Public interest in a sexual assault case involving five players from the 2018 Canadian world junior hockey team has become so massive London police have had to book a large venue to provide an update.
Police have announced Monday's news conference will be held at 2 p.m. at RBC Place, London's downtown convention centre. Typically news conferences hosted by London police are held at police headquarters on Dundas Street. But so many media outlets have expressed an interest in attending police officials made the decision to move it to the bigger space.
London Police Chief Thai Truong and Detective Sergeant Katherine Dann of the police service's sexual assault and child abuse section are both expected to speak at the news conference.
The update surrounds sexual assault charges being laid against Alex Formenton, Carter Hart, Cal Foote, Dillon Dube, and Michael McLeod. The charges stem from an alleged 2018 sexual assault that reportedly took place inside London’s Delta Armouries hotel after a Hockey Canada gala.
A woman reported she was sexually assaulted by a group of players following the fundraiser. Those allegations were originally investigated by police and the case closed without charges in 2019. However, it was reopened again in the spring of 2022 when news Hockey Canada had settled a $3.5 million lawsuit with the woman became public. The scandal set off a chain of events that impacted hockey from coast to coast and saw board members resigning and staff leadership replaced following an embarrassing series of appearances before politicians on Parliament Hill. Little was said publicly after the case was reopened, until last week when the Globe and Mail broke the news five players were told to present themselves to police to be charged with sexual assault.
Formenton, a former London Knight and Ottawa Senator who eventually went to play professionally in Switzerland, was spotted going into London police headquarters on Sunday.
Lawyers for the New Jersey Devils' McLeod and Foote, the Calgary Flames' Dillon Dubé , and the Philadelphia Flyers' Carter Hart confirmed on Tuesday their clients were also to be charged.
None of the allegations against the men have been proven in court and lawyers for all five have publicly stated they will be pleading not guilty.
London police have said Monday's news conference, which is not open to the general public, will be live streamed on YouTube and on the police service's social media channels.
