Former Blackhawks Kyle Beach ‘role model’ for sexual assault survivors: advocate

The executive director of a Victoria, B.C. counselling clinic is commending Kyle Beach’s bravery coming forward publicly as one of the victims alleging a former Chicago Blackhawks video coach sexually assaulted him.

On Wednesday, one time, Chicago Blackhawks prospect, Beach, came forward as the John Doe in the sexual assault investigation involving the team.

“I know I’m not the only one. And I buried this for 10 years,” he said on TSN, alleging Brad Aldrich with Chicago in 2010 sexually assaulted him during the playoffs. Beach says he also believes the whole team knew.

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Nick Sandor is with the Men’s Therapy Centre in Victoria. He says in general, our culture and society tend not to believe or support all survivors of sexual assault or sexualized violence. He adds when it comes to men who are victims, the traditional culture of “masculinity” leaves cases involving male victims from coming forward.

An independent review in response to two lawsuits filed against the franchise was revealed on Tuesday. The lawsuits allege former video coach Brad Aldrich sexually assaulted a player during the Blackhawks’ run to the Stanley Cup in 2010.

Seeing Aldrich remain with the team during the Cup celebrations after the incident was reported was particularly hard for 31-year-old Beach to accept.

“The only way I could describe it was that I felt sick, I felt sick to my stomach,” Beach said. “It was like his life was the same as the day before. Same every day. And then when they won, to see him paraded around lifting the Cup, at the parade, at the team pictures, at celebrations, it made me feel like nothing. It made me feel like I didn’t exist. It made me feel like, that I wasn’t important and … it made me feel like he was in the right and I was wrong.”

Beach’s experience proves that society reinforces silence from victims, Sandor says.

“I think, in things like sports and cultures where maybe there’s not a lot of space to talk about things like mental health, and how people are doing, and emotional wellness. So it makes sense that he would face a lot of resistance. And it’s really quite sad to hear … people really need the people in their lives that they’re close to, such as teammates and family, to be there to support them … as well believe them when these things happen,” he explained.

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Sexualized violence continues to go underreported regardless of gender, Sandor says. At the Men’s Therapy Centre, hundreds of men with these experiences feel reluctant and ashamed to even talk about it with a professional. Because of this, Sandor says reporting is often a very difficult and rare step for men to take.

“That idea about ‘man up’ or ‘just suck it up’ is so embedded in our culture that often when they start exploring, ‘should I report this?’ ‘Should I reach out to someone?'”

Sandor says Beach coming forward makes him a role model, proving victims can speak out, people will believe you, people will support you, and makes space for others to tell their story.

“If people have the space, and we create a culture where it’s okay to come forward, and people are believed when they’re survivors, we can actually change those cycles of violence. So Kyle [Beach] is doing great work to, you know, put himself out there and say this happened. And this has impacted me. And it is a signal to others that you can reach out and this does happen and it’s not your fault.”

The Chicago Sun-Times has reported the Blackhawks will begin settlement talks with Susan Loggans, the lawyer representing Beach, next week.

The Blackhawks filed documents to dismiss two lawsuits on Wednesday, but the team told the Sun-Times it was simply following legal protocol.

– With files from Sportsnet Staff