Several Canadian hockey players are suspected of sexual assault

A sexual harassment scandal is brewing in the National Hockey League. Canadian hockey player Alex Formenton surrendered to authorities who demanded answers from him about a story that happened back in 2018. In addition to Formenton, several other Canadian players are under suspicion, most of them members of the Canadian youth team that won the 2018 World Cup. The Canadian Hockey Federation is also involved in the case. More than $2.6 million has already been paid to the so-called victim from her funds.

The National Hockey League (NHL) risks facing a serious crisis caused by a fashionable topic of our time – sexual harassment. Last Sunday, former NHL player Alex Formenton (in 2017–2022 he played for the Ottawa Senators, and now plays for the Swiss Ambri-Piotta) voluntarily “surrendered”, or, more simply put, arrived for questioning at the London police (Canada) ). Canadian authorities have not explained the nature of the claims against the player, but his lawyers said that we are talking about a story that took place back in 2018 and includes an episode of alleged sexual assault. In a statement, the lawyers note that the claims arose not only against Formenton, but also against “several players,” and also reported that “Alex resolutely insists on his innocence.”

Alex Formenton is the first officially identified defendant in the high-profile case, opened back in 2022.

Then a certain person, referred to in the case materials as E.M., told the police that back in 2018, shortly after the Canadian youth team won the World Hockey Championship, after a party she met one of the hockey players in a hotel bar. Then, of her own free will (the parties do not deny this), she had sexual intercourse with him. However, then he invited his hockey player friends to the room. There is no clarity as to whether these hockey player friends entered into intimate relationships with the above-mentioned person. It is also unclear how voluntary this relationship could have been, and the name of the first person who came into contact with E.M. is also unknown.

The police have not yet officially named the names of persons who could have been participants in the scandalous party. However, according to the agency AP, several hockey players playing for NHL clubs may be involved in the story, namely: Michael McLeod, Cal Foote (both New Jersey Devils), Carter Hart of the Philadelphia Flyers and Dillon Dube of the Calgary Flames. They are all members of the 2018 championship team. According to the same AP, all of the above-mentioned players were sent on vacation by their clubs.

Note that this is not the first time this story has been investigated. In 2019, after the above-mentioned E.M. contacted the police with a statement that an act of sexual violence had been committed against her, the police conducted an investigation and refused to initiate a case, citing a lack of evidence to confirm the applicant’s words. However, three years later, the Canadian portal TSN reported that the Canadian Hockey Federation (Hockey Canada) had behind the scenes reached an agreement to pay $2.6 million to E.M. in exchange for waiving claims against eight Canadian hockey players (it is not yet clear who else, in addition to the above-mentioned five, was involved in the case).

Moreover, it turned out that Hockey Canada has long been aware of the sometimes strange behavior of players and has a separate financial reserve to resolve the consequences of their actions.

It appears, however, that the funds in the fund were not sufficient to satisfy E.M.’s demands.

Alexander Petrov