Legal insight as five former Team Canada World Junior hockey players appear in court

Content warning: The following story deals with sexual assault and may be distressing for some readers. If you or someone you know is in need of support, you can find province-specific centres, crisis lines, and services here.

The sexual assault case against five former members of Canada’s world junior hockey team accused of sexual assault got underway in a London, Ont., court Monday morning and was quickly adjourned until late April after a short hearing.

Among the five are four current NHLers. Carter Hart of the Philadelphia Flyers, Dillon Dube of the Calgary Flames, Michael McLeod and Cal Foote of the New Jersey Devils, and former Ottawa Senator Alex Formenton. Foote is the son of former NHLer and Vancouver Canucks Assistant Coach, Adam Foote.

Lawyers for all five of the accused players made brief video appearances, agreeing to a future court date of April 30. None of the players attended Monday’s hearing. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ Listen to CityNews 1130 LIVE now!

Vancouver-based criminal defence lawyer Michael Shapray, who’s not associated with this case, says if this goes to trial the case will likely be heard at one single trial — not five separate ones.

“There would have to be a very good reason to separate the trials. Someone would have to apply for something called, ‘severance,’ to sever the trials. You wouldn’t want to put a complainant making allegations of a criminal nature through a trial multiple times and there’s really nothing about the facts of this case that [would] lead one to think that there would be individual trials.”

He adds the court would also be mindful not to put the victim through any testimony over and over again.

Shapray says the case could shake out a number of different ways, including all five reaching a plea deal, all of them going to trial, or some reaching a deal and testifying against the others in court.

He also says this could take a while to make its way through the justice system.

“If it stays in provincial court, it’ll be 18 months, unless there’s something extraordinary that causes it to get delayed. If it goes to the Supreme Court, it’s possible, that it could as long as 30 months.”

Shapray points out the charges may be changed based on evidence.

“If there was a new witness, for instance, being someone in the room who ends up becoming a witness for the prosecution against the others. They may bolster the evidence of the complainant in this case, or they may change that evidence somewhat.”

He says the defence will also look to take advantage of the time that’s passed between the reported incident and charges.

“Certainly, the passage of time impacts memories, impacts the ability to recollect, impacts the ability to recollect things consistently and… the inconsistency between someone’s recitation of events can be a very major factor.”

Another uncertainty, Shapray points out, is if this goes to trial and whether it will be heard by a judge alone or judge and jury.

He also says the public can expect a publication ban.

NHL commissioner quiet on allegations

During this weekend’s NHL All-Star festivities, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman was asked about the allegations but didn’t say much.

“It’s a horrible story and if the allegations are true, I mean, it is horrific, it’s disgusting, it was inappropriate but there’s now a judicial process… but out of respect for the judicial system, we need to sit back and wait and see what they do and when the judicial system runs its course, we will respond appropriately.”

Sportsnet Host Ron MacLean was also asked about hockey culture.

“At the end of the day, what was alleged is just wrong. [The NHL] did its own investigation, but we weren’t privy to what the authorities were doing, and they were doing their own thing. We didn’t even get a heads up, and I’m not saying we should have, and so we really need to respect the process and we will then take it from there.”