Former Victoriaville Tigres accused of sexual assault Nicolas Daigle attempted to return to hockey nearly two years after he was suspended by the QMJHL following allegations against him and former teammate Massimo Siciliano.
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The Thetford Mines native played a preseason game with Cité construction de Disraeli at the Junior AA level on September 15, which caused some unrest in the hockey community due to the ongoing trial.
“Nicolas Daigle has started playing Junior AA again. “I don’t have to be the only one who thinks this is special,” a person who has been active in the world of hockey for a long time told the Journal, informing us about Daigle’s return to junior AA, a caliber that is, however, significantly below that’s where QMJHL lies.
However, the game on September 15th will be his last. Sensing his presence, Chaudière-Appalaches Junior AA Hockey League president François Loubier immediately requested that Daigle be removed from the Cité development plan.
“But that has nothing to do with his trial,” the president confirmed to us on the phone on Tuesday.
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A regulation of Hockey Quebec
First, let’s lay out the facts in case you’re unfamiliar with the case: Daigle and Siciliano were arrested on June 8, 2021, after a sexual assault report was filed for alleged events that occurred on the night of June 5-6 of the same year, on the sidelines of the celebrations following the Victoriaville Tigers’ conquest of the President’s Cup.
The following October 6, the QMJHL announced that it had suspended the two hockey players indefinitely while the legal proceedings shed light on the matter. Afterwards, Daigle tried to go into exile in Ukraine – it was before the war with Russia – to play for the country’s professional league, but the QMJHL stopped that and refused to release a player he had suspended.
The now 21-year-old Daigle’s ban from the QMJHL no longer applies because he technically would have completed his junior training last season, a district spokesperson confirmed to us on Tuesday.
This end of the suspension therefore left the field open for Daigle to join Disraeli’s Junior AA. However, a Hockey Quebec regulation requires that a 21-year-old player must have played at least five games in the previous season, otherwise his status is illegal.
Apparently, Daigle did not meet this criterion due to the suspension.
“It is a Hockey Quebec regulation. I called Nicolas personally to tell him and he understood it very well. This has nothing to do with the current procedure, it would have been the same for any player in his situation,” assures Mr. Loubier.
Please note that this type of regulation only applies to a 21-year-old player who wants to play at youth level. Daigle could therefore, if he wanted, join a senior team if that circle agreed to accept him into its ranks.
The Journal attempted to contact a Cité Construction representative several times without success.
A result soon?
More than two years after the alleged events, Daigle and Siciliano would decide their future in the coming months.
The trial is scheduled to begin on October 10th. The two young men are accused of sexual assault and making a recording. There is also the accusation of having provided Daigle with a recording and the non-consensual publication of an intimate picture.
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