On Monday, London police charged five members of the 2018 Canadian World Junior Hockey Team with sexual assault in connection with a 2018 incident in which a young woman claimed she was sexually assaulted by multiple players in London. This is the first time the charges have been made publicly available since the charges were filed. A hotel room in London, Ontario after the celebration to honor the Canadian Hockey Championship victory.
According to court documents obtained by He has been charged with assault. The Athletic. Lawyers for the five players appeared in the Ontario Court of Justice in London on Monday morning for a hearing that lasted about 15 minutes.
The court ordered a publication ban on the identity of the alleged victim and two witnesses. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for April 30th.
Hart, Formenton, McLeod, Foote and Dube issued public statements admitting the charges and denying any wrongdoing. The charges have not been tried in court.
The young woman, identified only as EM in court documents, filed a lawsuit in 2022 that was later settled out of court by Hockey Canada. When news of the settlement surfaced in May 2022, the national governing body came under intense scrutiny for how it handled the allegations, with parliamentary hearings held following the news and senior officials of the federal government, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. There was criticism from the department.
Following public outcry and public concern over the incident, London police reopened an investigation into the matter that had begun immediately after the incident. The initial criminal investigation concluded in February 2019.
London police have been tight-lipped about the reinvestigation, but a 2022 court filing first reported by the Globe and Mail provided insight into the force's approach to the case. In the filing, filed in court seeking judicial authorization for a search warrant and multiple production orders, police said they believe EM was sexually assaulted by five players. Names were redacted in the filing.
“Looking at the totality of the evidence, I believe that Mr. EM believed he had no choice but to engage in certain sexual acts. Furthermore, each suspect either knew that EM was not consenting, or I think I should have known,” said Sgt. David Younan wrote in his application to the court.
Among the claims in EM's original lawsuit, she said she was assaulted by eight players over several hours in a hotel room in London, Ont. She said she met the players at a local bar the night of the incident and that she happily went home with one of the players. She said she had consensual sex with the player and that he invited several teammates to his hotel room without her knowledge or consent. She did not consent to any of her subsequent sexual contact or conduct, and said she was spat at, spanked, laughed at, and degraded during that time. she said. Her original claim was that she cried in the bathroom all night and wanted to go home, but she was persuaded by multiple players to remain in her hotel room. She said some of them had golf clubs in the room and she was physically scared to leave.
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In a 2022 court filing, police wrote that they believe up to 12 players may have been involved in, witnessed or have some information about the alleged incident. . In a police interview, EM said that during certain sex acts, her players instructed her to lie on the floor and placed a bed sheet under her, according to the document. She said she felt like she was “the object of the group's entertainment” and that her group was “making fun of her and laughing at her expense.” “The group of men were talking about her and about her, but she wasn't talking about her,” EM told police. She says things like… “You do this, you do this.”
She said that at some point on the night of the alleged mass sexual assault, the first player she went home with sat on her bed and ate the chicken wings she had ordered. She explained that he was “in the background” after certain sex acts (redacted).
EM told police that the same player asked her, “Are you going to go to the police?” before leaving the room.
The next day, after EM's mother reported the alleged incident to police, the player struck up a conversation with EM, which then turned to text messages. According to still images examined by the police, EM told the players, “It was okay to go home with me.'' What I didn't expect after that was everyone.''
The player told her that she needed to talk to her mother now and resolve the issue with the police before the situation escalated. This is a serious issue that she is misrepresenting, and it can have serious implications for many people, including you. What can I do to eliminate this? ”
Police interviewed multiple players, received written statements from other players and discovered the existence of the World Junior Team group chat, according to the filing. Multiple players also provided police with thumb drives that recorded their text exchanges related to his chats with the group. In the filing, police also sought records from ride-hailing app Uber to identify and locate the driver who dropped EM home on the morning of June 19, 2018.
It remains to be seen whether London police will release further details of the investigation and charges.
A trial is unlikely to be held anytime soon, given the complexity and sensitivity of the case and the significant court backlog that can cause delays. In Canada, sexual assault carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.
All four NHL players have taken time off from their NHL clubs: Hart (Philadelphia Flyers), McLeod (New Jersey Devils), Foote (Devils), and Dube (Calgary Flames). The contracts of these four players are set to expire at the end of this season. Formenton, who previously played for the Ottawa Senators, is also on personal leave from the Swiss team.
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The NHL is conducting its own investigation into the matter, but commissioner Gary Bettman, asked about the matter during the NHL All-Star Game press conference, said the league would not assess any discipline until the judicial process is complete. . Bettman also said he was reluctant to share his findings before the matter was resolved in court.
“All of the NHL players who appear to be the subject of charges are no longer with the team, so the most responsible and prudent course of action for us at this time is to wait for the judicial process to conclude. At that point we respond as appropriate at the time,” Bettman said.
The NHL Players Association, which has provided guidance and representation to players throughout the league's investigation, will also wait to see how the court proceedings play out.
“This is an investigation that will now go to court,” said union representative Marty Walsh. “And I'm just going to put it out there and see how the court process goes. Obviously, I've been through this in my career. Someone gets charged and it goes to court.” When it comes to procedures, I've always been advised to leave it at that.”
Hockey Canada has been embroiled in controversy since the lawsuit became public, but has not responded to requests for comment on the impending charges.
Hockey Canada has removed much of its national governing body's leadership structure amid the fallout from allegations of mismanagement, including revelations that it had set up multiple cash funds to pay settlements for uninsured claims. Completely revised. The organization has installed a new board of directors and CEO, and has signed on to abuse-free sports through the Office of the Sports Integrity Commissioner, a federal agency tasked with preventing and combating abuse, discrimination and harassment. It was announced that. Nike announced in July 2023 that it would permanently end its sponsorship of Hockey Canada dating back to 1999.
Hockey Canada initially commissioned an independent investigation into the 2018 incident from prominent Canadian law firm Henin Hutchison (now Henin Hutchison Robitaille). The organization then reopened the investigation in July 2022. In November 2023, Hockey Canada informed governors across the CHL that an independent adjudication panel had found that members of the 2018 World Junior Team violated the governing body's code of conduct during the gala weekend. thing.email it The Athletic Obtained.
The private group filed a notice of appeal after the committee announced its findings to Hockey Canada and other stakeholders, according to a statement from the group.
Hockey Canada declined to release the findings, saying it did not want to “interfere with the integrity of the appeals process” despite an ongoing appeal on the matter.
Players on the 2018 World Junior Hockey Championship team have been ruled ineligible to represent Hockey Canada in international competition until the matter is resolved.
“Earlier this year, Hockey Canada made the decision that players on the 2018 national junior team will not be considered for Team Canada until the investigation and adjudication process for the alleged incident that occurred in 2018 is complete.” Hockey Canada said in a statement. . “This has been communicated to Team Canada's management group for the 2023 IIHF Men's World Championship.”
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(Illustration: John Bradford / The Athletic; Photo: Yana Chytilova/Freestyle Photography, Ethan Miller, Leah Hennel, Michael Reeves, Kevin Souza/Getty Images)