By STEPHEN WHY
TORONTO (AP) — Court documents show five players from the 2018 Canadian World Junior Team were accused of sexual assault.
Carter Hart of the Philadelphia Flyers, Michael McLeod and Cal Foote of the New Jersey Devils, Dillon Dube of the Calgary Flames and former NHL player Alex Formenton face charges in connection with an incident that allegedly occurred on July 19 June 2018 in London. , Ontario. The document obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday was entered into evidence on Wednesday.
McLeod faces an additional charge of participating in the offense of sexual assault. Lawyers for the five players confirmed last week their clients were accused of sexual assault and denied wrongdoing.
Hart turned himself in to police on Friday, Formenton and Foote on Sunday, Dube on Monday and McLeod on Tuesday. London police have planned a news conference Monday to discuss the investigation.
Two members of that gold medal team who were not charged or implicated were questioned about the situation when the NHL All-Star Game weekend began in Toronto.
Colorado’s Cale Makar, the Norris Trophy winner and playoff MVP in 2022 when the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup, said he was told not to comment on the ongoing investigation. Makar was not in London for the Hockey Canada Foundation fundraising gala, after which the alleged incident occurred.
“It’s just a very lucky twist to not, obviously, be a part of something like that,” Makar said. “But I’m just going to leave it to the people who are dealing with, obviously the work right now. Again, I can’t stress enough that I wasn’t one of them.”
St. Louis star Robert Thomas is standing by previous comments and statements he’s made.
“I have cooperated with the investigation and that’s all I’m going to comment on,” Thomas said. “That’s all I have for you.”
Philadelphia All-Star Travis Konecny was asked several times about Hart, and a team employee told reporters that questions about Hart were not allowed.
“At the moment I will not answer any questions about this,” Konecny said.
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Associated Press writer Rob Gillies contributed to this report.
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AP Hockey: https://apnews.com/hub/hockey
