All 2018 World Juniors players ineligible for national team, Hockey Canada says

Content Warning: The following article contains references to sexual assault.

Players from Canada’s 2018 World Junior team will not be allowed to play for the national team until an investigation of an alleged group sexual assault is completed, Hockey Canada told TSN in a statement on Monday.

“Earlier this year, Hockey Canada made a decision that until the investigation and adjudicative process of the alleged incident in 2018 are complete, no players from the 2018 National Junior Team will be considered for participation for Team Canada,” a Hockey Canada spokesman wrote in a statement. “This has been communicated to the management group for Team Canada at the 2023 IIHF Men’s World Championship.”

The 2023 IIHF men’s world championship will be co-hosted by Tampere, Finland, and Riga, Latvia, from May 12-28. St. Louis Blues general manager Doug Armstrong will be Team Canada’s general manager, with Detroit Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman working as associate general manager.

Hockey Canada’s disclosure came hours after the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage passed a motion to direct Hockey Canada to hand over a report prepared for Hockey Canada by Toronto law firm Henein Hutchison Robitaille LLP about an alleged sexual assault in London, Ont., in June 2018 involving World Juniors players and a woman identified in court records as E.M.

Before voting, committee members agreed that after the committee receives the report, its law clerk would review it to ensure the redactions of names that should be kept private.

“We have to clean this up,” Conservative MP Kevin Waugh said in an interview with TSN. “Are they hiding stuff? Why is this taking so long? There’s a lack of trust with Hockey Canada right now. Everybody’s been talking about this for the past two years and there’s nothing from the NHL, or Hockey Canada on it.”

Henein Hutchison Robitaille, formally known as Henein Hutchison, conducted an initial investigation after a woman alleged hours after a Hockey Canada golf and gala event in London, Ont., that she had been sexually assaulted by eight Team Canada players. Police in London originally closed the case without pressing charges, prompting Henein Hutchison to stop its own investigation. 

But after TSN reported in May 2022 that the woman had settled a $3.55 million lawsuit against Hockey Canada, the Canadian Hockey League and eight unnamed former CHL players, both the London police and Henein Hutchison reopened their separate investigations. Hockey Canada has told TSN that an independent panel received Henein Hutchison’s report in December and is considering what sanctions, if any, should be levied against players.

The NHL has said it also is investigating the alleged sexual assault but has not disclosed its findings.

Hockey Canada said late Monday afternoon that it had not received the Heritage Committee's request for the Henein Hutchison report.

"While Hockey Canada has not received a request from the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage about the motion that you are referencing, we have and will continue to support the committee's important work," a Hockey Canada spokesman wrote.

London police records first reported in December by The Globe and Mail indicate that investigators believe they have reasonable grounds to charge five Team Canada players with sexual assault. Other national players are prospective witnesses, a London detective wrote in a court document, adding that, “Others may or may not become suspects.”

The allegations against the players have not been proven or tested in court.

Waugh said he doesn’t believe his committee’s demand for Hockey Canada’s records would compromise an ongoing police investigation in London.

London Police Service Constable Sandasha Bough declined to comment on the Heritage Committee’s request for Hockey Canada’s records.

“The investigation remains active and ongoing,” Bough wrote in an email to TSN. “When we have information to share, we will do so by way of media release.”

After TSN’s report last May, the Heritage Committee convened a series of hearings to demand more information from Hockey Canada about both the case and about how the organization has historically managed sexual assault allegations.

The scandal led to the departure of Hockey Canada chief executive Scott Smith and the organization’s entire board. A new nine-member interim board was elected in late December and will serve a one-year term.