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The 2018 Hockey Canada sexual assault scandal has taken a significant turn as a trial date has been set for the five accused players. According to the London Free Press, the trial will begin on September 8, 2025, and is expected to last eight weeks.
Pre-trial motion dates are scheduled next month, September 5 and 6, when all five players are set to appear in court for the first time.
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But as Rick Westhead of The Sports Network notes, the trial could start as early as April 2025 if pre-trial motions are sorted out.
The five individuals accused, who were members of Canada's world junior team, are Dillon Dube (26) from the Calgary Flames Carter Hart (26) from the Philadelphia Flyers, Michael McLeod (26) and Cal Foote (25), from the New Jersey Devils and Alex Formenton (24) who previously played for the London Knights of the Canadian Hockey League and Ottawa Senators.
The incident took place after a Hockey Canada fundraising gala in London, Ontario back in June 2018. In a report by the Associated Press obtained from court documents, a woman, who was 20 at the time, was taken to a hotel room with eight members of the Canada world junior team, and that was where the alleged assault occurred.
Four of the five accused players still in the NHL last season — Carter Hart, Michael McLeod, Cal Foote and Dillon Dube — became free agents in June after they were not tendered qualifying offers by their respective teams.
Fans react to trial date set for 2018 Hockey Canada sexual assault scandal
The announcement of a scheduled trial for the 2018 Hockey Canada sexual assault scandal has elicited responses from hockey fans on social media.
One fan expressed disappointment, saying:
"Poorly raised boys will be poorly raised boys..”
Another fan questioned,
"Are they free until the trial? House arrest? Are they allowed to leave the country? What does all this mean?"
A fan replied to the above question, saying:
"No. They are all currently UFAs. Contracts expired on June 30th and teams did not tender qualifying offers." on X.
Here are some fan reactions to the trial date set for the 2018 Hockey Canada sexual assault scandal:
"Honestly it would be super embarrassing if this whole thing ended up getting thrown out due to delays in Canada’s utterly broken court system." one fan wrote on X.
"Maybe it’s just me not knowing the way these trials and general court things work, but I don’t understand why it’s going to take over a year to get this even started." another fan wrote.
"Typically so both sides have the discoveries, time for motions, hearing and then of course the court scheduling" a user commented.
As the legal process unfolds, the hockey world will be closely watching the developments in this case.
