Warning: coverage of the Hockey Canada trial includes graphic details of alleged sexual assault that may be disturbing to readers.

Former world junior player Tyler Steenbergen continued his testimony on Thursday as the Crown read messages from a players’ group chat from the days following an alleged sexual assault.

Steenbergen played on the 2018 Canadian World Junior Championship team. Five of his former world junior teammates – Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dube and Cal Foote – each pleaded not guilty to a charge of sexual assault in relation to a June 2018 incident in which a woman alleges she was sexually assaulted in a London, Ont., hotel room following a Hockey Canada gala.

McLeod also pleaded not guilty to an additional sexual assault charge as a party to the offense.

However, the jury was only in the courtroom for part of Thursday.

As court resumed following the lunch break, the presiding judge, Justice Maria Carroccia, sent the jury home for the remainder of the day while legal arguments took place. Whatever is discussed while the jury is not present cannot be reported due to a publication ban.

“I’m not going to keep you. Good news for you, you have the afternoon off,” Carroccia said. “I ask you to come back tomorrow at 10 a.m. Have a good afternoon.”

Steenbergen, 27, answered questions from assistant Crown attorney Heather Donkers before the break.

Donkers read aloud to the jury various text messages from a world junior team member group chat dated June 26, 2018, seven days after the alleged assault occurred. Steenbergen earlier confirmed it was on June 26 that the players first received notice that Hockey Canada launched an investigation into the alleged sexual assault.

The men initially appeared to plan what they should say to the investigators when they were potentially interviewed. 

“We all need to say the same thing if we get interviewed can’t have different stories or make anything up,” McLeod’s number texted.

Jake Bean, another world junior teammate and current Calgary Flames defenseman, later responded.

“No boys, like we don't need to make anything up, we didn't do anything wrong,” Bean texted.

Steenbergen already said on Wednesday that Bean and he hadn’t engaged in any of the alleged sexual acts that took place in the hotel room. He said earlier on Thursday the two had only been in the hotel room for 10 to 15 minutes. Steenbergen and Bean have not been accused of any wrongdoing.

Fellow teammate and current Vegas Golden Knights center, Brett Howden, also texted in the group chat. He, too, has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

“Nobody forced her to do anything, if anything we should put allegations on her, f---,” Howden texted. “She's the one that got naked and started begging everyone.”

Donkers continued reading the messages from the conversation to the jury, with Steenbergen confirming the sender of each message. 

The topic eventually shifted more to the nature of the investigation itself, with Dube and Foote messaging back and forth before coming to a consensus that the investigation was private and wouldn’t involve police.

“Okay, then it's private, and no police are involved, so we are all perfectly fine,” Foote texted.

Donkers asked Steenbergen to give his interpretation of this message, specifically the last portion that says, “we are all perfectly fine.”

“Just that, yeah, when we were in the room, it seemed like she wanted it, and the guys said they had consent, so I thought it was all good, too,” Steenbergen said.

The text messages Donkers read eventually included the men trying to figure out how to proceed.

Howden suggested that Dube should “call Bully,” referring to Shawn Bullock, a Hockey Canada executive who led the 2018 world junior team. 

Howden continued to tell Dube he should call Bullock regarding the investigation and tell them the players’ side of things.

“Just tell him what f-----g happened,” Howden texted. “Show him the text from this girl and the video or whatever he wants to see.” McLeod’s phone recorded two videos of the complainant, referred to in court documents as E.M., saying she was OK and “this was all consensual” during the morning of June 19, 2018.

Donkers read on with the players discussing having to potentially go to Toronto for questioning. Bean eventually suggested that everyone should “stop talking” in the group chat and discuss matters further with their agents.

Former Canadian World Junior Player Testifies About What Was Said In Hotel Room On Night Of Alleged Sexual Assault Warning: coverage of the Hockey Canada trial includes graphic details of alleged sexual assault that may be disturbing to readers.

Earlier in the day, Donkers continued her line of questioning from Wednesday afternoon, asking Steenbergen about what occurred in Room 209 of the Delta Armouries Hotel in the early morning of June 19.

Steenbergen said that at one point during his estimated 10 to 15 minutes in the room, he witnessed Dube slap the buttocks of the woman in the room after she had finished giving oral sex to Hart on a bed sheet laid out on the floor of the room.

“I heard a small slap but didn't hear a reaction from her,” Steenbergen said. 

He also said he wasn’t paying close attention to the sexual acts going on since he had a girlfriend at the time who is now his wife of three years. 

Donkers also asked Steenbergen about when Foote allegedly did the splits over the face of the woman while she was lying on the bed sheet. However, Steenbergen says his vision was obscured due to the position of the bed, as well as other players on it, in front of where the woman was lying.

“I remember partially seeing the splits, but I couldn’t see because there was people on the bed in front of me,” Steenbergen said.

Steenbergen did say, though, he remembers Foote entering the room fully clothed, despite the complainant saying he did the splits in question without shorts or pants on. Steenbergen then said that eventually, the woman stood up and went to the bathroom, which cleared a path that Bean and himself used to exit the hotel room.

The trial is expected to continue Friday morning.

Note: The quoted text message from Michael McLeod was expanded for clarity purposes.