Five members of Canada’s 2018 World Junior Team told to surrender to police over sexual assault charges: Report

Five members of Canada’s 2018 world junior hockey team have been told to surrender to police in London, Ontario, on suspicion of sexual assault, the Globe and Mail reports.

According to the Globe and Mail, the players have not yet been charged but have been given time to surrender to London police.

London police revealed The Athletic It said it was “unable to provide updated information” on Wednesday.

A department spokesperson said: “We will be in contact with the media if we have any further information to share regarding this investigation.” NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly also declined to comment.

The pending charges relate to the alleged sexual assault of a woman by multiple players in a London hotel room on June 19, 2018, after a Hockey Canada Foundation event.

The allegations were revealed in a lawsuit filed by a woman against the board in April 2022. In a complaint filed in Ontario Superior Court, the woman claims she was assaulted by eight players in a hotel room after a foundation event. Members of Canada’s 2018 world junior team were among those accused of assault in the case.

Hockey Canada settled the lawsuit in May 2022.

After the lawsuit was made public, London police and Hockey Canada reopened their investigations into the incident, as did the NHL. The initial investigation by London police concluded in February 2019 without any charges being laid.

In October 2022, London police investigators said in a filing with the Ontario Court of Justice that they had reasonable grounds to believe that five members of the 2018 World Junior Team sexually assaulted a woman in a hotel room. said. The evidence has not been tested in court.

Hockey Canada has been under intense scrutiny since the allegations were made public. CEO Scott Smith left the board and the entire board resigned in October 2022. Two months later, the federation “elected a new board of directors to serve a one-year special term focused on making the necessary changes to improve governance” at Hockey Canada. I mentioned it at the time. Hockey Canada later hired Katherine Henderson as president and CEO. Henderson spent seven years as CEO of Curling Canada.

Additionally, in May, the governing body did not allow players from the 2018 World Junior Team to join Team Canada’s 2023 IIHF Canada World Championship Team.

Hockey Canada still has a long way to go to repair its relationships with the provincial and regional governing bodies that oversee minor hockey across the country. Several federations have threatened to withhold player participation fees paid to Hockey Canada. In contrast, Hockey Canada will not collect participant evaluation fees for the 2022-23 season.

Several top sponsors, including Nike, have ended their partnerships with the organization. The sneaker brand, which has been a sponsor of Hockey Canada since 1999, initially suspended the relationship in 2022 and then permanently ended the relationship in July 2023.

Must read

(Photo: Andy Devlin/Getty Images)