Four members of Canada’s 2018 world junior team have been charged with sexual assault, which has put hockey’s culture back under the microscope.
New Jersey Devils defenceman Cal Foote, the son of Vancouver Canucks assistant coach Adam Foote, is among four players charged with sexual assault of a woman stemming from an alleged incident during a Hockey Canada event in London, Ont., in June 2018.
Dillon Dube of the Calgary Flames, Carter Hart of the Philadelphia Flyers and Michael McLeod of the Devils have also been charged, according to their lawyers, while former Ottawa Senators forward Alex Formenton, who was playing in Switzerland, reported to London police on Sunday to be charged.
More details are expected at a London Police Service press conference Monday.
The accused players were members of Canada’s 2018 World Junior Hockey Championship entry at Buffalo that captured gold with a 3-1 victory over Sweden, which is overshadowed by the alleged incident that has again placed hockey’s culture under the microscope.
Foote’s lawyer, Julianna Greenspan, responded with a statement:
“I can confirm that my client was charged with sexual assault. Cal is innocent of the charge and will defend himself to clear his name. What is most critical at this time is the presumption of innocence, and the right to a fair trial, that everyone in Canada is entitled to.”
Canucks president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford is empathetic as Adam Foote processes the charge facing his son.
“At this point, we just support him through a difficult time, but we really don’t have a comment on the bigger situation,” said Rutherford.
Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet regards Adam Foote as a close friend and coaching confidant.
“He’s standing tall — I can’t say anything more than that — and he’s fine. He’s good,” Tocchet said Jan. 24 when Cal Foote was requested to report to London police.
Former Canucks goaltender Corey Hirsch played for the Kamloops Blazers — who captured the 1992 Memorial Cup in Seattle — in the hockey-mad sporting city and was schooled in proper conduct to represent the team and the city.
Hirsch, 51, was appointed to Hockey Canada’s board of directors in November to help the troubled organization regain respect, credibility and wellness.
Hirsch was never naive to assume that 16-year-old players riding on a bus with 20-year-olds for eight or nine hours to the next Western Hockey League destination aren’t affected by what veteran players have experienced on and off the ice.
“In hockey, I always go back to this: You have 16- and 17-year-olds on a bus with 18-,19- and 20-year-olds. The older players are college students and adults and experimenting with whatever. Younger players are listening to college-age people talk about sex and life,” he said.
“It can be: This is what it takes to be a man … The things I saw on a bus. In Kamloops, we were good people. We were monitored … but I saw stuff that I shouldn’t have seen, or heard, or learned stuff that I shouldn’t have learned.
“What do 18-year-olds know about love, relationships and sex? They know nothing. And they’re teaching 16- and 17-year-olds. They’ve learned what they’ve learned and the culture passes it on. It could be a kid coming from not a great home, or whatever, and looking for something. Scott Niedermayer (former Blazer) would never be like this.
How anyone can conclude that a culture of deplorable deportment is somehow valid — as opposed to proper conduct as a valued teammate and citizen — simply stuns Hirsch. He’s struggled with mental health issues, including an acute obsessive-compulsion disorder, but this is different.
“This (alleged incident) isn’t a one-off,” stressed Hirsch. “This is junior hockey and a life-in-general thing. Have a sexual-assault victim come in and talk to these hockey kids and let them know exactly what it is, what it has done to them as a human being. That should be mandatory training.
“It’s one thing to have a psychiatrist come in and say: ‘This is what it does to people.’ Bring in a victim. Then we’ll see change.”
