Hockey CanadaHockey Canada
The trial for five former NHL players charged with sexual assault will begin in April 2025 in London, Ontario, a judge ruled this week, according to SprotsNet. The alleged incident took place in 2018 during a Hockey Canada event.
It is expected to take eight weeks.
The five players are Dillon Dube, Cal Foote, Carter Hart, Alex Formenton and Michael McLeod. They were all granted an indefinite leave of absence by their respective teams in January 2024. Their contracts expired this summer and none of the five signed with an NHL team.
Dube and McLeod signed with KHL teams, though McLeod is reportedly no longer with his club.
Hart, Foote, Dube and Formenton were all charged with one count of sexual assault. McLeod has been charged with two counts of sexual assault.
The charges stem from an alleged sexual assault that took place in June 2018 that occurred between a woman and eight players from the 2018 Canada team after a gala event where Team Canada — who won a gold medal in the World Juniors tournament — was being recognized.
The case was originally closed without charges by London police in 2019, but reopened in 2022. The victim filed a civil suit in court, and there was public outrage for how the it was initially handled.
In May 2022, Hockey Canada reached a settlement with the woman. Shortly after the settlement was reached, Hockey Canada CEO Scott Smith stepped down, as did interim CEO Andrea Skinner. Hockey Canada’s board of directors also followed suit. Since they stepped down, Hockey Canada hired Katherine Henderson as its new CEO, has a new board of directors and also developed an action plan to help “eliminate toxic behavior in and around Canada’s game.”
A new investigation showed that London police had reasonable grounds to believe five players from the 2018 World Juniors team sexually assaulted the woman. It went to court in December 2022, and London police service sergeant David Younan wrote, as reported by The Globe and Mail, “when taking a global view of the evidence, (the victim) subjectively believed that she had no alternative but to engage in the (specific sex act(s)). Further, I believe that each of the suspects knew or ought to have known that (the victim) had not consented.”
If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, (updated 8/1/2024) and acknowledgement of our Privacy Policy, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (updated 7/1/2024).
© 2024 Advance Local Media LLC. All rights reserved (About Us).
The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local.
Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site.
YouTube's privacy policy is available here and YouTube's terms of service is available here.
Ad Choices
