belong. His speaking and educational work focuses on inclusion, leadership, resilience and the human impact of culture, both positive and negative.

In 2026, Matt launched “Back on Home Ice,” a community hockey and skating initiative centered around inclusion, belonging and reconnecting with the game in a healthier way.

Because at its core, Matt’s story has never really been about leaving hockey. It has been about rebuilding a life larger than fear.