Verdict announced in Hockey Canada sexual assault trial involving five former NHL players

Editor’s note: This article discusses an alleged sexual assault. 

All five players from Team Canada’s 2018 World Juniors roster on trial were found not guilty of sexual assault in a high-profile trial that saw its verdict delivered on Thursday.

The eight-week-long trial stems from a June 2018 incident in a London, Ont., hotel following a celebration for Team Canada’s World Juniors gold medal win earlier that year.

Five former NHL players — Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dube, and Callan Foote — were the key focus of the trial, which involved a woman known only as “E.M.,” whom the players had met earlier that day. All five players pleaded not guilty to sexual assault, while McLeod had a separate charge of being a party to the offence of sexual assault that he was also acquitted of after pleading not guilty.

Ontario Superior Court Justice Maria Carroccia relayed the verdict.

Carroccia did not find the complainant’s evidence to be “credible or reliable,” as per Jacques Gallant, a Toronto Star reporter.

While there was no contention that a group sex act took place involving E.M and the named players, Carroccia repeated in her verdict that she could not find convincing evidence that  E.M. was not a consenting party throughout the evening.

“In this case, I find E.M. was by her words expressing her willingness to engage in sexual activity,” Carroccia said in particular about having intercourse with Formenton, the second player acquitted, per Gallant.

All five players have been out of the NHL since midway through the 2023-24 season. McLeod and Dube were in the Russia-based KHL this past year, while Foote played in Slovakia.

Neither Hart nor Formenton played competitive hockey this past season, while the latter has reportedly moved on to a career in construction.

More to come…

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