The players who made up Team Canada Junior (JCT) in 2018 will no longer be able to represent Canada on the international stage pending the conclusion of a gang rape investigation.
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Hockey Canada said so in a statement to TSN reporter Rick Westhead on Monday.
“Earlier this year, Hockey Canada made the decision that pending the release of the results of this 2018 Light Events survey, none of the members of the 2018 edition of the CJT will be considered a representative of Team Canada,” the association said in its letter.
“This was communicated to the leadership group of the Canadian team in preparation for the 2023 Ice Hockey World Championship.”
Organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), the competition will take place in Finland and Latvia from May 12th to 28th.
In recent months, the law firm Henein Hutchison Robitaille has been commissioned to investigate allegations by a young woman. The latter claims to have been the victim of a gang rape committed by eight players at the ECJ in 2018. The alleged crime occurred in the summer of 2018 after a golf tournament organized by Hockey Canada in London, Ontario.
Hockey Canada found itself in the hot seat in the case, paying out money in an out-of-court settlement, all after a $3.5 million lawsuit filed by the alleged victim in April 2022. The association subsequently faced many pitfalls, including the desertion of major sponsors and the full resignation of its board (which was replaced in December), not to mention repeated calls from the federal government for more education on its handling of the case 2018 and other financially compensated persons requested.