Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Carter Hart has been named as one of the five players called to surrender to police in London, Ont., to be charged with sexual assault in connection with the alleged incident that happened during a Hockey Canada event in June 2018, according to TSN’s Rick Westhead.
Hart is expected to be in London and surrender to police before London Police hold a scheduled press conference on Monday. The press conference was planned to update the public of any conclusion of their investigation and the case itself.
The other four players are Calgary Flames forward Dillon Dube, New Jersey Devils skaters Michael McLeod and Cal Foote, and former Ottawa Senator who was most recently playing in the Swiss League, forward Alex Formenton.
As reported by Westhead, “the players will be photographed, fingerprinted, and directed to sign an undertaking not to have contact with the alleged victim, either the first time they report to police or at a subsequent date.”
In May 2022, Hockey Canada settled a lawsuit with a woman who claimed she was sexually assaulted by eight players, including members of Canada’s 2018 World Juniors team, on the night after a Hockey Canada event in London. The identities of the eight players in question remained undisclosed throughout the legal proceeding.
After the settlement, outcry for Hockey Canada to further address these allegations caused the organization to reopen the investigation. Hockey Canada made it clear that participation from the players was mandatory. The NHL opened up a separate investigation, with many of the Team Canada players making it to the professional level in their league.
Back in December 2022, a court filing revealed more details about the alleged sexual assault. In the filing, police investigators in London stated that they have reasonable grounds to believe that five members of the 2018 World Juniors team committed the sexual assault. The 94-page document included more details of what specifically happened that night in 2018, including the existence of a group text message chat between players, and how Hockey Canada gave a player a head’s up that the police was contacted about the night’s events.
At the time of the assault, the case was initially investigated by London Police but was closed in February 2019 without charges. It took until May 2022 and the quiet settlement between Hockey Canada and the victim coming to light, for the alleged event to become more public.
More to come.
