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

The Hockey Canada sexual assault trial nears its later stages, with the Crown and defense teams set to provide their submissions and arguments starting Monday. 

The London, Ont., trial hasn’t been without some delays and difficult moments. And the evidence, testimonies and cross-examinations have painted a picture of what the Crown and defense each hope to prove.

As a reminder, five players on Canada’s 2018 world junior team – Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dube and Cal Foote – each face a charge of sexual assault. McLeod faces an additional charge of party to the offense. They have each pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Here are some key events from the trial thus far.

Mistrial And Jury Dismissal

The charges stem from an incident in 2018 in which a woman, referred to in court documents as E.M. due to a publication ban, alleges she was sexually assaulted in a London hotel room following a Hockey Canada gala. 

When the trial proceedings began on April 22, nearly seven years after the incident, it was not expected that just three days later, the presiding judge, Justice Maria Carroccia, would declare a mistrial.

A second jury was chosen, and the trial restarted the following week. Those jurors, however, will not deliver a verdict, either.

On May 16, after E.M. had already testified, Carroccia dismissed the jury after a juror made an allegation regarding some members of the defense team. 

Alex Formenton’s lawyers, Daniel Brown and Hilary Dudding, released a joint statement to the media on the matter. 

“In short, a juror came to somehow believe that our courtroom demeanor was disrespectful of her,” the statement said. “This was an unfortunate misinterpretation. No defense counsel would risk alienating a juror, and nothing could be further from the truth in this instance.”

Instead of restarting the trial a second time, the defense and Crown agreed to proceed with the trial by judge alone, meaning Carroccia will render the final verdict.

Complainant Takes The Stand

After the Crown’s first three witnesses – London Police detective Tiffany Waque, Washington Capitals right winger Taylor Raddysh and AHL left winger Boris Katchouk – completed their testimony, there was some video surveillance footage of Jack’s Bar and the Delta Armouries Hotel, some texts between players and two videos of E.M. from inside the hotel room.

When E.M. began her testimony on May 2, her side of the story began to unfold.

As Crown attorney Meaghan Cunningham questioned E.M. about her experiences at Jack’s, where she initially met McLeod and other members of Canada’s 2018 world junior team, the complainant recalled how intoxicated she became at the bar. She said that mentally, she felt “all over the place,” and at points, she didn’t even know who she was dancing with. 

Additionally, she provided context as to why she and McLeod left the bar together to go back to his hotel room.

“I just accepted that since we’d been close that night, it was fine. I’d go to the hotel,” E.M. said.

From there, E.M. provided her recollection of what allegedly happened in McLeod’s hotel room in the early hours of June 19, 2018. She said after having consensual sex with McLeod, more men began entering the room and asking her to perform sexual acts on herself and others, even testifying that the men had golf clubs and had asked her to “take the whole golf club in me.” 

The complainant said she was heavily intoxicated and that she went along with what the men were asking her to do.

“I shut down and let my body do what it needed to do to be safe,” E.M. said. “It seemed like the only safe thing to do was give them what they were wanting.”

E.M. also detailed two particular sexual acts she remembered. She testified that when she went to the bathroom, Formenton followed her and proceeded to have sex without her consent. In another instance, she testified that Foote did the splits naked over her, grazing his genitals over her face.

Two videos in the hotel room showed E.M. saying she was “OK” and that “everything was consensual,” but the complainant said she didn’t remember those videos being taken.

Defense Cross-Examines E.M.

After E.M. detailed leaving the hotel, calling her friend and reporting the alleged sexual assault to the police, it was the defense’s turn to cross-examine E.M.

McLeod’s lawyer, David Humphreys, confirmed with the complainant that she had a boyfriend of three months at the time of the incident. They are now engaged. 

Carter Hart’s lawyer, Megan Savard, suggested E.M. fabricated the sexual assault narrative, as if she had told her boyfriend she was an active participant, it could have been a “relationship-ender.” E.M. disagreed.

E.M.’s memory was questioned throughout the cross-examination, including Savard trying to show inconsistencies in the complainant’s statements during two London police investigations, the 2022 Hockey Canada investigation and her testimony. 

Alex Formenton’s lawyer, Daniel Brown, suggested E.M. did not consume as much alcohol as the number of drinks she had implied because the Jagerbombs she had at Jack’s only had half an ounce of liquor instead of a full ounce. Brown also suggested E.M. has a “fun” alter ego when she drinks, and that persona doesn’t think of the consequences. E.M. said she didn’t like the alter ego suggestion, and although it was her choice to drink, it was not her choice to have what happened to her.

During the nearly 10 days of E.M.’s testimony, the defense lawyers and her got heated at points, with E.M. breaking down in tears while being questioned by Savard on one day.

Two Players And A Detective Testify

Following the complainant’s testimony, the Crown turned to two former members of the 2018 world junior team, Tyler Steenbergen and Vegas Golden Knights center Brett Howden.

Steenbergen testified that the woman in the room was actively asking the players for sex and even egging them on at points, calling them “p-----s.”

Howden testified much of the same about the woman's behavior in the room, but Howden did appear to have gaps in his memory. This led to multiple attempts by the Crown to try to prove that he was “feigning” memory loss and to have text messages between Howden and Raddysh be admissable in court, but Carroccia turned those down. 

When Brown suggested to E.M. earlier in the trial that she egged on the players and asked them if they were going to “f--- her or play golf,” she said she has no recollection of saying that, nor did it sound like something she’d say.

Howden’s testimony also got tense during his questioning, even crying at one point when the defense mentioned his wife and children.

London Police detective Steve Newton then testified, when interviews he conducted with McLeod, Formenton and Dube from 2018 were played before the court. The stories the men provided in these interviews were more similar to what Steenbergen and Howden had testified.

Carter Hart Testifies

Only one of the accused men testified before the court for the defense, which was Hart. He testified that E.M. actively asked the men for sex and, at one point, was fully naked on a bed sheet on the ground, masturbating.

“She seemed to be enjoying it,” Hart said. “She seemed to be enjoying that players were watching her doing that.”

He additionally touched on Foote’s alleged splits, saying he remembered Foote wearing pants and a shirt when he did them, and that when he looked down at her during the splits, she was “laughing.”

Hart did testify that he was very intoxicated during the night, and that prior to the London trip, he had only drunk “three times in my life.” He said that because of this and the passage of time, he had trouble remembering some of the events.

The trial is expected to resume on Monday, when the Crown and defense will provide their final submissions and arguments to Carroccia before she begins the process of rendering a verdict.