NHL to be given videos, text messages from Team Canada players allegedly involved in reported sexual assault

Content Warning: The following article contains references to sexual assault.

According to TSN’s Rick Westhead, the lawyers who represent the eight former Canadian Hockey League players involved in an alleged 2018 sexual assault plan to give the National Hockey League two videos and 35 text messages sent between the alleged victim and one of the players.

The videos and the text messages were provided to London Police Services in the days after the alleged assault in June 2018 in London, Ontario. The criminal investigation was closed on February 6, 2019 without any charges being laid. Hockey Canada has also used the videos and text messages as part of a scrutinization process by Toronto-based law firm Heinen Hutchison.

Westhead noted that a source familiar with the situation said that the videos and text messages will be used by the players’ attorneys to argue that any sexual contact was consensual. Westhead also went on to add that experts in sexual violence laws say “consent videos” are becoming more commonly used by the defense teams in such cases.

The NHL is set to start interviewing the players involved in the case in the coming months. Players can be disciplined by the league without a criminal conviction as the NHL’s Standard Player Contract features “morality clauses” for conduct on or off the ice that is deemed detrimental to their team, the NHL or the game in general.