The trial of five members from Canada’s 2018 world junior hockey team charged with sexual assault is set for April 22, 2025, beginning with jury selection, the Ministry of the Attorney General said in an email to The Athletic on Wednesday.
A Superior Court jury trial was previously slated to begin in London, Ontario, in September 2025. Pre-trial applications will begin on Nov. 24, 2024, and last three weeks.
In January 2024, Alex Formenton, Carter Hart, Dillon Dube, Michael McLeod and Cal Foote were charged by the London Police Service with sexual assault in connection to an alleged incident that occurred in June 2018. The five players were charged with one count of sexual assault, with McLeod facing a second charge of sexual assault for “being a party to the offense.”
The allegations became public in late May 2022, when it was reported that Hockey Canada settled a lawsuit with a woman who said she was sexually assaulted by the players in a London hotel room following a Hockey Canada gala being held to celebrate the team for winning the 2018 World Junior Championship.
News of the settlement sparked public outrage and prompted parliamentary hearings with the Canadian federal government, as well as investigations by the NHL, Hockey Canada and the London police. The initial police investigation into the incident closed in February 2019 without charges being filed.
In February 2024, London police chief Thai Truong apologized to the alleged victim — who has been referred to as E.M. in previously filed court documents — and her family “for the amount of time that it has taken to reach this point.”
In E.M.’s initial lawsuit claim, she said that eight players assaulted her over several hours in a London hotel room. She said she met the group of players at a local bar the night of the alleged incident and had willingly gone home with one player. She said she engaged in consensual sex with that player, but that he invited several of his teammates into the hotel room without her knowledge or consent.
E.M. said she did not consent to any of the sexual contact or acts that followed, during which she said she was spat on, slapped on the buttocks, laughed at and degraded. According to her initial claim, the victim said she spent part of the night crying in the bathroom and despite wanting to leave, was coaxed by multiple players to remain in the hotel room. She noted that several of them had golf clubs in the room and that she felt physically intimidated and unable to leave.
Last February, lawyers for the five players confirmed their clients jointly agreed to have a trial by jury. All five players — Formenton, Hart, Dubé, McLeod and Foote — are restricted free agents and do not have NHL contracts for the 2024-25 season.
McLeod, Dubé, Hart and Foote were granted leaves of absence from their NHL teams in January. Formenton received a leave of absence from HC Ambri-Piotta in Switzerland, where he played for the past two seasons.
(Photo: Andy Devlin / Getty Images)
