Major legal update in 2018 World Junior case impacts all 5 players involved!

It has just been reported by Robyn Doolittle of the Globe and Mail that the five former members of Canada’s 2018 world junior hockey team, Carter Hart, Michael McLeod, Dillon Dube, Cal Foote and Alex Formenton, who have been charged with sexual assault will have a trial by jury. This is in relation to a woman, identified only as E.M., who sued Hockey Canada in 2022, alleging she was sexually assaulted by eight members of Canada’s world junior team after a fundraising gala in London in 2018.

Dube, Foote, Formenton, Hart and McLeod are each charged with one count of sexual assault. The latter, a forward for the New Jersey Devils, also faces an additional charge of sexual assault for “being a party to the offence.” The accused players have all on indefinite leave from their respective clubs.

The players, whose request for a jury trial was granted Tuesday, will be tried together as a group.

“Earlier this week, all five players selected a trial by jury and they are confident that jurors drawn from the community will decide this case fairly and impartially after hearing all the evidence and testimony,” lawyers representing the accused players wrote Doolilttle in a joint statement.

It will be several months at least before a trial date is scheduled as many first guessed that a trial might only take place in 2026.

Earlier this month in a press conference, Police Chief Thai Truong said London police conducted a comprehensive review of their original case from 2018 in 2022 and discovered new evidence that paved the way for police to reopen the case and subsequently lay sexual assault charges.

Hockey Canada has stated that the organization has cooperated fully with London Police throughout the investigation and is committed to continuing to support the legal process. Back in 2022, Rick Westhead of TSN reported that Hockey Canada had – without consulting any players involved in the alleged incident – quietly settled a $3.55-million lawsuit brought by E.M. against Hockey Canada, the Canadian Hockey League, and eight unnamed players in connection to the alleged attack.

This is the latest update in the ongoing investigation and court case that rocked the hockey world in the past years.

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