Report: 2018 Hockey Canada sexual assault trial unlikely to begin before April 2025

According to a report Tuesday from TSN investigative reporter Rick Westhead, it does not appear a resolution in the 2018 Hockey Canada sexual assault case is remotely close.

As Westhead reported, lawyers for the five accused members of Canada’s 2018 World Junior team – Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Cal Foote, Dillon Dube and Alex Formenton – appeared virtually in a London court Tuesday morning. A trial date won’t be set any earlier than Aug. 13, when the case will be discussed in assignment court, Westhead said.

According to a criminal lawyer in London with no ties to the case with whom Westhead consulted, it’s unlikely a trial begins before late April 2025 – at the absolute earliest – as a result of court backlogs. The trial is expected to take at least two months, Westhead said.

McLeod is charged with two counts of sexual assault, including one for aiding others in committing a sexual assault. Hart, Foote, Dube and Formenton are each charged with one count of sexual assault.

In June of 2018, the accused were London, Ont., to celebrate their 2018 World Junior gold medal win with their teammates. After the Hockey Canada event, members of the team kept the celebration going, and some attended Jack’s, a bar in downtown London, where they met the victim. In the early morning hours of June 19, she went to the Delta London Armouries Hotel with one of the accused, where the alleged assault took place.

London Police initially investigated the alleged sexual assault from June 2018 to February 2019 and closed the case without charges, “as it was determined by investigators at that time that there were insufficient grounds to lay a charge,” said London Police Chief Thai Truong during a February press conference.

A comprehensive review was initiated in July 2022, however, after the alleged victim filed a civil suit in court, which TSN reported in May 2022 was quietly settled by Hockey Canada for $3.55 million dollars.

The review involved “re-examining additional investigative steps, gathering additional evidence and obtaining new information,” Truong said. As a result, London Police found sufficient evidence to charge five men with sexual assault and confirmed the charges in the Feb. 5 presser.

The NHL maintains that there will be no discipline meted out to the five accused players until the criminal case is resolved. Four of the five accused players – McLeod, Hart, Foote and Dube – are restricted free agents this offseason and unlikely to receive qualifying offers. At the NHL’s pre-Stanley Cup press conference over the weekend, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said the league would leave it up to the teams to decide whether to submit qualifying offers for the accused. They will become unrestricted free agents if they don’t receive qualifying offers.