In London, Ontario, the five current or former NHL players accused of sexual assault in a 2018 incident following Team Canada’s win in the year’s World Junior Championship, have elected to stand before a jury in their trial.
“Earlier this week, all five players selected a trial by jury and they are confident that jurors drawn from the community will decide this case fairly and impartially after hearing all the evidence and testimony,” the accused players’ defence lawyers said in a joint statement released Wednesday.
As reported here previously, Carter Hart of the Philadelphia Flyers, Michael McLeod and Cal Foote of the New Jersey Devils, Dillon Dubé of the Calgary Flames, and Alex Formenton formerly of the Ottawa Senators, now with a club in Switzerland, are the accused players. 
All five appeared in London court on 27 February to hear the court’s response to their request for a jury trial.
The Globe and Mail has published an excellent timeline review of key events in the case, it is published here.
Timeline of key events in the Hockey Canada case
With nearly six passed since the incident, the woman, the victim of the assault, has waited justice.
In early February, the London police made their findings of a second, more detailed investigation public.
London police Chief Thai Truong began his presentation at that press conference with apology to the victim for the delay in the investigation.
“I want to extend, on behalf of the London Police Service, my sincerest apology to the victim, to her family, for the amount of time that it has taken to reach this point,” Truong said at a news conference in London earlier this month. “As a police officer working in this space for many, many years, I can tell you that this is a difficult, difficult situation for all victims and survivors of sexual violence.”
The second police investigation was opened, or rather the first effort was reopened, after reports surfaced that th4e victim and Hockey Canada had settled a lawsuit for an estimated $3.55-million.
The accused are due their day in court, but the victim has waited far too long for her justice demands to be met.
The accused are certainly opting for a jury trial in the hopes of engendering sympathy as hockey players.
The woman at the center of this trial will be in a difficult place. One can only hope she has the support, and fortitude to see it through to its conclusion.
This case was buried once by a shoddy investigation it seems, it must see the light of day.
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