Whatever happened in that London hotel in June 2018, it did not occur in a vacuum. Nothing does. It stemmed from an ingrained culture.
In Canada, it is a seismic event. A game-changer, a world-changer.
Five players, all Canadian, all members of the 2018 world junior team, four of whom are thought to be on current rosters of NHL teams, have been summoned by police in London, Ont., to face charges in connection with an alleged sexual assault on a 20-year-old woman in a London hotel in June 2018.
Although London police have not made public the deadline for the players to appear, the fact that they have scheduled a press conference for Feb. 5 would suggest the players to be charged must appear before that date.
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It’s impossible to overstate the impact of this scandal in Canada. It’s bigger than Alan Eagleson’s collusion with the owners to undermine the players, bigger than the Chicago Blackhawks sexual abuse scandal, bigger than any of the league’s periodic on-ice violence scandals, from Wayne Maki fracturing Ted Green’s skull with his stick to Todd Bertuzzi’s assault on Steve Moore.
If this involved only the sexual assault charges, it would be an enormous black mark for the hockey culture in Canada. But the deeper issue is the inexplicable decision by Hockey Canada executives in 2022 to settle a $3.55-million lawsuit filed by the alleged victim (identified in court documents only as E.M.) with the payment drawn from a previously unknown slush fund designated for such purposes.
When the news of the payoff was reported by TSN investigative reporter Rick Westhead and others, Hockey Canada was shaken to its foundations. Parents, already frustrated by high registration fees and spiralling insurance costs, were outraged by the possibility that the money they struggled to pay might have gone to cover up an alleged sexual assault perpetrated by eight junior players. (The numbers discrepancy between the eight players mentioned in the lawsuit and the five summoned to face charges this week has not been explained.)
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With some of the biggest sponsors withdrawing their support for Hockey Canada and the outcry leading to hearings in Parliament, Hockey Canada CEO Scott Smith, interim CEO Andrea Skinner, and the entire Hockey Canada board of directors stepped down.
Hockey Canada then developed an Action Plan, hired CEO Katherine Henderson and selected a new board of directors. Henderson, the former CEO of Curling Canada, was hired last July and took over in September, initially avoiding questions about the events that led to her appointment.
It is my understanding, however, that Henderson is the driving force behind the effort to come to grips at last with the handling of an incident that almost destroyed the institution. It was Henderson who commissioned a thorough investigation of the incident, although public release of a report on the Hockey Canada investigation has been at least temporarily blocked by an appeal filed on behalf of unknown parties.
If this case moves forward, the sport itself will be on trial as much as the young men involved. While it seems particularly toxic in junior hockey, the culture of entitlement has been an aspect of sport in general, with elite male athletes led to believe that life is an uninterrupted party, with women as door prizes.
Whatever happened in that London hotel in June 2018, it did not occur in a vacuum. Nothing does. It stemmed from an ingrained culture that involves coaches, trainers, parents, team executives and even fans.
In Canada, where hockey is our national obsession, that culture reaches into every team, every town, every league, every federation and every province. Youngsters who show little ability are left by the wayside but as the elite players show their skills and advance, they become a special breed, worshipped by fans and often coddled by coaches.
The good coaches and parents (still the vast majority) teach off-ice behaviour as well as the on-ice skills necessary to reach the upper levels of the sport. They make sure that young athletes, no matter how talented they may be, know the difference between right and wrong, that they have a moral compass strong enough to withstand the risks of fame and fortune.
When Hockey Canada has a slush fund used to protect players from facing the consequences of their actions, however, all moral and ethical considerations are stripped away. We are left with a “boys will be boys” attitude that will tolerate almost any sort of behaviour, so long as the athletes keep moving up the ladder toward the NHL.
This is likely to be a long-running drama. TSN’s Westhead, after polling Crown attorneys and defence lawyers in Ontario the day the story broke, concluded that 1) sexual assault charges usually are brought to trial and 2) it takes years before the trial gets underway.
A lengthy delay could create a difficult situation for the NHL. If indeed NHL players are facing felony charges, will they be suspended pending the outcome of a trial, if there is to be one?
Even if the case never comes to trial, the impact will be enormous. It has already affected every aspect of the sport in this country. Whatever the outcome, hockey in Canada will never be quite the same.
And that’s a good thing.
jacktodd46@yahoo.com
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