As Canadian hockey players face assault charges, officials are on the defensive

At the Leon's Center arena, home of the junior hockey team in Kingston, Ont., a sense of outrage mixed with anticipation as fans gathered for a game grappled with the news that five former Canadian junior hockey players – four of whom played in the National Hockey League – was accused of sexual assault last week.

The first hearing for the five suspects is scheduled for Monday at the Ontario Court of Justice in London, Ontario. There, police, who first investigated but did not file charges in 2018, plan to hold their first press conference on the case on Monday afternoon.

The allegations have struck a chord with fans, leaving many wondering how Hockey Canada, the sport's governing body, has responded.

The case came to light in May 2022 after TSN, a sports channel that broadcasts the junior world championship, reported that Hockey Canada paid 3.5 million Canadian dollars, or $2.6 million, to settle a lawsuit that was brought by a woman who said she had been sexually assaulted. attacked by eight junior league players. At the time the attack occurred, all players were members of the Canadian junior national team.

It was later reported by The Globe and Mail newspaper that the settlement payment came from a slush fund partially supported by children's hockey registration fees.

While the NHL has international fame and recognition, in many smaller communities hockey, Canada's dominant sport, is more often defined by junior teams of amateur players between the ages of 15 and 20.

Those accused of sexual assault are Michael McLeod, 26, now a center for the New Jersey Devils; Cal Foote, 25, a defenseman for the Devils; Carter Hart, 25, a goaltender with the Philadelphia Flyers; Dillon Dubé, 25, a center for the Calgary Flames; and Alex Formenton, 24, who is on leave from a Swiss professional team and previously played for the Ottawa Senators. Mr. McLeod faces an additional charge of assault “by being a party to the crime.”

The players have been furloughed from their teams. The men's lawyers said in separate statements they would vigorously defend their innocence and declined to comment further.

According to the woman's lawsuit, the attack took place in London, a city about 200 kilometers southwest of Toronto. Police there investigated the allegations in 2018, but dropped that investigation the following year. No charges have been filed.

The investigation that led to Monday's lawsuit was opened in 2022 after revelations about the lawsuit settlement came to light.

Before he was fired as CEO of Hockey Canada that year, Scott Smith rejected suggestions that the multimillion-dollar slush fund, formally known as the National Equity Fund, was a mechanism to cover up allegations against players. “I am firmly against the suggestion that we cover this up or sweep anything under the carpet,” he told a parliamentary committee in 2022.

Cases of sexual violence are not new to hockey. But in the past, some of the most high-profile coaches have involved abusive coaches. Over the course of about two decades, Graham James, a former junior hockey coach, was convicted in three separate cases of sexually assaulting players, including Sheldon Kennedy and Theo Fleury, who became NHL stars.

In addition to the police investigation that led to the charges, Hockey Canada and the NHL conducted their own investigations, but neither released details. On Friday, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said the league would wait for the lawsuit to conclude, which could take years. He described the allegations in the case as “appalling, reprehensible, heinous and unacceptable.”

Mr. Bettman said there was no need to suspend without pay the four men still with NHL teams because their contracts expire at the end of the season.

“It becomes irrelevant in terms of the timing,” he said at a news conference. “They got most of their salary for the year anyway.”

About 3,600 people gathered at the Leon's Center on Friday to watch the home team, the Kingston Frontenacs, take on the Oshawa Generals. After the game, which the Frontenacs lost 5-4, some players met with fans at an autograph table.

Monica O'Neill, a nurse who has served as volunteer president of the team's supporters club for about 25 years, said she would not judge the players facing charges until their cases had been heard in court.

“It's actually sickening because we don't know what happens behind closed doors,” she said after signing up some fans for a bus trip to a junior game in Ottawa. “We don't know yet who is telling the truth.”

Michael McNamara, a lifelong Kingston resident who has held season tickets for 32 years, said no matter how the criminal cases develop, Canadian fans will not be inclined to forgive the governing body.

“One way or another the truth will come out,” he said. “But I think Hockey Canada is going to be ridiculed for the way this was handled – big time.”