Before Monday’s meeting was held by the NHL Players Association, the Boston Bruins — at the behest of captain Patrice Bergeron and Coach Bruce Cassidy — sat and watched together as a team the gut-wrenching TSN interview with sexual abuse survivor Kyle Beach.
To say it had an effect would be an understatement.
“Butchie thought it was important, and Bergy, I think they had a little discussion,” said Brandon Carlo, the team’s PA representative, on Tuesday. “I think it was a great thing for all of us to do. It was very courageous of (Beach) to come out and do all of this. He’s not doing it for no reason. He’s doing it to put a stop to things like this. Once you see it, you see the emotion involved with it and also gain an understanding that things like this do happen.
“His message was also very clear that you don’t have to be alone in it. That was huge to see and very powerful and it was great that we all watched it. But it was also very hard to watch.”
Last Wednesday in the interview with TSN reporter Rick Westhead, Beach revealed himself to be the John Doe in the middle of the Chicago Blackhawks’ sex abuse scandal dating to 2010. Beach, the 11th overall pick in 2008, not only detailed Chicago management’s mishandling of the situation — GM Stan Bowman and former coach Joel Quenneville (who had moved on to the Florida Panthers) are now out of the game — but also said that it was brought to the attention of PA head Donald Fehr’s office and little was done to help Beach, who never played a game in the NHL.
The alleged perpetrator, former Blackhawks video coach Brad Aldrich, was allowed to leave the Chicago organization on his own accord, without an investigation, and work in several jobs in hockey after that. He was eventually convicted of having sexual contact with a 16-year-old hockey player from Houghton, Michigan, in 2013.
The revelation that Fehr was made aware of the Chicago situation early on prompted Monday’s meeting of the PA.
“Overall I feel like there was good discussion,” said Carlo. “(Beach) was obviously trying to display a message for all of us (in the interview), speaking up and having a lot of courage in doing so. It was obviously very powerful and it affected all of us in a way that you could tell. I just want to commend him on his courage, first and foremost. And then from there on where it transitions to, you feel a responsibility within the Players’ Association… to further investigate the knowledge and information that was given to a certain people that didn’t act accordingly in regards to making more of an effort to stand up for Kyle.”
Asked about the tenor of the meeting, Carlo said: “There was a certain amount of frustration, basically questioning what was going on and a big responsibility to make it known that we want an investigation and further review of how things were handled. Overall, I think that will be accomplished and that’s very important to the players at this point to make sure that things are handled correctly going forward, and also getting the knowledge out there of who was involved in all of this.”
As for whether there was a feeling among players that there needs to be a change at the top, Carlo said the players are not there, at least not yet.
“Personally I think everything will be reviewed and it starts with Step 1 and gaining an understanding of how things were truly handled in all of it. It’s hard to say necessarily,” said Carlo. “I feel some guys would be passionate and motivated in ways and frustrated with the way things were handled. Then there’s the other side of things where you really need to gain all of the information that you can before making a rash decision.”
BLACKHAWKS: The Chicago Blackhawks held settlement talks with an attorney for a former player who is suing the team after he accused an assistant coach of sexual assault in 2010 and the team largely ignored the allegations.
The sides met for about an hour, according to Susan Loggans, who represents former first-round pick Kyle Beach. Loggans also is part of a second lawsuit against the team by a former high school student whom Brad Aldrich was convicted of assaulting in Michigan.
Loggans said she explained her basis for a settlement during the meeting, and the Blackhawks’ attorneys “listened and discussed issues they feel affect this matter.”
“The meeting was respectful and cordial for each side,” she said. “But each side had different viewpoints. It was decided that an opportunity may exist to move forward. However, both parties will meet with their clients and meet again in the near future.”
Blackhawks owner Rocky Wirtz and CEO Danny Wirtz, Rocky’s son, have asked to meet with Beach, but Loggans said he “wants to see a little bit more about how they’re going to treat the settlement issue before he makes his decision.”
The Blackhawks said as late as mid-May that Beach’s allegations lacked merit. But an independent review, commissioned by the team in response to the two lawsuits and released last week, showed the organization badly mishandled Beach’s allegations that he was assaulted by Aldrich during the team’s 2010 Stanley Cup run. Aldrich told investigators the encounter was consensual.
Former federal prosecutor Reid Schar, who led the investigation, said his law firm found no evidence that Rocky or Danny Wirtz were aware of the allegations before Beach’s lawsuit was brought to their attention ahead of its filing. But the report noted that many top executives were aware of the claim, and there was no evidence that the team took any action for about for three weeks.
The NHL fined Chicago $2 million for “the organization’s inadequate internal procedures and insufficient and untimely response” to Beach’s allegations.
Commissioner Gary Bettman has faced questions about the punishment in comparison to past fines for teams, and Donald Fehr, the leader of the NHL players’ association, has been criticized over the union response.
After Bettman spoke to the media Monday, the team apologized for saying Beach’s allegations lacked merit. “It is clear now that our organization did not do the right thing,” it said.
Winnipeg Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff says he was “not aware” until this year of the severity of the sexual assault allegations.
A third-party investigation by an independent law firm found Cheveldayoff was among a group of team leaders who discussed allegations by Beach.
Cheveldayoff was assistant GM and senior director of hockey operations with the Blackhawks at the time.
“Kyle was failed by a system that should have helped him, but did not,” the 51-year-old said Tuesday during a press conference in Winnipeg to discuss the NHL’s decision to not discipline him for the scandal.
“I am sorry that my own assumptions about that system were clearly not good enough.”
Cheveldayoff said the allegations were presented as harassment rather than assault, and he believed processes were in place within the organization to handle the matter.
The Jets’ GM met with Bettman in New York on Friday to discuss his role in Chicago’s mishandling of the allegations, and was absolved of any wrongdoing.
Cheveldayoff is the only person placed at the May 2010 meeting still employed in the NHL.
“If there was an understanding that there was a sexual assault, I believe it would have been handled much differently,” he said. “And certainly the Kevin Cheveldayoff that’s here today would have handled it.”
TUESDAY’S GAMES
FLYERS 3, COYOTES 0: Sean Couturier broke a scoreless tie early in the third period and Carter Hart made 29 saves to lead host Philadelphia over winless Arizona.
Claude Giroux had a goal and an assist and Scott Laughton also scored for the Flyers, who have won 3 of 4.
Arizona (0-9-1) lost its 10th game to start the season and remains the only winless team in the NHL.
MAPLE LEAFS 4, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 0: Auston Matthews scored twice and Jack Campbell made 26 saves, leading host Toronto to its third straight win.
Mitch Marner had a goal and assists on both Matthews’ goals. William Nylander added a goal and an assist.
Vegas was without several top players because of injuries, including captain Mark Stone (lower body), Max Pacioretty (broken left foot), William Karlsson (broken foot), Alex Tuch (shoulder), Zach Whitecloud (lower body) and Nolan Patrick (undisclosed).
CANADIENS 3, RED WINGS 0: Nick Suzuki had a goal and two assists, Jake Allen stopped 22 shots for his second shutout of the season, and Montreal beat visiting Detroit.
Josh Anderson scored his third of the season and Brendan Gallagher added an empty-netter for the Canadiens, who had lost four straight – all on the road.
Allen got his 23rd career shutout.
Alex Nedeljkovic finished with 39 saves for the Red Wings.
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