Five individuals, including four current NHL players and a former player, have been charged with sexual assault for their alleged involvement in an incident that took place during the celebration of Canada’s win at the 2018 IIHF World Junior Championship.
The London, Ontario Police Service revealed that Michael McLeod faces two counts of sexual assault, while Cal Foote, Dillon Dube, Carter Hart, and Alex Formenton are each facing one count of sexual assault.
Hart, a goalie, is on leave from the Philadelphia Flyers, Dube, a forward, is on leave from the Calgary Flames, and McLeod, a forward, and Foote, a defenseman, are on leave from the New Jersey Devils.
Formenton, whose NHL playing rights belong to the Ottawa Senators, is currently on a leave of absence from his team in Switzerland, HC Ambri-Piotta.
London Police Chief Thai Truong stated on Monday that the alleged incident occurred on June 18, 2018, subsequent to an event in London that honored the gold-medal winning World Junior team.
Truong mentioned, “the accused and several teammates met the victim at a downtown bar, and later invited her to a hotel room, where the sexual assault by the individuals now charged took place.”
Initial investigations conducted by the London police did not find sufficient grounds for charges. However, a subsequent investigation initiated by the London police in 2022 resulted in the discovery of new evidence and interviews with additional witnesses, leading to the current charges.
During his press conference at NHL All-Star Weekend on Friday, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman expressed his belief that the four NHL players will likely not return to their teams this season.
“They’re away from their teams now and they’re all [restricted] free agents [after this season],” Commissioner Bettman said. “As a personal matter, if I were them, I’d be focusing on defending themselves assuming the charges come down. I would be surprised if they’re playing while this is pending.”
The Commissioner revealed that the NHL first became aware of the alleged incident on May 26, 2022, which was subsequent to the completion of initial inconclusive investigations by Hockey Canada and the London Police Service.
Concurrently with reopened investigations by the London Police Service and Hockey Canada, the League conducted its own year-long investigation. Bettman said, “Our investigators reviewed volumes of information and conducted interviews of all players on the 2018 team, as well as other relevant individuals who were willing to participate in an investigation.”
Bettman pointed out that the NHL will refrain from releasing any information from its investigation while the charges are pending. Deputy commissioner Bill Daly stated, “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 to do anything to interfere or influence the judicial proceedings.”
NHL.com senior writer Dan Rosen contributed to this report
