Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Carter Hart has been charged with one count of sexual assault, London, Ontario police chief Thai Truong confirmed in a news conference on Monday to discuss the department’s re-opened investigation into a June 2018 sexual assault case that involved several players from that year’s Canadian World Junior hockey team.
Dillon Dubé of the Calgary Flames, Cal Foote and Michael McLeod of the New Jersey Devils, and Ottawa Senators reserve skater Alex Formenton were the four others charged of the same crime, with McLeod facing an additional count of "being a party to the offense," the police said.
Truong added that all five players had surrendered themselves to the London police and were released on undertakings after their first court appearances Monday morning.
Hart, who was the leading netminder for the 2018 Canadian Junior team, was granted an indefinite leave of absence from the Flyers on January 23, as were the four other players who have been charged from their respective professional teams within that same timeframe.
At the time, Flyers general manager Danny Brière said neither he nor anyone in the organization could comment on the situation. However, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, who acknowledged the pending charges facing the players during his media availability at the league's All-Star weekend on Friday, had comments suggesting that none of them would be returning during the ongoing legal process, especially given that it's late into the 2023-24 season and that the four current NHL players being charged – Hart, McLeod, Foote, and Dubé – are each on expiring contracts.
"It becomes irrelevant in terms of the timing," Bettman said Friday on the idea of terminating any involved contracts related to the case. "They're all away from their teams on leave and they're all free agents. They won't be under contract after this season anyway."
"As a personal matter, if I were them, I would be focusing on defending themselves assuming the charges come down," Bettman later added. "I would be surprised if they were playing while this is still pending."
The assault, which occurred at a hotel in the early hours of June 19, 2018 during a two-day Hockey Canada-run event in London, was reported to the police but had its initial investigation closed in February 2019 without sufficient grounds to levy any charges.
In July 2022, after a lawsuit filed by the victim against Hockey Canada, the junior-level Canadian Hockey League, and eight unnamed CHL players whom she alleged she was assaulted by during the 2018 event reached a settlement, public outcry in the aftermath sparked the London police to look back into its initial investigation, and "Upon review of the occurrence, it was determined that there were additional steps that could be taken to advance the investigation," detective sergeant Katherine Dann of the London police's Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Section said.
"Our team explored investigative opportunities in addition to the 2018 investigation," Dann continued, noting that there was full cooperation from the victim in the nearly six years throughout. "Those leads were followed, additional witnesses were spoken to, and we collected more evidence. I can confirm that some of this evidence was not available when the additional investigation concluded in 2019.
"This is one investigation, not two. The evidence that was collected in 2018 and 2019 was used in combination with newly gathered evidence to form reasonable and probable grounds to charge these five individuals with sexual assault."
The allegations made against the players have not been proven, and no trial dates have been set. Their next court hearing will be April 30, per Sportsnet. The players were represented by their lawyers for Monday morning's hearing, done via video call, but were not present for it.
Truong and Dann were unable to answer many questions during Monday's press conference out of concern of compromising the legal process.
Truong, however, did want to acknowledge the victim's courage and strength throughout the investigation, and of greater note, apologize for how long it took.
"I want to extend, on behalf of the London Police Service, my sincerest apology to the victim, to her family, for the amount of time that it has taken to reach this point," Truong said. "As a police officer working in this space for many many years, I can tell you that this is a difficult, difficult situation for all victims and survivors of sexual violence."
This is a developing story.
Helpful resources
• Hockey Canada timeline (The Athletic, $)
• Crisis on ice: What you need to know about the Hockey Canada scandal (CBC)
Follow Nick on Twitter: @itssnick
Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice Sports