Junior Hockey: Sexual-assault victim speaking to players top education

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It’s a tough ask for a tough subject, but it could have a lasting effect.

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Suggesting a sexual assault victim address young and impressionable junior hockey players, who can easily be led astray by older teammates in an atmosphere that could promote bad behaviour, isn’t easy. It’s reopening an old wound and reliving a nightmare, but it could also be key to help promote proper behaviour.

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When an Ontario judge acquitted five members of Canada’s 2018 world junior hockey team Thursday in their sexual assault case — stressing the complainant’s allegations lacked credibility — you wonder if the shock of those players going to trial will actually change hockey culture. It should. But will it?

Superior Court Justice Maria Carroccia said in her summation that prosecutors could not meet the onus of proof for charges against Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dube and Cal Foote. The players pleaded not guilty to sexual assault in an encounter in a London, Ont., hotel room in early hours of June 19, 2018.

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And now, we’re left to wonder what will come of all this? A wake-up call? Or nothing at all?

“The concern is that the community will see this decision, and they’ll say hockey culture doesn’t need to change, because these guys did nothing wrong,” Greg Gilhooly, a lawyer and survivor of sexual abuse by hockey coach Graham James, told TSN.

Former Vancouver Canucks goaltender Corey Hirsch rode the junior hockey bus with Kamloops Blazers of the Western Hockey League. He has long been a mental-health advocate and has educated players and the populace about the pitfalls of not reaching out for help, or ignoring warning signs that something isn’t right.

On a personal level, Hirsch has struggled with mental-health issues, including an acute obsessive-compulsion disorder, but this lack of respect for women is different and disturbing. And even before Carroccia’s ruling, he knew for a long time that junior hockey’s culture was corroded. Even though his experience was good.

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“I played in a great Kamloops organization that focused on hockey and creating good people,” he stressed. “We had curfew calls and monitored pretty heavily. They took care of us and made sure we were good players and citizens.”

It’s why the Hockey Canada trial was a reminder that players do fall through the cracks.

“This isn’t a one-off,” Hirsch told Postmedia. “This is junior hockey and a life-in-general thing. Have a sexual-assault victim come in and talk to these hockey kids and let them know exactly what it is, what it has done to them as a human being. That should be mandatory training.

“There are a lot of women who are terrified to do that, to show that this is what it did to my life, but it’s the education. It’s like me talking about my mental health. Let them see what happens when you don’t ask for help. I almost ended up dead.

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“It’s one thing to have a psychiatrist come in and say: ‘This is what it does to people.’ Bring in a victim. Then we’ll see change.”

The WHL has a personal conduct policy that applies to players and employees and is broad in nature. Here’s a excerpt:

“A policy and rules promoting lawful, ethical and responsible conduct serve the interests of the WHL, its players and fans. Illegal, unethical or irresponsible conduct does more than simply tarnish the offender, his or her family and team. it may also damage the reputation of others involved in the game, and it undermines public respect and support for the WHL.

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Hirsch was appointed to Hockey Canada’s board of directors in November of 2023 and served a one-year term to help the troubled organization regain respect, credibility and wellness. He was fortunate to play for a model WHL franchise in Kamloops that kept player deportment at top of its priorities.

That’s easier in a hockey-mad city where everyone knows your name and game.

However, Hirsch also knows that young players riding on a bus with older players for as many as eight or nine hours to the next game are affected by what veterans have experienced on and off the ice. They talk about it. They boast about it. And having a “good story” to tell is often part of that boorish bravado.

“Older players are college students and adults and experimenting with whatever and younger players are listening to college-age people talk about sex and life,” said Hirsch. “It’s like the cycle of abuse. You emulate what you learn. For me, there’s no reason for a 16-year-old to be in junior hockey and playing with adults.

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“You spend every waking hour with these guys and then you want to be part of that peer-pressure group. It can be: ‘This is what it takes to be a man.’ In Kamloops, we were good people and we were monitored, but I saw stuff that I shouldn’t have seen, or heard, or learned stuff that I shouldn’t have learned.

“What do 18-year-olds know about love, relationships and sex? They know nothing. And they’re teaching 16- and 17-year-olds. They’ve learned what they’ve learned and the culture passes it on. It could be a kid coming from not a great home, or whatever, and looking for something.

“It’s not everybody. But if you get some kids looking for acceptance, this is what you get because you can’t control everything. We have a war on toxic masculinity.

“There’s a difference between being a man and being an asshole. We’re struggling to identify the two. Being a man is treating women with respect and being accountable and still playing hockey.”

bkuzma@postmedia.com

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