After the year and decade that Kyle Beach has endured, a good news story is emerging involving the former NHL prospect.
Last fall, Beach made headlines stepping forward as “John Doe” in a case in which Beach was sexually assaulted by Chicago Blackhawks video coach Brad Aldrich during the 2009-10 season. The case made international news headlines, and eventually resulted in a confidential settlement between the Blackhawks and Beach made in December of 2021.
Now however, Beach is entering a new phase in his hockey career, and will look to help a new generation of hockey players by stepping into a coaching role. As reported by TSN’s Rick Westhead, Beach has joined the coaching staff for the Trinity Western University men’s hockey team.
This also marks the end of Beach’s 12-year professional career that saw stops in the AHL, ECHL, Sweden, Austria, and most recently Germany. Last season Beach played for Black Dragons Erfurt scoring 50 points in 32 games in Germany’s third division.
A first-round pick by Chicago in 2008, Beach returns to his home province to begin his coaching career.
Beach reported the 2010 sexual assault perpetrated by Aldrich to members of the Chicago Blackhawks organization. The Blackhawks did not report the assault to outside authorities and allowed Aldrich to resign without his actions becoming known to the league or future teams. The NHL called Chicago’s handling of the situation “inadequate,” “insufficient” and “untimely.”
The Trinity Western Spartans joined USports and the Canada West conference in 2019 after many years of competing in the British Columbia Intercollegiate Hockey League. Beach joins Trinity Western’s new head coach Ben Walter. The duo were teammates playing for EC Salzburg winning back-to-back EBEL championships in 2014-2015 and 2015-2016.
