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Globe and Mail
2 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
Hockey Canada sex-assault trial spotlights roadblocks and missed opportunities in first London police probe
Eight months after receiving a complaint that a group of former world junior hockey players sexually assaulted a woman in a downtown hotel, London police detective Stephen Newton had reached the end of his investigation. In a phone call with E.M., as the complainant is known because of a publication ban on her name, he told her he didn't have enough evidence to continue his probe. 'I informed her I would be closing the case with no charges,' Mr. Newton, who has since retired, wrote in his notes in February, 2019. His conclusions in the case, and the investigative steps he took to reach them, have since come under intense scrutiny. After it emerged that Hockey Canada, which oversees the world junior team, had quietly settled a lawsuit the woman filed without the players' knowledge, police reopened the case in 2022. This time, a new lead detective reached a different conclusion, and in January, 2024, police laid sexual-assault charges against Michael McLeod, Dillon Dubé, Carter Hart, Alex Formenton and Cal Foote. Police Chief Thai Truong apologized publicly to E.M. and her family for 'the time that it has taken to reach this point.' Each of the players has pleaded not guilty. Closing arguments in their eight-week-long criminal trial concluded in a London courtroom last week. The judge is scheduled to deliver her verdict on July 24. Documents from the 2018 investigation that ended without charges were submitted as evidence in the trial, along with records from the second investigation years later. The Globe and Mail interviewed five experts in sexual violence, policing and law who are not connected with the case about the initial police investigation. Their review of police notes and interviews Mr. Newton conducted with E.M. and the accused players reveals that while he hit roadblocks, he also missed opportunities to dig deeper and left investigative avenues unexplored, raising fundamental questions about how police treat sexual-assault allegations. 'It's emblematic of bigger system failures,' said Melanie Randall, a law professor at Western University and legal expert on sexual assault who reviewed the materials. 'It's a perfect case study of where things go wrong in the criminal justice system with police interviews and investigations.' The London Police Service declined to comment for this story, saying the case is before the courts. Mr. Newton also declined to comment. When Mr. Newton testified at the trial, Crown attorney Meaghan Cunningham pressed him repeatedly about apparent gaps in his investigation, and in written submissions asserted he lacked 'a genuine interest in getting at the truth.' 'Detective Newton had made up his mind that there would never be grounds for charges (based on his erroneous or incomplete understanding of consent),' Ms. Cunningham wrote in submissions filed with her closing arguments. Defence lawyers, meanwhile, praised him as a veteran detective whose decision to close the case without charges was correct. David Humphrey, who represents Mr. McLeod, said in court: 'You were familiar with and tried to follow best practices for the investigation of sexual-assault cases?' Mr. Newton replied, 'Yes, I did the best I could.' In Canada, the law requires that consent is voluntary, continuous and given for each sex act. Physically fighting back is not necessary to determine whether a sexual assault has occurred. Rather, the law examines whether an individual has freely indicated 'yes,' without coercion. Prof. Randall said Mr. Newton's interviews with E.M. and the observations he recorded in his notes raise questions about whether he investigated her allegations through this lens. Mr. Newton first learned of the allegations on June 19, 2018, hours after E.M. left the hotel. His records indicate that police had received a call from a Hockey Canada official, after E.M.'s stepfather lodged a complaint with the sports organization. In E.M.'s interviews with Mr. Newton, she described how she met Mr. McLeod in a local bar called Jack's and went with him to his hotel room at the Delta Armouries. She said they had consensual sex, but that she was then forced to engage in sex acts with a group of teammates he had invited in without her knowledge as several others in the room watched. He wrote in his notes that there was no evidence E.M. 'was physically coerced into performing these sex acts' and that 'I explained to [E.M.] that her level of consent is at issue here and that I do not have the evidence needed to demonstrate at court that there was no consent.' At trial, defence lawyers asserted that it was E.M. who asked Mr. McLeod to invite his teammates to the room and that she had demanded sex from the players. Kat Owens, a former Crown attorney who is now interim legal director at the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund in Toronto, said the interview transcripts suggest Mr. Newton failed to home in on what should have been a primary interest. 'What I think is most concerning is the lack of a focus on just the simple question of 'Did you consent?' ' she said. 'Colloquially, only yes means yes. It's not 'no means no,' ' she added. 'It's that you have to be giving an active ongoing consent to each sex act.' E.M. alleged to Mr. Newton that this did not occur, telling him 'they were all like slapping my butt … that was actually starting to hurt so I told them to stop.' Later, she said, 'One just did the splits on my face, just to put it in my face. … It just got really uncomfortable.' These allegations would underpin the Crown's prosecution against Mr. Dubé and Mr. Foote. But Mr. Newton did not pursue them as grounds for potential charges and conceded at trial that when he interviewed Mr. Dubé, he didn't ask the player whether he had touched E.M.'s buttocks. 'Maybe I missed that,' Mr. Newton testified. Intoxication is a factor police consider when investigating sexual-assault allegations, because the law looks not only at whether a complainant consented but also whether they had the capacity to do so. High courts have held that extreme inebriation or periods of unconsciousness can void consent. Profound intoxication does not typically meet the threshold. In many cases, courts have held that there must be evidence that a complainant was unconscious to find that they were unable to consent. When Mr. Newton began his investigation, he wrote in his notebook that he contacted a Hockey Canada official who was independently investigating. The official told him that the events may have involved a woman who 'was extremely drunk and may have blacked out.' However, the transcripts of Mr. Newton's interviews with E.M. suggest incapacity was never a likely path to charges in the case. In an interview on June 22, 2018, Mr. Newton asked E.M., 'Were you conscious the whole time?' 'I don't think I passed out at all,' she replied. Prof. Randall said Mr. Newton should have pivoted toward other aspects of the consent analysis. Instead, the investigative records suggest, E.M.'s level of intoxication continued to be a focal point in Mr. Newton's probe and led, largely, to his decision to shutter it. When Mr. Newton closed his case, he wrote in his notes: 'I would have needed to see outward signs that she was intoxicated such as staggering, severely slurred speech, unconsciousness and evidence that others around her could see that she was too intoxicated to consent.' That assessment suggests the officer had a 'rigid, narrow idea' of how to evaluate consent and the role intoxication plays in that analysis, Prof. Randall said. 'He failed to appreciate some of the dynamics at play,' she said, adding that his focus on whether E.M. was too drunk to consent 'is one of the things he kind of gets stuck on and misunderstands.' When Mr. Newton interviewed E.M., he asked her whether she could have left the hotel room during the alleged sexual assault. 'I don't think I was capable in that state,' she replied, later adding: 'I don't know why I couldn't speak up.' Lori Haskell, a clinical psychologist who studies sexual violence, said E.M.'s response should have prompted the officer to dig deeper and inquire about her state of mind. That did not happen, according to the interview transcripts and officer's notes. 'The right questions were not asked,' Dr. Haskell said. 'A trauma-informed detective, aware of how the brain responds to extreme threat and stress, would consider that her reactions may have been dissociative or that her executive functioning was impaired.' At the criminal trial, E.M. testified that during the alleged assault, she felt as if her mind 'kind of floated to the top corner of the ceiling' and that she watched herself over the ensuing hours. She said she switched into 'autopilot' and performed sex acts she didn't consent to as a way to get through the night. Defence lawyers challenged this, arguing that E.M. was an enthusiastic participant and made up this narrative later because she regretted her actions. A few weeks into the police investigation, E.M. left a voicemail message for Mr. Newton. 'She indicated that she would prefer a female investigator to investigate this matter,' he wrote in his notes. 'I am not sure why that is and she did not make that request to me when I spoke to her on the phone.' Mr. Newton wrote that he brought some female officers into the investigation, but stayed on as lead detective. Dr. Haskell said that wasn't sufficient and E.M.'s request for a female lead detective 'should have been accommodated.' 'Providing a female officer is not simply about comfort,' she said. 'It's a trauma-informed response that recognizes the psychological and emotional safety needs of the complainant.' When London police reopened the case in 2022, it was assigned to a female detective, Lyndsey Ryan, whose probe resulted in the charges that are now before the court. Mr. Newton remarked on several occasions in his notes that E.M. appeared to be wavering on whether she wanted to pursue charges. In July, 2018, he wrote that E.M. 'has repeatedly changed her mind on how she would like to see this investigation proceed. It raises a significant concern on my part that she is being coerced into participating in an investigation that she never wanted to occur in the first place.' Dave Perry, a former investigator with the Toronto police sexual-assault squad, said reticence of a complainant may deter police who don't want to lay charges they can't support in court. But retired criminal defence lawyer John Hill questioned whether Mr. Newton placed too much emphasis on E.M.'s willingness to proceed, noting that it's common for sex-assault complainants to waver. 'I would put no stock in the fact that she vacillated,' Mr. Hill said. Mr. Newton faced considerable barriers in his investigation. Hockey Canada refused to hand over its internal investigative file. And Mr. Newton's position that he was unable to form grounds that a crime had occurred meant that he couldn't seek judicial authorization to compel the sports organization or any other third party to produce evidence. Prosecutors in the case later said he also did not ask the players to voluntarily give him their text-message exchanges. When Det. Ryan reopened the case in 2022, she gained access to the text messages, as well as Hockey Canada's investigative file, which included notes from player interviews. A judge would later block three of the players' interviews from being used in their criminal trial, finding the sports organization obtained them through coercion. Mr. Newton obtained some evidence without court orders, such as the video surveillance from Jack's bar, where E.M. met some of the players. But he conceded at trial that he never watched the footage. If he had, Prof. Randall said, Mr. Newton 'would have seen the amount E.M. was drinking and people buying her drinks at the bar,' as well as men 'encircling her,' which he could have factored into his assessment of her vulnerability. Mr. Newton wrote that his investigation identified 11 players who were in the hotel room with E.M. and that he hoped to speak to all of them. But he only ever sat down with two of them face to face. Some other players gave phone interviews, but most of the rest gave only written statements or would not talk to him at all. The two in-person conversations were with Mr. McLeod and Mr. Formenton and took place in a Toronto lawyer's office. This would have allowed these players to present themselves in a positive light, according to defence lawyer Monte MacGregor, who is not involved in the case. 'It's a defence strategy to get ahead of the curve,' he said, adding that this would allow the subjects to say they were as helpful as possible in meeting with police. Mr. Newton also missed possible opportunities to press the players for information that might have advanced his investigation. During the voluntary interviews, Mr. Newton asked Mr. McLeod about what drew multiple players to his hotel room on the night of the alleged assault: 'Do you get the sense that guys are coming because they know there's a naked girl in the room who's doing sexual favours?' 'I don't know how guys kept showing up,' Mr. McLeod replied. 'Well, I know everyone has phones and devices. … Were you sending any of those messages?' the detective asked. Mr. McLeod said, 'Oh no, I just told the guys I was getting food and there's a girl over there, that's all I said to a few guys.' This was an invitation to follow up further, said Mr. Perry, the retired Toronto police detective. Mr. Newton did not continue his line of questioning. He testified that he did not become aware of a text sent from Mr. McLeod's phone to teammates on the night of the alleged assault that said, 'Who wants to be in a 3 way quick. 209 – mikey' – a key piece of evidence in the Crown's prosecution. 'I think in hindsight, yeah, he could have probed a little deeper,' Mr. Perry said. Farrah Khan: To really change the culture around sexual violence, consent can't be taught as a technicality Andrea Werhun: Porn isn't to blame for sexual assault Shannon Kari: 'Whacking the complainant' continues to be the norm in sexual-assault cases
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Connor McDavid Answers 'Pretty Heavy Question' on Stanley Cup Pressure
Connor McDavid Answers 'Pretty Heavy Question' on Stanley Cup Pressure originally appeared on Athlon Sports. The stakes are sky-high for the Edmonton Oilers heading into Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final. Advertisement Down 3–2 to the defending champion Florida Panthers, they're facing elimination on the road for the second year in a row. Connor McDavid, now in his 10th NHL season and widely considered the best player in the world, once again finds himself one win away from forcing a Game 7 as well as one loss away from another crushing end to a season without the Stanley Cup getting back to Edmonton, and neither being added to his personal trophy cabinet once and for all. McDavid has already collected three Hart Trophies and five Art Ross titles among a plethora of other accolades and feats. The Oilers' superstar was asked Monday whether the weight of his stature in the NHL fuels pressure to deliver a championship. Advertisement 'That's a pretty heavy question,' McDavid said. 'If you think about it that way, you'd probably be pretty crippled in terms of how you prepare and how you play.' McDavid said the moment is bigger for the team than for him or his individual legacy. "It's not really about me," McDavid said. "It's about us trying to get a win here tomorrow night. That's what we're looking forward to." "I think everybody has another level, myself included.' Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid (97) against the Florida Belski-Imagn Images McDavid enters Game 6 tied with teammate Leon Draisaitl in postseason points, each having 33 in 21 playoff games. The Oilers captain, however, only has one goal in the finals and has lacked his usual punch. Advertisement 'We've put ourselves in another difficult spot and it's our job to work our way out of it,' McDavid said. 'I'm excited. I'm excited about the opportunity.' Game 6 will take place in Sunrise on Tuesday night, with puck drop set at 8 p.m. ET and the Panthers having their first of two chances at winning back-to-back championships. Related: NHL Makes Historic Connor McDavid Announcement Amid Stanley Cup Final Related: Oilers Player Makes Bold Stanley Cup Final Guarantee Before Game 6 This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 17, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'We Are All Very Superstitious': Lauren Kyle On Big Oilers' WAG Superstition
EDMONTON – 'This series was meant to be hard.' It's not easy being married to the greatest player in the world – but that's the exact situation that Lauren Kyle has signed up for. Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid and Lauren tied the knot in the summer of 2024. However, they have been together for nearly a decade. Lauren Kyle & Connor McDavid (Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean-Imagn Images) Bookmark The Hockey News Edmonton Oilers team site to never miss the latest news, game-day coverage, and more. Naturally, when you are with a hockey player for so long, their (often) superstitious nature can rub off on you. In a recent interview, Lauren shared one of her game-day habits. Trending Oilers Stories EXCLUSIVE: Mark Messier On Oilers, Budweiser, His Future & More EXCLUSIVE: Mark Messier On Oilers, Budweiser, His Future & More EDMONTON – Mark Messier loves Edmonton. Advertisement 'I Wouldn't Ask For A Better Captain': Oilers' Kris Knoblauch, Corey Perry & Darnell Nurse On McDavid's Unique Leadership Oilers Had Matthew Tkachuk Convinced They Were Drafting Him What Went Wrong With The Oilers? Oilers Must Trade For Eye-Opening Forward Right Now 'I Get Called Boring, I Get Called A Robot. It's Tough': Connor McDavid Shows Incredible Emotional Courage In New Amazon Series Edmonton Oilers Prospects: Sam O'Reilly Continues Strong Year Edmonton Oilers Prospects: Sam O'Reilly Continues Strong Year EDMONTON – There is no time like the present. 'I'm definitely superstitious, so while I'm watching the game, I need to stand in a specific place,' Lauren revealed. 'And if I move around and they (the other team) score, I have to get back into my spot. So I'm superstitious in that way.' Advertisement But Lauren isn't the only one. The other WAGs (wives and girlfriends) also have their own superstitions. 'I think all of the girls are superstitious in that way,' Lauren explains. 'There's specific places that we've seen the games that we won't go to again because they lost the game.' 'We are all very superstitious; that's our way of feeling like we have a little control.' Learning about things like this adds more color to the perception of these individuals. It's always great to hear about these tidbits. Add us to your Google News favourites, and never miss a story.
CBC
8 hours ago
- Sport
- CBC
World champion Canadian defender Nicole Gosling poised to be picked early in PWHL Draft
A little more than a year ago, Nicole Gosling was celebrating on the ice in Utica, N.Y., with the rest of Team Canada. The Canadians had just defeated the Americans on home ice in overtime to win the world championship, and it was the defender from London, Ont.'s first title with the senior national team. Now, the 23-year-old is poised for what could be the biggest season of her life. She's projected to be taken high in the 2025 PWHL Draft, which is set for Tuesday in Ottawa, beginning at 7 p.m. ET. She's also one of the defenders fighting for a spot on the blue line for Canada at next year's Olympics. That has been a lifelong dream. "Obviously now there are other goals like playing in the PWHL, winning a Walter Cup, all that," Gosling said in an interview with CBC Sports. "But hopefully one day I could play in an Olympics. That's the ultimate goal, and then hopefully win gold, too. That will always be at the top of my list." She projects as an offensive, intelligent defender for whichever team selects her in the PWHL Draft. The New York Sirens have the first pick, followed by the Boston Fleet, Toronto Sceptres, Montreal Victoire, Ottawa Charge, Minnesota Frost, PWHL Vancouver and PWHL Seattle. Gosling is about as pro ready as they come, and projects to slot into a team's top two or four right away. She could play the same role on Team Canada for years to come, as the team ushers in a new wave of talent. "She's just someone that can really take control of a game with the way that she plays," said Clarkson University head coach Matt Desrosiers, who has coached Gosling for the last five seasons. A hockey family Gosling comes from a big family in London where just about everyone plays hockey. Gosling's father, Peter, played, and it was natural for Gosling and her sister to follow suit. Her cousin, Julia Gosling, just finished her rookie season with the Toronto Sceptres and will play next season with Seattle. Julia's father, Paul, is Gosling's father's twin brother. "Playing with her has been great," Nicole Gosling said. "We've had a lot of success together. We train together in the summer and everything, so there's a lot of familiarity there." Another cousin, Katelyn Gosling, played in the now-defunct Canadian Women's Hockey League. Yet another cousin, Cassidy Gosling, competed at Western University. Another distant cousin is famous for another reason. That would be actor Ryan Gosling, who is Gosling's father's cousin's son. "I can't say I've ever met him," Gosling said. Elite vision A lot stood out about Gosling's game for Desrosiers, who'd been following Gosling's career in London long before he talked to her about coming to the upstate New York college. The first thing he noticed was how smart she is. "She's just able to kind of see plays before it happens," Desrosiers said. "She's always had that ability." Desrosiers focuses on producing defenders who are 200-foot, multi-dimensional players. As a result, the school has churned out some of the best defenders in the PWHL, including Montreal's Erin Ambrose, Toronto's Renata Fast and New York's Ella Shelton. The coach sees elements of all of those players in Gosling. Like Ambrose, for example, Gosling can slow the game down and speed it up when she needs to do so. She can also be relied on by coaches who are looking for feedback on how she saw a particular play, almost like a second coach on the ice. "It was a lot of fun coaching her and kind of even learning from her," Desrosiers said. Marie-Philip Poulin named IIHF female player of the year, beating out 5 Americans Some of those defenders have also become mentors to Gosling. Fast has been a roommate at several Hockey Canada camps and Rivalry Series games, and Gosling said the older defender took her under her wing. It's the same story with Shelton and Ambrose. They've helped Gosling feel at ease in a Canadian jersey, whether it's giving her advice in the locker room or helping things feel light and less stressful. Even just watching how the veteran players approach the game has taught Gosling to focus on owning what she's good at rather than dwelling on what she's not accomplished. It's a lesson she plans to take with her to pro hockey. "Next year, no matter where I'm playing or how I may be contributing to the team, I think it's just being able to stay true to what I'm good at," she said. Gosling could find herself on the same team as at least one of those mentors next season. Ambrose's Montreal picks fourth in the draft and could use another top defender, after losing Anna Wilgren and Cayla Barnes to Seattle via expansion. Or maybe Gosling could find herself in Toronto, which picks third. That would give the Sceptres three strong former Clarkson defenders in the top four, should Gosling join Fast and Savannah Harmon. No matter where she ends up, she plans to bring a calm, composed style of play. Expect offence, too. Gosling finished her career at Clarkson as the school's all-time leader in points by a defender. "I understand both sides of the puck of being defensive, but also liking to contribute offensively," Gosling said. "I bring both aspects in that type of sense. I think I can just be relied on in kind of any situation." Teammates experience draft process together Gosling will have one two of her best friends with her at the draft next week: forward Anne Cherkowski and defender Haley Winn, who are both likely to hear their names called early on draft night. Winn has been Gosling's defence partner at Clarkson for most of her college career. Both set a competitive example inside the Golden Knights' locker room. Gosling never shied away from physicality in practice, setting a tone that would prepare the whole team for whatever came at them in a game. Winn, meanwhile, set an example with the hours she put in. The school has a machine that passes pucks to players so they can practice shooting. Winn shot 35,000 pucks on that machine in her first college season. Gosling said a PWHL team will be getting a special player in Winn. "The people who get to spend every day with her, they're going to learn lots," she said. "Her work ethic is unmatched. She's always at the rink, doing extra, taking care of her body." Like Gosling, Winn is pushing for a spot on the Olympic team next year, but for the red, white and blue. She is already a two-time world champion with Team USA. She also led Clarkson in scoring this past season, racking up 46 points in 38 games. Cherkowski, like Gosling and Winn, is another 200-foot player who can do a bit of everything. She can play up and down a lineup, contributing offence but also taking care of the defensive zone. That ability to be versatile is in high demand in the PWHL. "Anyone that will pick her up is honestly going to get a reliable forward, and I think that's what you need in this league is someone that you can rely on in any situation," Gosling said about her teammate. All three have leaned on each other throughout the draft process. Since their college season ended in the spring, it's been a mix of emotions, of new beginnings and endings. Gosling feels some nerves not knowing where she'll end up. But she also feels excitement to go to a new team and to have her draft moment, just like the players she watched on TV at the NHL Draft as a kid.
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Mike Tauchman's RBI single
Former Canadiens Headlines Denmark Squad For The Olympics When the 12 nations that will take part in the Olympic tournament announced their first six players on Monday, a single Montreal Canadiens player was named: Juraj Slafkovsky with Team Slovakia. That's not to say Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, and Patrik Laine won't be representing their respective countries come February, but they haven't made the cut yet. 2:24 Now Playing Paused Ad Playing
