The woman alleging sexual assault by a group of junior hockey players says she鈥檚 unsure if all of the men in the room were involved. Her suit names four, not five, John Does because when she regained consciousness, John Doe 5 was 鈥渟tanding in the corner 鈥 crying throughout the remainder of the [alleged] assaults.鈥
These details aren鈥檛 from the ongoing criminal trial of five members of Canada鈥檚 championship 2018 World Junior hockey team. They鈥檙e from another case, a $3.75 million civil suit that names four men, the Ontario Hockey League and the Canadian Hockey League as liable for the alleged actions of Windsor Spitfires players at a party in 1984. Such a long, short time ago.聽
What everyone is glued to now 鈥 along with the eerily concurrent Stanley Cup playoffs 鈥 is the world juniors trial in London, Ont. It鈥檚 an unusual case because many core facts are undisputed. In June 2018, a woman known as E.M. met hockey player Mike McLeod at a bar and went back to his hotel room. They had sex. Then McLeod texted teammates asking if anyone wanted 鈥渢o be in a 3 way quick.鈥 Some showed up and E.M. engaged in sexual activity with more than one. All of this is agreed upon.聽
The future of the trial was thrown into uncertainty when, on Friday, the jury was dismissed; the trial will now continue as judge-alone. What the judge needs to decide is whether E.M. clearly agreed to have sex with anyone other than McLeod, who鈥檚 facing an additional charge of being party to sexual assault 鈥 and whether any lack of consent was conveyed in a way the men should have understood.
E.M. testified that she was intimidated and instinctively did what she thought they wanted. Sexual violence researchers have long said 鈥渇ight or flight鈥 aren鈥檛 the only valid reactions to trauma. 鈥淔reeze鈥 can happen too. As can 鈥,鈥 an attempt to avoid conflict by pleasing people, also called 鈥溾 in psychological studies focused on . The Crown will almost certainly bring in an expert witness to attest to this research. The defence hopes acquiescence will be hard to sell as a lack of interest, a gap through which to push a sliver of reasonable doubt.聽
Perhaps E.M.鈥檚 fawning response will leave the judge unsure whether McLeod and the other players 鈥 Alex Formenton, Carter Hart, Cal Foote and Dillon Dub茅 鈥 should have questioned her willingness. She said herself that although the men started slapping her as she gave three of them oral sex at once, they stopped hitting her 鈥渁s hard as they could鈥 when she told them to. Maybe that鈥檚 enough to convince the judge that when the guy she went home with聽invited his big, strong teammates over (one聽), E.M. was thrilled.
Even if this argument saves the men from prison, it might not save their reputations. While respectful group sex certainly happens, I鈥檓 skeptical it looks like a group of friends circled around one drunk, naked stranger on the ground. The Crown frames this as a case about the complexity of consent and that鈥檚 true, criminally speaking. Culturally, that London courtroom is a site of the ongoing war over the humanity of men.聽
It鈥檚 an escalating fight, with years of destruction in its wake. If John Doe 5 really was crying that night in Windsor in 1984, maybe it鈥檚 because he was losing a battle for his soul.聽
I learned about the Spitfires case during a trip down an internet rabbit hole that was more like a pit of despair. As the world juniors trial got underway, I wanted to read old news stories to refresh the details. Googling 鈥渉ockey canada sexual assault charges鈥 opened up a sinkhole unfathomably deep.
Halifax police are investigating an alleged 2003 assault, said to involve a half-dozen men, an unresponsive woman and a recording in which viewers are invited to 鈥渁 f—-ing lamb roast.鈥 Peel police are allegedly involving eight Ontario Hockey League players and one woman, whose first attempts at reporting were met with police disinterest. In March, guilty verdicts were handed down in but group sexual assault cases involving junior players in Quebec. In one of them, Massimo Siciliano and Nicolas Daigle were sentenced to about two-and-a-half years for assaulting a minor. When Daigle a video, a team employee rejected the chance to be a better person, telling him to delete it.聽
While I hope hockey fans can accept that the smoke indicates an uncontrolled wildfire in their particular neck of the woods, every corner of the world is stained by gender-based violence. Keeping tally of that awful score is my own personal, depressing stats count and the competition is always fierce.聽
Last year, Gisele Pelicot went public in France, refusing to bear shame for her husband drugging her and arranging repeated assaults by multiple men. In April, Virginia Giuffre took her own life, even after her courage helped kick Prince Andrew off the royal payroll and jail her traffickers, Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell (yes, I’m aware women also harm women). Epstein鈥檚 pal Donald Trump is U.S. president again, with men that have nearly 聽as he does.聽
After Trump鈥檚 2024 win, the the rise of the slogan 鈥淵our body, my choice鈥 among men. Citing a study that found usage of such odious, misogynist phrases online in the 24 hours after the U.S. election, the magazine traced the phrase back to a far-right internet personality not worth naming, because he鈥檚 hardly unique. There鈥檚 the one facing human trafficking charges, whose slur-laden rants teachers in the 海角社区官网area and elsewhere have warned are influencing their male students. There鈥檚 the retired Canadian professor who wants every man to be as unhappy as he is. Convincing boys and men that masculinity means no more or less than domination is lucrative.聽
These grifters aren’t passive. So those of us who think masculinity could mean something socially valuable and personally fulfilling can’t be either. That鈥檚 a lesson from last winter鈥檚 Netflix series 鈥淎dolescence,鈥 about a teenage boy who murders a female classmate after being radicalized on the internet, a plot line inspired At one point, the boy鈥檚 parents fall apart, realizing they鈥檝e failed their son. Maybe they couldn鈥檛 have changed his fate. The hard truth is, they didn鈥檛 try.聽
Perhaps the ubiquity of gender-based violence means none of us have tried enough. Since watching 鈥淎dolescence,鈥 I鈥檝e attempted meaningful conversations with my tween about what consent means, both for someone who wants to 鈥渕ake out鈥 (word choice cringingly mine) and someone who doesn鈥檛. Abandoning youth to navigate sex and belonging without guidance is dangerous for everyone except predators. Some of Hockey Canada鈥檚 biggest payouts went to , who abused boys. Yet amid all the courtroom coverage, there鈥檚 been no update on how Hockey Canada is protecting the youth in its programs or the communities around them.聽
But hey: not all men! are known because of TSN investigative reporter Rick Westhead鈥檚 dogged coverage of this bleak beat. In October, he whose 2014 allegations are being investigated in Peel. She said one reason she didn鈥檛 report sooner is how young some alleged assailants were, 16-year-olds seemingly pressured to participate. It鈥檚 a classic example of a woman putting herself last.聽
It also resonated on Tuesday, when E.M. was repeatedly criticized during cross-examination for rather than 鈥渂oys鈥 鈥 the word she used in 2018, the word defence lawyers keep repeating, day after day. They were 18 and 19 at the time, adults according to . Courts assess criminality, not maturity. Existential questions are for the rest of us.聽
How old is old enough to take responsibility? How young is young enough to change?聽
Every man that plays hockey was once a child just learning to skate. Those children deserve a fair chance to be good guys, before they end up in a corner, crying 鈥 or in a courtroom, accused of defiling someone else鈥檚 humanity, along with their own.聽
Note: this piece has been updated to reflect that the jury for the trial was dismissed on Friday May 16, 2025. The trial continues as a judge only trial.
