Another woman alleges she was sexually assaulted by many major junior hockey players

The hockey world is still recovering from the horror of the 2018 World Junior case, in which five players, Alex Formenton, Carter Hart, Dillon Dube, Cal Foote and Michael McLeod, have been charged with one count of sexual assault, with McLeod also facing an additional charge (being party to the offence) in the 2018 World Junior alleged sexual assault. It’s alleged the incident occurred following a Hockey Canada gala in Ontario in June 2018, when the players were honoured for their victory at the World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. Court documents from 2022 revealed London police believed they had reasonable grounds to accuse five players of sexually assaulting a young woman in a hotel room.

Since then, respective NHL teams have cut ties with the players.

On Wednesday morning, TSN’s Rick Westhead, who has closely followed the 2018 WJC incident and was also the one reporting on the sexual assault on Kyle Beach that took place back in 2010 amongst the Chicago Blackhawks, revealed that another woman comes forward alleging she was sexually assaulted by a group of major-junior hockey players. He reveals that her story will be made public later tonight on CTV National News.

Will it ever change? Not only has the NHL and hockey community been rocked by the ongoing investigation of the 2018 WJC incident, but there have been other disturbing allegations that were brought forward. Another alleged sexual assault is said to have place in 2003 and reportedly involved players from the 2003 World Junior Team Canada. When news of the 2018 sexual assault allegations in an incident that featured eight members of the country’s 2018 world junior team, following a gala in London, Ontario came out, a woman stepped forward to say that she was “gang raped” by members of the 2003 Canadian World Juniors team. Westhead reported that the allegations claimed that more than a half-dozen players on the 2003 World Junior team were recorded during the tournament having sex with a woman who was naked and non-responsive.

Then, Halifax police were said to have the names of at least two members of the 2003 World Junior hockey team who may have appeared in a video of the alleged group sexual assault. A person who was shown a video of the alleged incident after it occurred in 2003 reported the identities of two players he recognized in the video in an interview with police. The source informed he told Halifax police he recognized the 2003 World Junior player holding the camcorder at the beginning of the video because he held the camera up to his face. The investigation remains ongoing.

This summer, a pair of former Quebec junior hockey players were sentenced to lengthy prison sentences by Quebec court Judge Thomas Jacques for their assault of an underage woman at a hotel during celebrations of the Victoriaville Tigres championship. The players in question are Nicolas Daigle, who was sentenced to 32 months in jail, along with Massimo Siciliano, who was sentenced to 30 months in jail. They plead guilty last October to the assault of the 17-year-old, who was an employee at the hotel where they were staying to celebrate winning the title of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League.

The woman had initially declined Daigle’s invitation to join him in his room, but later arrived and found Siciliano was in the room as well. She would later say she felt “trapped” as she was being assaulted by both of them, and even being video recorded.

Will it ever change?! This is so disturbing and you have to applaud the courage of the women coming forward, with the one making her statement later on Wednesday deserving much support. It’s great to see that Westhead continues to believe and support the victims.