Another player clears his name in Hockey Canada’s sex scandal allegations

Brett Howden, a member of the St. Louis Blues who was a part of the 2018 Team Canada World Junior team, has denied involvement in the alleged sexual assault that featured eight members of the country’s 2018 world junior team, following a gala in London, Ontario.

Howden was one of the players who had yet to comment or make a statement on the ongoing investigation and his agent, J.P. Barry, sent a statement to Josh K. Elliott of Narcity claiming that Howden “had no contact, physically or verbally, with the complainant and that he’s cooperated fully with Hockey Canada in their investigation and he’ll do so with the NHL’s investigation.”

As you know, many other players have made statements that they weren’t involved. St. Louis Blues forwards Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou released separate statements on social media Tuesday saying they had no involvement in the alleged incident. The agency representing Carter Hart, Jake Bean, Kale Clague, Colton Point, and Taylor Raddysh also released a statement denying any involvement in the incident on behalf of the players. Late on Tuesday, NHL player agent Gerry Johannson posted a statement regarding his client Sam Steel and the 2018 World Junior team investigations/allegations. Four other players from that Canadian championship team — Cale Makar, Victor Mete, Conor Timmins and Jonah Gadjovich — have also publicly stated they weren’t involved in previous statements.

In May, news broke that Hockey Canada quietly settled a lawsuit filed by a woman who made the allegations.

More details have emerged lately, especially with new details emerging as the investigation is building a case against the alleged victim. On Tuesday, lawyers for Hockey Canada released text messages and videos to The Globe and Mail which seem to contradict, but nevertheless shed more light onto what exactly happened that evening. First, the Globe acquired videos which showed the alleged victim stating that the acts that evening were consensual. It should be noted that these statements could be made under duress. The alleged victim and her mother later went to police : in her statement, the woman claims alleges “she felt an imminent fear of physical harm and at times was crying and tried to leave the room” but was “directed, manipulated and intimidated into remaining, after which she was subjected to further sexual assaults.”

Howden wanted to clear his name.