An independent investigation commissioned by the NHL Players Association found that manager Don Fehr and other colleagues were not responsible for wrongdoing when they failed to act on a report that a player of the Chicago Blackhawks was sexually assaulted by a team member in 2010.
Posted yesterday at 6:13 p.m.
A law firm hired to investigate the actions of Fehr and the union in 2010 and 2011 concluded that miscommunication and a misunderstanding were to blame for the lack of action, after Kyle Beach reported having was assaulted by video coach Brad Aldrich.
“Ultimately, the inability to follow up on Beach’s reports stems from a lack of communication,” wrote the firm Cozen O’Connor, Friday, in a 20-page report published by the Association of players (AJLNH). We cannot identify any individual wrongdoing or institutional failure by Fehr, NHLPA staff, or the (NHLPA/NHLPA Substance Abuse and Behavioral Health Program) regarding the handling of Beach’s reports. »
The NHLPA board of directors saw the report last week. The players voted in favor of its publication.
The union launched the probe in November, after an independent inquiry into the Blackhawks’ mishandling of the allegations raised questions about what Fehr and others knew at the time and why they failed to act. . Aldrich had told investigators the meeting was consensual, but the scandal rocked the Blackhawks and led to sweeping changes in team operations. It also had ripple effects across the NHL.
The latest investigation included reviews of approximately 20,000 emails and phone records, dating from 2010 and 2011, and included interviews with 11 witnesses, including doctor Brian Shaw, from the addiction and behavioral health program. Beach and an unidentified player, who said he had inappropriate conversations with Aldrich, both declined to be interviewed.
The firm acknowledged the difficulty of reconstructing events from 11 years ago and claimed that the conclusions were based on “obviously imperfect and incomplete recollections of a few individuals, not corroborated by documentary evidence”. The report also acknowledged the likelihood that the witnesses’ recollections were “inevitably influenced” by a separate report which examined the team’s role.
Officer Ross Gurney told investigators he was sure he described Aldrich as a “paedophile” or “sexual predator” in a conversation with Fehr to warn him of Aldrich’s behavior, after the coach was hired by USA Hockey to work at a tournament.
Fehr insisted he would have remembered, had it happened. He repeatedly told investigators that he did not recall being told about the incident when it happened. Investigators also determined that Fehr’s few comments regarding the allegations “were consistent with his assertion.”
Shaw argued to investigators that he believed his conversation with Beach was “a privileged communication between a potential patient and a therapist” and that he was unable to reveal its contents without the player’s consent, which he claimed not to have received.
The firm said it provided the NHLPA General Counsel with a series of recommendations regarding additional measures, which could be put in place to better handle similar situations in the future. The AJLNH did not immediately respond to a message requesting information on these recommendations, which were not included in the report.