Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews said he wishes he and the team could have done something differently to help Kyle Beach in 2010.
Teammate Patrick Kane said he didn’t know that Beach was the “John Doe” who filed a lawsuit accusing the Blackhawks of mishandling his sexual assault allegations until Beach publicly came forward earlier Wednesday.
Toews and Kane, the last two holdover players from the 2010 Stanley Cup-winning team, both made their first public comments Wednesday since the sexual abuse scandal broke.
“We wish we could have done something differently, myself included,” said Toews, who was also captain of the 2010 team. “My heart goes out to Kyle for what he dealt with. Wish I could have done something. It’s not an excuse looking back, but the truth is a lot of us were focused on just playing hockey.”
In an interview with TSN on Wednesday, Beach said he believed that everyone in the Blackhawks locker room knew what he alleged Brad Aldrich — the team’s video coach at the time — of doing and “word spread pretty quick.”
“Because the comments were made in the locker room, they were made on the ice, they were made around the arena with all different people of all different backgrounds — players, staff, media in the presence,” Beach said.
An investigation by the law firm Jenner & Block, commissioned by the Blackhawks, was made public Tuesday. The report concluded that “nothing was done” by senior leaders in Blackhawks coaching and management in 2010, after Beach reported that Aldrich sexually assaulted and harassed him.
In the report, witnesses say that Beach endured some bullying from Blackhawks players, including anti-gay comments, after he made the allegations.
Kane is still in COVID-19 protocol, but asked the team’s PR staff to join in a postgame videoconference on Wednesday night.
“I knew Kyle pretty well from a couple different training camps,” Kane said. “He seemed like a happy-go-lucky guy … I wish back then we could’ve done some different things or known some different things to help him.”
Toews said he first heard of the allegations ahead of training camp in 2010-11. He said he didn’t know more of “the gory details of it,” and it was moreso just players sharing rumors.
“At the end of the day, I don’t wish to exonerate myself in this situation in any way by saying I didn’t know, but the truth is I did not hear about it until training camp the next year,” Toews said. “At the end of the day, that doesn’t change what happened, that doesn’t make it go away.”
On Tuesday, the NHL fined the Blackhawks $2 million for their handling of the situation, and general manager Stan Bowman resigned.
Toews on Wednesday defended Bowman, as well as Al MacIsaac, the team’s senior director of hockey administration who also was ousted as part of the fallout Tuesday.
“To me, Stan and Al, make any argument you want, they’re not directly complicit in the activities that happened,” Toews said. “Regardless of mistakes that may have been made, for someone like Stan, who has done so much for the Blackhawks — and Al as well — to lose everything they care about and their livelihoods as well… I don’t understand how that makes it go away, to just delete them from existence and (say), ‘That’s it, we’ll never hear from them again.'”
Kane lived with Bowman when the Blackhawks first drafted him. He called Bowman “a great man who did a lot of things for me personally,” but said he and MacIsaac’s exits were “necessary” and “right” moves.
Kane said he would like to reach out to Beach.
“Obviously he’s been living with this for a long time, and it takes a lot of courage for him to put his name behind the story,” Kane said.
EDMONTON – The Edmonton Oilers signed defenceman Travis Dermott to a professional tryout on Friday.
Dermott, a 27-year-old from Newmarket, Ont., produced two goals, five assists and 26 penalty minutes in 50 games with the Arizona Coyotes last season.
The six-foot, 202-pound blueliner has also played for the Vancouver Canucks and Toronto Maple Leafs.
Toronto drafted him in the second round, 34th overall, of the 2015 NHL draft.
Over seven NHL seasons, Dermott has 16 goals and 46 assists in 329 games while averaging 16:03 in ice time.
Before the NHL, Dermott played two seasons with Oilers captain Connor McDavid for the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters. The team was coached by current Edmonton head coach Kris Knoblauch.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) — Maria Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam singles champion, led the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s fan vote her first year on the ballot — an important part to possible selection to the hall’s next class.
The organization released the voting results on Friday. American doubles team Bob and Mike Bryan finished second with Canada’s Daniel Nestor third.
The Hall of Fame said tens of thousands of fans from 120 countries cast ballots. Fan voting is one of two steps in the hall’s selection process. The second is an official group of journalists, historians, and Hall of Famers from the sport who vote on the ballot for the hall’s class of 2025.
“I am incredibly grateful to the fans all around the world who supported me during the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s fan votes,” Sharapova said in a statement. “It is a tremendous honor to be considered for the Hall of Fame, and having the fans’ support makes it all the more special.”
Sharapova became the first Russian woman to reach No. 1 in the world. She won Wimbledon in 2004, the U.S. Open in 2006 and the Australian Open in 2008. She also won the French Open twice, in 2012 and 2014.
Sharapova was also part of Russia’s championship Fed Cup team in 2008 and won a silver medal at the London Olympics in 2012.
To make the hall, candidates must receive 75% or higher on combined results of the official voting group and additional percentage from the fan vote. Sharapova will have an additional three percentage points from winning the fan vote.
The Bryans, who won 16 Grand Slam doubles titles, will have two additional percentage points and Nestor, who won eight Grand Slam doubles titles, will get one extra percentage point.
The hall’s next class will be announced late next month.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The driver charged with killing NHL hockey player Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew as they bicycled on a rural road had a blood-alcohol level of .087, above the .08 legal limit in New Jersey, a prosecutor said Friday.
Gaudreau, 31, and brother Matthew, 29, were killed in Carneys Point, New Jersey, on Aug. 29, the evening before they were set to serve as groomsmen at their sister Katie’s wedding.
The driver, 43-year-old Sean M. Higgins of nearby Woodstown, New Jersey, is charged with two counts of death by auto, along with reckless driving, possession of an open container and consuming alcohol in a motor vehicle. At a virtual court hearing Friday, a judge ordered that he be held for trial after prosecutors described a history of alleged road rage and aggressive driving.
“’You were probably driving like a nut like I always tell you you do. And you don’t listen to me, instead you just yell at me,’” his wife told Higgins when he called her from jail after his arrest, according to First Assistant Prosecutor Jonathan Flynn of Salem County.
The defense described Higgins as a married father and law-abiding citizen before the crash.
“He’s an empathetic individual and he’s a loving father of two daughters,” said defense lawyer Matthew Portella. “He’s a good person and he made a horrible decision that night.”
Higgins told police he had five or six beers that day and admitted to consuming alcohol while driving, according to the criminal complaint. He also failed a field sobriety test, the complaint said. A prosecutor on Friday said he had been drinking at home after finishing a work call at about 3 p.m., and having an upsetting conversation with his mother about a family matter.
He then had a two-hour phone call with a friend while he drove around in his Jeep with an open container, Flynn said. He had been driving aggressively behind a sedan going just above the 50 mph speed limit, sometimes tailgating, the female driver told police.
When she and the vehicle ahead of her slowed down and veered left to go around the cyclists, Higgins sped up and veered right, striking the Gaudreas, the two other drivers told police.
“He indicated he didn’t even see them,” said Superior Court Judge Michael J. Silvanio, who said Higgins’ admitted “impatience” caused two deaths.
Higgins faces up to 20 years, a sentence that the judge said made him a flight risk.
Higgins has a master’s degree, works in finance for an addiction treatment company, and served in combat in Iraq, his lawyers said. However, his wife said he had been drinking regularly since working from home, Flynn said.
Johnny Gaudreau, known as “Johnny Hockey,” played 10 full seasons in the league and was set to enter his third with the Columbus Blue Jackets after signing a seven-year, $68 million deal in 2022. He played his first eight seasons with the Calgary Flames, a tenure that included becoming one of the sport’s top players and a fan favorite across North America.
Widows Meredith and Madeline Gaudreau described their husbands as attached at the hip throughout their lives. Both women are expecting, and both gave moving eulogies at the double funeral on Monday.
