Five hockey players facing criminal charges in connection to alleged sexual assault

The fallout continues to surround the Hockey Canada sexual assault scandal, which has several prominent National Hockey League players facing criminal charges.

The lawyers for five members of the 2018 Canadian World Junior hockey gold medal winning team confirmed their clients face criminal charges.

The five players include Dillon Dube, Cal Foote, Alex Formenton, Carter Hart, and Michael McLeod. All but Formenton are signed to NHL teams.

Months after winning the gold medal, the players were in downtown London, Ont. for a Hockey Canada golf tournament and gala. That is when the alleged sexual assault involving a 20-year-old woman took place.

The players were asked to surrender to the London Police Service (LPS) to be charged in connection with the allegations.

London criminal lawyer Jim Dean is well aware of the headlines the case is making across North America.

“Anytime you get any celebrity or public status charged, it’s always big news and people are always wanting to hear their comments,” said Dean. “As with every client, we tell them, ‘Do not make any statements, not to police, not to the media.’”

The lawyers for all of the players have denied any wrongdoing on behalf of their clients, and are expected to plead not guilty – meaning they will likely go to trial.

“As far as first appearance goes, if the individual’s simply charged and given a court date, that first appearance would be in [courtroom number four] about six weeks down the road and at that point, disclosure is going to start to roll in to defence attorneys, and it will spend the next four to five months rolling through the administrative court before a date is set for trial. You’ll likely see trial sometime in [2025],” explained Dean.

The London Abused Women’s Centre (LAWC) is cautious about the potential impact to its clients.

“This being in the media can be traumatizing for individuals who have experienced or been subjected to sexual assault domestic violence, stalking, rape, all of those things,” said Jennifer Dunn.

LPS will hold a news conference regarding this matter on Feb. 5.

The LAWC is expecting to comment further after police have their say in the matter.

“We’re happy that the investigation was re-opened. There’s been a lot of progress made between organizations like ours and the London Police Service and just the way that things naturally progress over the years,” said Dunn.

A civil lawsuit involving the woman was settled out of court in 2022.

None of the allegations against the players have been proven in criminal court.