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David Frost was found not guilty Friday of sexual exploitation following a trial at which prosecutors alleged the former junior hockey coach exerted such control over his players that he took part in threesomes with them and their young girlfriends.

The defence had argued that although group sex is common in hockey, Frost never took part in such acts with his young charges.

Ontario Court Justice Geoff Griffin found Mr. Frost not guilty on all counts Friday, but added the case had “exposed a dark and very unhealthy side of hockey.”

“It's extremely offensive and must be denounced,” Judge Griffin said in handing down his judgment.

Mr. Frost was charged with four counts of sexual exploitation relating to his time as a coach of the junior A Quinte Hawks team in eastern Ontario in 1996 and 1997.

Two of the counts of sexual exploitation alleged Mr. Frost directly or indirectly sexually touched two teenage players, while the other two alleged Frost directed the players to sexually touch their girlfriends.

Steve Jefferson, the father of former NHL player Mike Danton, who is currently in prison in the U.S. for a failed murder-for-hire plot that allegedly targeted Mr. Frost, expressed anger at the verdict.

“I'm not happy about the verdict at all — it's disgusting,” said Mr. Jefferson, who is estranged from Mr. Danton.

It was difficult for him to sit through the testimony, in particular listening to “the parts about him touching the boys and having them touch him,” Mr. Jefferson said.

He and his wife, who attended almost every day of the trial, have been writing regularly to their son in prison, but their letters have all been torn up and sent back, Mr. Jefferson added.

Mr. Frost coached Mr. Danton at the junior level and went on to become his agent.

The trial heard conflicting accounts of alleged group sex under Frost's watch, including claims that he headed a sort of “cult” that held his players in thrall.

“I am not prepared .... to conclude that the level of control was as extreme and all-pervasive as the Crown would have me believe,” Judge Griffin said.

The two teenage players, now adults, testified as witnesses for the defence at the trial, which is unusual for alleged victims.

Their testimony does not lead one to think they are “brainwashed followers of Mr. Frost,” Judge Griffin added.

Court also heard testimony from two women who dated two of the Hawks players when they were 16.

The women testified that Frost controlled their boyfriends' sex lives and participated in three-way sex with the young couples when Mr. Frost was 29.

The mother of one of the women who testified said she hopes the trial teaches parents to be wary of the trust they put in coaches who work with their children.

The woman said her 28-year-old daughter has “moved on.”

“She's a strong woman. She's a brave woman.”

On Friday, Judge Griffin suggested that the women's testimony was “possibly tainted by collusion.”

The men cannot be named and The Canadian Press is also not identifying the two women who testified about having sex with players and Mr. Frost during the period of the alleged offences, when they were juveniles, though the women are not part of the same publication ban.

One of the women testified that the over the course of her six-year on-and-off relationship with the player, they rarely had sex without Mr. Frost because he would insist on participating and required them to ask permission to have sex by themselves if he wasn't around.

Mr. Frost's defence said the incidents in question never happened and the two former players, whom the charges directly related to, emphatically denied all of the lurid allegations the women made in court.

Defence lawyer Marie Henein suggested the allegations against Mr. Frost arose out of collusion between the two women and that someone would need a “magical” ability to compel people into performing sex acts.

Ms. Henein further suggested to one of the women that the threesomes she described involving her boyfriend and Frost were a “figment of your imagination.”

“They happened,” the woman replied. “I'm not making this up. Why would I make this up?”