Ice cubes and grapes placed in the anus. Frozen butter knives placed on the genitals. Pressure to have sex with a woman one after the other… A series of “abominable and abusive” acts were perpetrated against players recruited by different teams in the Quebec Maritime Junior Hockey League (QMJHL)* for years, according to an originating application filed Tuesday at the Montreal courthouse.
This request is part of the class action brought by former Chicoutimi Saguenéens player Carl Latulippe against the QMJHL, its 18 teams and the Canadian Hockey League on behalf of all minor players who suffered abuse there from 1969 to today.
If the story of Carl Latulippe, first exposed by The Presshas been told many times over the past year, the document filed Tuesday in Montreal details the disturbing cases of several other former players, whose anonymity is preserved. The facts exposed allegedly took place at different times in the 1970s to 2000s and reveal a “culture of systemic abuse,” it says. “The case of the applicant (Carl Latulippe) is tragically far from being an isolated case. He is not the only one to have suffered abuse while playing in the QMJHL,” it says.
Warming cream and “grape race”
A player recruited in the mid-1980s, C. is said to have notably participated in a “grape race”. “It was for the recruits to run together […] brand naked, with a grape in the anus. For each race, the person who lost […] was forced to eat his grapes and those of all the other participants,” the procedure reads. The same player claims that during a party, a staff member of the team he played for took the recruits to a house where they had to, “one after the other […] to have sex with (a) woman.
Member E., who played in the QMJHL in the late 1990s, recounts being forced to go with other compatriots, completely naked, to the team bus restrooms during trips. “They were forced to stay there and could only leave if they had an erection,” it says. Other former players claim to have been locked naked in bus restrooms during team trips or to have been forced to masturbate in front of other players. Rookies (called “kids” by veterans) were targeted.
In the late 1980s, hockey player D. says he went through “a real hell” off the ice. He also claims to have had to take part in a “grape race.” Like many former players, D. claims that “the team’s coaches, trainers, and equipment people knew” about the abuse and “didn’t say anything.” According to him, some recruits left the team before the end of training camp. D., like other former players, says he developed “a drinking and anger problem.” Other former players say they ended their hockey careers prematurely because of the abuse they suffered.
A player in the 1970s, A. claims that veterans placed an ice cube in his anus and frozen butter knives on his genitals during his rookie season. A hot product called “heat” was also allegedly rubbed on his genitals, which “caused a very painful burning sensation.” He never reported the abuse, because according to him, when you’re a rookie “you take your hole and you shut down,” it is written.
Superior Court Judge Jacques G. Bouchard authorized the exercise of a class action against the QMJHL, its 18 teams and the Canadian Hockey League on April 10. The QMJHL had appealed this decision. But this appeal was rejected last week.
The statement of claim filed Tuesday alleges that several former players were “brutally sexually, physically and/or psychologically abused” while they were minors in the QMJHL. The “endemic abuse” was “known to all adults on all teams” and a “culture of secrecy” prevailed. Lawyer David Stolow, who represents the class action plaintiffs, says it is “difficult for players to talk about what they experienced,” but he encourages them to contact him, noting that their anonymity will be respected.
Carl Latulippe is claiming $650,000 from the defendants and $15 million in collective punitive and exemplary damages.
* Formerly the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League