Warning: coverage of the Hockey Canada trial includes details of alleged sexual assault that may be disturbing to readers.
Verdicts for the five former members of Canada’s 2018 world junior hockey team facing sexual assault charges are expected on Thursday.
The two-month trial, which concluded on June 13, involves Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dube and Cal Foote, who are each facing a charge of sexual assault. McLeod also faces an additional charge as a party to the offense.
The charges are in relation to a June 2018 incident in which a woman, who is referred to as E.M. due to a publication ban on her identity, alleges she was sexually assaulted in a London, Ont., hotel room following a Hockey Canada gala. All players pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The trial ended over a month ago, with the presiding judge, Justice Maria Carroccia, setting the verdict time for July 24 at 10 a.m. ET.
Here is a look at the five accused players and what the court heard about each of them:
Michael McLeod
McLeod, a first-round pick of the New Jersey Devils, made initial contact with E.M. at Jack’s Bar and brought her back to his room at the Delta Armouries Hotel, where they engaged in consensual sexual activities after a night of drinking.
According to evidence and testimony in court, McLeod asked players in a team group chat and players individually in text or in person if they wanted to come to his room and have sex with E.M.
“Who wants to be in 3-way quick,” McLeod asked in a group chat text. Taylor Raddysh and Boris Katchouk, who were members of Team Canada but were not accused of any wrongdoing, said McLeod asked them individually if they wanted a “gummer,” which both players clarified as oral sex.
McLeod’s lawyer argued that E.M. requested McLeod to invite his other friends to the room. During cross-examination, E.M. denied doing so.
McLeod’s lawyer also suggested his client underestimated the number of players who eventually showed up, since only Carter Hart responded to the “3-way” text.
Two videos from McLeod’s phone of E.M. in the hotel room were shown in court. In one video, the complainant appeared to be clothed and was asked if she was “OK with this.”
“Yeah, I'm OK,” she said.
The second video, taken about an hour later, appeared to show E.M. covering herself with a towel and acknowledging consent.
“This was all consensual,” E.M. said. “I enjoyed it. Are you filming this? You are so paranoid. I’m so sober. That’s why I can’t do this right now.”
The Crown argued that the videos are not a valid way for McLeod or anyone else to obtain consent from E.M.
McLeod is also accused of obtaining oral sex from E.M. without her consent and having unconsensual sex with her before she left.
Carter Hart
When McLeod sent the “3-way” invitation text to the team group chat, the former Philadelphia Flyers goalie wrote, “I’m in.” From there, Hart went to McLeod’s room and obtained oral sex from E.M.
Hart was the only accused player who took the stand in court (videos of McLeod, Formenton and Dube interviewing with a London Police detective in 2018 were played in court).
Hart said he experienced a high level of intoxication on the night of June 18 and the early morning of June 19, also mentioning that he had only drunk alcohol three times prior to that night. E.M. also expressed having a high level of intoxication when the alleged incident occurred.
Hart testified that when he was in McLeod’s room, one of his earliest memories of the complainant was her on a bed sheet on the ground, masturbating. He said the woman began telling the men to “f---” her, which former team members, Brett Howden of the Vegas Golden Knights and former pro player Tyler Steenbergen, also testified.
Hart said he asked the woman for oral sex, which he received, but it ended after a short time. He then said the woman continued to egg on the men.
“I was shocked, I could not believe some of the things she was saying,” Hart said.
Crown attorney Meaghan Cunningham suggested that E.M. hadn’t directly asked for oral sex from Hart, but Hart said it seemed like she was consenting to people by saying, “somebody come f--- me.”
“Putting your penis in her mouth is not f---ing her, is it?" Cunningham said.
E.M. also testified that the men put the bed sheet on the floor and asked her to lie down and masturbate.
Alex Formenton
As he was not yet 19 years old at the time of the alleged assault, the former Ottawa Senators left winger wasn’t at Jack’s Bar with his teammates. But Formenton, who was sharing a hotel room with McLeod, arrived at the room in the early hours of June 19.
At one point, Formenton and E.M. went to the bathroom, where they engaged in vaginal and oral sex. The Crown and E.M. said this wasn’t a consensual act, but Formenton said otherwise in a police interview with London Police detective Steve Newton in 2018. In the interview, Formenton told Newton the complainant had been begging the men for sexual attention, also saying all the sexual activities that happened in the room were consensual.
Formenton’s lawyer reiterated this statement during the defense’s closing arguments, suggesting that E.M. was the one pushing for the sexual activity that occurred.
“She wanted to have sex with the men in the room,” Formenton’s lawyer said. “She was saying assertively that she wanted to do so throughout the night and readily accepted sex in the bathroom when Mr. Formenton took her up on the offer as long as it wasn't in front of other people.”
In her testimony, E.M. said she got up to go to the bathroom, and someone followed her and proceeded to have sex without her consent.
Dillon Dube
The Crown alleged that Dube, who was the captain of the Canadian junior team, slapped the buttocks of E.M. without her consent while she was engaged in oral sex with another player and also received non-consensual oral sex from E.M.
In a 2018 phone interview that London Police detective Newton had with Dube, the alleged slap was not mentioned. Dube, however, did admit that he received oral sex from E.M. for roughly 10 seconds but quickly realized it was a bad idea and left the room.
Cal Foote
Foote, a first-round pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning, allegedly did the splits naked over E.M. and grazed his genitals on her face.
According to testimony and cross-examination of some of Foote’s teammates, doing the splits was Foote’s party trick.
The defense argued the act was consensual and that Foote was fully clothed when he did the splits. But the Crown argued that Foote did not receive consent and that he was not wearing pants or underwear.
“I think I can clearly remember having a penis in my face,” E.M. said during cross-examination. “It would not have been as shocking in my mind if he had shorts or pants on.”
During Hart’s testimony, he told the court he recalled Foote wearing a shirt and shorts at the time that the splits occurred. He also said that he “looked and saw, E.M. was laughing as well.”
E.M. said the splits felt “gross” and “degrading.” She said later on it was not funny to her, but the others were laughing.
“This was not something I asked for,” E.M. said. “I got no notice before that happened to me.”