Sexual assault allegations against five current, or former NHL players come to a head this week Hockey will pay a price for sweeping this under the rug

The National Hockey League is is now in the spotlight this coming week.Four currently rostered players, and one former NHL player, will report to London, Ontario courts, to be charged with sexual assault of a woman in 2018.

The impact of the assault and its outcome was immediately felt within Hockey Canada, the governing body for the sport in Canada.

That impact included resignations  throughout the leadership of Hockey Canada, and caused a loss of confidence in the organization still being felt six years later.

In the final week or so of January of this year, four NHL players requested indefinite leaves of absence from the clubs.

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, were the five players cited as being in London for a Monday arraignment.

Commissioner Gary Bettman spoke the entire process and actions during his press conference in Toronto in preparation for the NHL All-Star events.

“They’re away from their teams now and they’re all [restricted] free agents [after this season],” Commissioner Gary Bettman said on Friday. “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 players were in London, in June of 2018, for a celebration of the World Junior Championship Gold Medal won earlier in the hockey season.

The assault has been documented elsewhere, and the detail is clear with0ut being sensational.

The initial allegations were made the following morning by the parents of the woman.

“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,” Commissioner Bettman said. “We had concluded the investigatory portion of our process to the extent we could, and we were working with the NHL Players’ Association to analyze the information we had, create a process to move forward and then determine what was an appropriate response when the news of the impending charges broke last week. We had heard similar rumors before about the possibility of charges, none of which had come to fruition. And in this instance we did not have advance notice from the London authorities.”

Hockey Canada was seemingly less than adequate in its response resulting in London police ending their investigation of the alleged assault  in February 2019.

Where Hockey Canada put itself under scrutiny was a settlement, in the millions of dollars, with the victim of the assault. The settlement became public and the outcry was immediate after the news media released their reports three years later in May of 2022.

“While there are reports of indictments, we have not received official confirmation from the London authorities that five players have been or will be indicted, although it appears from reports that they will be,” Commissioner Bettman said. “As such, and if charges are pending, it would be inappropriate to provide further comment on the matter. Finally, as I think everyone knows, all of the NHL players who appear to be subject of indictment are no longer with their teams. So at this stage the most responsible and prudent thing for us to do is await the conclusion of the judicial proceedings, at which point we will respond as appropriate at the time.”

Hockey and government pressures led to the assault investigation being reopened by London police.

In Switzerland, Ambri-Piotta HC released a statement after signing Formenton , that they would reevaluate their contract with the player pending more information from the investigation and arraignment.

A culture of ignoring sexual assault issues has left the sport of hockey with a damaged reputation. Rather than meet the issue head on from the start, Hockey Canada brushed it aside, at first, then tried to buy their way out of the problem.

Now, the NHL has to face the outcome of its turning of a blind eye to the allegations.

Speculation has arisen that the victim was underage. If this is true, the five players face an even more devastating process in the legal system.

The sexual assault of the woman, because of the inaction and covering up, will hang around the necks of hockey for years.

“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,” Commissioner Bettman said. “We’re all going to have to see how that plays out and we will then be in a position to respond appropriately, which we will do.”

Addressing it all now will do little to recover the emotional and physical damage done in the assault. And that is the tragedy of the sport’s tepid reaction to the initial allegation.