New court date set for five NHL players officially charged with sexual assault

Five NHL players were officially named today by London Police in connection to a high-profile alleged group sexual assault case taking place in Ontario in 2018.

Michael McLeod was charged with two counts of sexual assault, while Carter Hart, Alex Formenton, Cal Foote, and Dillon Dube were all charged with one count of sexual assault.

Reports came out the week of January 24 of the reported charges about the incident following a Hockey Canada banquet in June 2018 in London, Ontario, celebrating the players’ World Juniors gold medal win earlier in the year.

An initial investigation was launched into the case in 2018, closed in 2019 and again re-opened in 2022.

Formenton last played in the NHL in 2021-22 with the Ottawa Senators, while the four other players are currently on leave from their teams.

The first appearance in court for a preliminary hearing was today, with all five players represented by their legal counsel and not appearing themselves.

London Police Chief Thai Truong offered an apology for the length of the process.

“This should not take this long. It should not take years and years for us to arrive to the outcome of today… all victims of sexual violence in many forms, they should not have to wait this long.”

“The victim in this case was fully cooperative from the start,” referring repeatedly to the entire process as “one investigation” rather than two separate ones.

The four NHL players are currently on paid leave from their teams.

“They’re away from their teams now, and they’re all [restricted] free agents [after this season],” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said on Friday at a news conference in Toronto. “As a personal matter, if I were them, I’d be focusing on defending themselves, assuming the charges come down. I would be surprised if they’re playing while this is pending.”

The next court hearing for the case is scheduled for April 30. The NHL had previously launched its own investigation into the case, but those findings have not been made public.