Greg Gilhooly in 2018 published his own account of years of abuse, I Am Nobody: Confronting the Sexually Abusive Coach Who Stole My Life.The Canadian Press
“It was like looking through a mirror at what I went through years ago,” Greg Gilhooly says. “It was soul-destroying watching him there just dripping with such pain.”
Gilhooly was among the millions who have now watched the interview between TSN’s Rick Westhead and onetime top hockey prospect Kyle Beach, in which Beach identified himself as the John Doe of a lawsuit that claims the Chicago Blackhawks management failed to take action after he told them he had been sexually assaulted by one of the coaches.
“I buried this for 10 years, 11 years,” Beach told Westhead, “and it’s destroyed me from the inside out.”
Gilhooly knows the feeling. Once a rising young goaltender in Winnipeg and today an Ontario lawyer, the 57-year-old is still in therapy over what hockey coach Graham James did to him some four decades back. James was eventually convicted of his crimes against several players, including future stars Theo Fleury and Sheldon Kennedy, and served time in jail. Gilhooly originally told his story to The Globe and Mail, and in 2018 published his own account of those years of abuse, I Am Nobody: Confronting the Sexually Abusive Coach Who Stole My Life.
The John Doe lawsuit led the Blackhawks to commission an outside investigation and the 107-page report on the issue could not have been more damning. In it, Beach says that video coach Brad Aldrich threatened him with a baseball bat, telling him, “If you don’t lay down and act like you enjoy it, I’ll make sure you never play in the NHL or walk again.”
Beach, then a 20-year-old desperate for a professional hockey career, did as he was told. He said the coach then told him, “You can’t tell anyone about this; it is our little secret; no one can find out or I will make sure you never play in the NHL.”
Beach did, however, reveal that “little secret” to mental-skills coach Jim Gary, who took it to a meeting that included, among others, Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman, then assistant GM Kevin Cheveldayoff and then head coach Joel Quenneville.
Nothing, however, was done. The Blackhawks were in the playoffs and this claim was seen as a distraction. Three weeks later, Chicago had won the Stanley Cup. Aldrich was in the parade, his name would be etched on the trophy – though likely soon to be removed.
“It made me feel like nothing,” Beach said to watch all this unfold. He never played a game in the NHL. Now 31, he is playing out his career in Germany.
Aldrich did leave the team that summer, but not before Quenneville praised him for “a great job” in a job assessment. Aldrich moved on to coach a high-school team in Michigan, where he was later charged and convicted of sexually assaulting a young player.
The fallout from all this? The NHL has fined the Blackhawks US$2-million. Bowman and others in management lost their jobs, as did Quenneville, who had moved on to coach the Florida Panthers. On Friday, Cheveldayoff met with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and it was decided, as Cheveldayoff was not a member of the senior leadership team in 2010, he “should not be subject to discipline.”
Cheveldayoff released a statement through the Jets expressing “my support of and empathy for Kyle Beach and all he has had to endure since 2010.”
Beach had also approached his union, the NHL Players’ Association, about the incident and, again, nothing was done. The union has since apologized. “There is no doubt that the system failed to support him in his time of need,” said NHLPA head Donald Fehr, “and we are part of that system.”
Gilhooly believes that not only does the system need an overhaul, but the whole culture of hockey needs to change. He says the reason so very few speak out about abuse is because of the intense homophobia that is rampant not just in the NHL but in hockey from the minor leagues to the beer leagues. Homophobic slurs are not only hurled in anger, he says, but in dressing-room banter.
“There are people who use words without knowing or thinking about the underlying meaning,” Gilhooly believes, “and there are people who use those same words with meaning. The difference is as with manslaughter and murder. Either way, you’re going to jail for a long time. We hold out hope that the first group can be rehabilitated, while we walk in fear of ever having to deal with the second.”
Gilhooly believes the culture can change. “It’s about education,” he says. “You only learn to ski and skate by falling down. We have to have a world where you can make a mistake, learn from it, and move on.
“The league is sending the right message – you can’t just sit around and do nothing.” Gilhooly was younger than Beach when he met with his abuser James. He was only 14 when James made contact with him, telling him and his family that he was scouting for talent.
“I would call it ‘trolling,’ not scouting,” Gilhooly says.
He scoffs at those who wonder why the young, fit and much larger Beach didn’t just overpower the small video coach. Gilhooly says these people simply do not understand the power a coach can hold over a young player desperate to succeed.
“I’m 6-foot-7,” he says, “I was big and fit and I could have ended it with one punch. I didn’t. Maybe I should have…
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe remain undefeated in women’s doubles at the WTA Finals.
The 2023 U.S. Open champions, seeded second at the event, secured a 1-6, 7-6 (1), (11-9) super-tiebreak win over fourth-seeded Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in round-robin play on Tuesday.
The season-ending tournament features the WTA Tour’s top eight women’s doubles teams.
Dabrowski and Routliffe lost the first set in 22 minutes but levelled the match by breaking Errani’s serve three times in the second, including at 6-5. They clinched victory with Routliffe saving a match point on her serve and Dabrowski ending Errani’s final serve-and-volley attempt.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will next face fifth-seeded Americans Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk on Thursday, where a win would secure a spot in the semifinals.
The final is scheduled for Saturday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. 5, 2024.
EDMONTON – Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his career as the New Jersey Devils closed out their Western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.
Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils (8-5-2) who have won three of their last four on the heels on a four-game losing skid.
The Oilers (6-6-1) had their modest two-game winning streak snapped.
Calvin Pickard made 13 stops between the pipes for Edmonton.
TAKEAWAYS
Devils: In addition to his goal, Bratt picked up his 12th assist of the young season to give him nine points in his last eight games and now 15 points overall. Nico Hischier remains in the team lead, picking up an assist of his own to give him 16 points for the campaign. He has a point in all but four games this season.
Oilers: Forward Leon Draisaitl was held pointless after recording six points in his previous two games and nine points in his previous four. Draisaitl usually has strong showings against the Devils, coming into the contest with an eight-game point streak against New Jersey and 11 goals in 17 games.
KEY MOMENT
New Jersey took a 2-0 lead on the power play with 3:26 remaining in the second period as Hischier made a nice feed into the slot to Bratt, who wired his third of the season past Pickard.
KEY RETURN?
Oilers star forward and captain Connor McDavid took part in the optional morning skate for the Oilers, leading to hopes that he may be back sooner rather than later. McDavid has been expected to be out for two to three weeks with an ankle injury suffered during the first shift of last Monday’s loss in Columbus.
OILERS DEAL FOR D-MAN
The Oilers have acquired defenceman Ronnie Attard from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Ben Gleason.
The 6-foot-3 Attard has spent the past three season in the Flyers organization seeing action in 29 career games. The 25-year-old right-shot defender and Western Michigan University grad was originally selected by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Attard will report to the Oilers’ AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.
UP NEXT
Devils: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
Oilers: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns, and Kareem Hunt pounded into the end zone from two yards out in overtime to give the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs a 30-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.
DeAndre Hopkins had two touchdown receptions for the Chiefs (8-0), who drove through the rain for two fourth-quarter scores to take a 24-17 lead with 4:17 left. But then Kansas City watched as Baker Mayfield led the Bucs the other way in the final minute, hitting Ryan Miller in the end zone with 27 seconds to go in regulation time.
Tampa Bay (4-5) elected to kick the extra point and force overtime, rather than go for a two-point conversion and the win. And it cost the Buccaneers when Mayfield called tails and the coin flip was heads. Mahomes and the Chiefs took the ball, he was 5-for-5 passing on their drive in overtime, and Hunt finished his 106-yard rushing day with the deciding TD plunge.
Travis Kelce had 14 catches for 100 yards with girlfriend Taylor Swift watching from a suite, and Hopkins finished with eight catches for 86 yards as the Chiefs ran their winning streak to 14 dating to last season. They became the sixth Super Bowl champion to start 8-0 the following season.
Mayfield finished with 200 yards and two TDs passing for the Bucs, who have lost four of their last five.
It was a memorable first half for two players who had been waiting to play in Arrowhead Stadium.
The Bucs’ Rachaad White grew up about 10 minutes away in a tough part of Kansas City, but his family could never afford a ticket for him to see a game. He wound up on a circuitous path through Division II Nebraska-Kearney and a California junior college to Arizona State, where he eventually became of a third-round pick of Tampa Bay in the 2022 draft.
Two year later, White finally got into Arrowhead — and the end zone. He punctuated his seven-yard scoring run in the second quarter, which gave the Bucs a 7-3 lead, by nearly tossing the football into the second deck.
Then it was Hopkins’ turn in his first home game since arriving in Kansas City from a trade with the Titans.
The three-time All-Pro, who already had caught four passes, reeled in a third-down heave from Mahomes amid triple coverage for a 35-yard gain inside the Tampa Bay five-yard line. Three plays later, Mahomes found him in the back of the end zone, and Hopkins celebrated his first TD with the Chiefs with a dance from “Remember the Titans.”
Tampa Bay tried to seize control with consecutive scoring drives to start the second half. The first ended with a TD pass to Cade Otton, the latest tight end to shred the Chiefs, and Chase McLaughlin’s 47-yard field goal gave the Bucs a 17-10 lead.
The Chiefs answered in the fourth quarter. Mahomes marched them through the rain 70 yards for a tying touchdown pass, which he delivered to Samaje Perine while landing awkwardly and tweaking his left ankle, and then threw a laser to Hopkins on third-and-goal from the Buccaneers’ five-yard line to give Kansas City the lead.
Tampa Bay promptly went three-and-out, but its defence got the ball right back, and this time Mayfield calmly led his team down field. His capped the drive with a touchdown throw to Miller — his first career TD catch — with 27 seconds to go, and Tampa Bay elected to play for overtime.
UP NEXT
Buccaneers: Host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
