Canadian police confirmed that sexual assault charges have been levied against five players from Canada's 2018 world junior ice hockey team – four of whom currently play in the National Hockey League (NHL).
The incident in question was first reported to police in June 2018 by a woman who claimed to have been sexually assaulted by members of the team in a hotel room after a Hockey Canada charity event in London, Ontario.
An initial police investigation was dropped in 2019 but reopened in July 2022, a delay for which police also apologized on Monday.
"I want to extend, on behalf of the London Police Service, my sincerest apology to the victim, to her family, for the amount of time that it has taken to reach this point," said police chief Thai Truong at a press conference.
"This should not take this long. It shouldn't take years and years for us to arrive to the outcome of today," he said. "But I can assure you, I am confident, confident that this will not happen again."
NHL players charged with sexual assault
The five men in question — Carter Hart, Michael McLeod, Cal Foote, Dillon Dube and Alex Formenton — turned themselves in last week.
Four of them are active NHL players who have taken paid leaves of absence from their teams – goaltender Hart from the Philadelphia Flyers, Dube from the Calgary Flames, and McLeod and Foote from the New Jersey Devils. Formenton currently plays in Switzerland.
They each face one count of sexual assault, while McLeod faces an additional charge of being party to an offense. All deny any criminal wrongdoing.
Speaking to reporters for 45 minutes in London, Ontario's fifth-largest city located about halfway between Toronto and the US city of Detroit, police chief Truong did not detail why the case had been reopened three years after an initial investigation was closed.
Detective Sgt. Katherine Dann of the Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Section, who has overseen the reopened investigation since 2022, referred to new evidence which "was not available when the investigation concluded in 2019."
She said the reopened inquiries found "reasonable and probable grounds" to bring the charges, which could result in jail time if the defendants are found guilty. The case began Monday and will resume on April 30.
Hockey Canada admits: 'We have been too slow to act'
National federation Hockey Canada issued a statement saying it has "cooperated fully" with police, although a reporter's question to the police as to whether any federation official had ever attempted to interfere with the initial investigation went unanswered.
"Hockey Canada recognizes that in the past we have been too slow to act and that in order to deliver the meaningful change that Canadians expect of us, we must work diligently and urgently to ensure that we are putting in place the necessary measures to regain their trust, and provide all participants with a safe, welcoming and inclusive environment on and off the ice," Hockey Canada president and CEO Katherine Henderson said in a statement.