Hockey player Alex Formenton, who faces sexual assault charges, walks into the London Police Headquarters with lawyers Daniel Brown and Lindsay Board in London, Ont. on Jan. 28.Nicole Osborne/The Globe and Mail
The case involving five players from Canada’s 2018 world junior hockey team accused of sexual assault heads to court for the first time Monday in London, Ont., signifying a new phase in a multiyear scandal that has enveloped the national game.
It will mark the beginning of what is expected to be a lengthy legal process examining an incident five years ago, where a young woman alleges that she was sexually assaulted by multiple players after a Hockey Canada fundraising event.
London police will then hold a press conference Monday afternoon, addressing the charges for the first time.
Police have charged five members of the 2018 team with sexual assault, including several who recently played in the National Hockey League prior to taking leaves from their respective teams.
The five players are Michael McLeod and Cal Foote of the New Jersey Devils, Carter Hart of the Philadelphia Flyers, Dillon Dubé of the Calgary Flames, and Alex Formenton, a former member of the Ottawa Senators who has played the past two seasons in Switzerland. Mr. McLeod also faces a second charge of being a party to sexual assault.
Each player, through their lawyers, has denied wrongdoing and said they will fight the charges.
Who are the 2018 world junior players charged with sexual assault?
Daphne Gilbert, a law professor at the University of Ottawa, said the first court appearance will focus on procedural matters such as scheduling, and if lawyers want to discuss any conditions for the accused.
At the afternoon news conference, Ms. Gilbert expects police may be inclined to address the differences between their recently completed investigation, which was reopened in 2022, and the first investigation, which was closed without charges in 2019.
“Mainly what I expect is that they’re going to have to explain why they closed the investigation and then reopened it, and now feel that they’re in a position to lay charges,” Ms. Gilbert said.
But for the most part, London police will be operating under constraints on what they can say, since any details about the evidence will be reserved for the disclosure process, where information about the case is shared confidentially.
Explainer: Hockey Canada scandal
“It’s the Crown attorney’s office that takes over once the charges are filed. And it’s the Crown attorney who will be shaping the message of the case. So the police can only really speak to what has happened before,” Ms. Gilbert said.
“They’ll be focusing on saying as little as possible, but enough to cover them for the fact that they closed this investigation earlier. Because they have faced a lot of criticism for that.”
The charges stem from an alleged assault in June, 2018, after a Hockey Canada fundraising gala in London where players were honoured for winning a gold medal at the world junior championships that January.
A young woman, identified only as E.M. in court documents, told police she met some of the players that night at a bar, and alleges she eventually went to a hotel room with one of the men and had consensual sex. However, the woman told police that, without her knowledge, the player invited several teammates to the room, who sexually assaulted and humiliated her over the course of several hours.
E.M. told police she felt she was unable to leave the room, fearing for her safety.
The young woman filed a $3.55-million lawsuit in April, 2022, against Hockey Canada, the Canadian Hockey League and eight players who are not identified by name in court documents. A month later, TSN reported that the claim had been settled for an undisclosed amount.
Revelations about the alleged incident prompted parliamentary hearings in Ottawa, examining Hockey Canada’s handling of the matter, with MPs accusing the organization of trying to cover it up.
Hockey Canada paid the out-of-court settlement on behalf of the players. An investigation by The Globe and Mail revealed that the organization used a multimillion-dollar fund built by hockey registration fees to pay the claim, without parents and players knowing how their money was being used.
In addition to the London police, two other probes have been conducted into the alleged assault; one by Hockey Canada and another by the NHL.
Speaking for the first time about the charges on Friday, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said the league doesn’t believe it’s necessary to suspend the players, since none of them are currently playing and their contracts will end in a few months.
“They are all on leave from their teams now. All of them either don’t have contracts or their contracts will expire at the end of this season,” he said.
Mr. Bettman said the players are being paid while on leave. He added that he would be surprised if any of the accused play in the NHL while the matter is before the courts. The league won’t discuss the findings of its own investigation while the case is in progress, he said.
“There is a serious judicial process that looks like it’s unfolding, and we didn’t – while we were doing our investigation – want to interfere with what the London Police Service was doing. And we’re not going do anything to interfere or influence the judicial proceedings. We’re all going to have to see how that plays out,” Mr. Bettman said.
Grant Robertson