Hockey Canada issued a statement on Friday morning to address accusations of a group sexual assault carried out by members of Team Canada’s World Junior team in 2002-03.
This serves as the latest in a growing list of allegations made against players affiliated under the Hockey Canada banner of late, with the 2018 World Junior team currently under investigation for an alleged group sexual assault in London, Ontario, as well.
According to the statement, Hockey Canada was made privy to a “rumor” regarding the alleged incident two weeks ago. No details were included in the rumor, but, as the statement describes, Hockey Canada staff reported it to Sport Canada upon hearing it and then hired a third-party investigator to attempt to learn more.
It wasn’t until Thursday, however, that Hockey Canada says they learned the details of the incident, after receiving an email from TSN’s Rick Westhead that included explicit descriptions of the assault.
Following Westhead’s email, Hockey Canada says they immediately reported the details to the Halifax police, which served as the co-host city of the event back in 2003, and urged Westhead and his sources to do the same.
As the statement reads, Hockey Canada believes that this alleged incident should be subject to an investigation by the Halifax police. The organization says they are prepared to co-operate in any way with the investigation and are calling on anyone who might have pertinent information to come forward and share it with the authorities.
The 2003 Canadian World Junior team features a number of prominent names in hockey over the past decade, including one current NHLer.
