Blackhawks Ignored 2010 Sexual Assault Accusation, an Investigation Says
The New York Times
An independent investigation commissioned by the N.H.L. club revealed on Tuesday that the team failed to act promptly after a player accused a video coach of sexual assault, in part because club executives were concerned about winning the Stanley Cup.
Several Chicago Blackhawks executives failed to report a 2010 accusation that a minor league player had been sexually assaulted by the team’s video coach during that year’s playoffs, according to an independent investigation commissioned by the team. Executives were concerned about distracting the team — Chicago won the Stanley Cup a month later — and did not thoroughly investigate the accusation or punish the coach, Brad Aldrich, according to the investigation.
The inaction by Blackhawks executives, who informed neither the N.H.L. nor law enforcement of the accusation, had devastating effects. Aldrich later made a sexual advance toward a Blackhawks intern during the Stanley Cup celebrations, according to the investigation’s findings, which were released Tuesday. He was allowed to resign from his position after the 2009-10 season, and would go on to hold a number of other jobs in hockey, including at colleges and high schools. In 2013, Aldrich pleaded guilty to having sexual contact with a minor while he was volunteering as a high school coach in Michigan, and he remains on the state’s sex offender registry because of that conviction.
The N.H.L. fined the Blackhawks $2 million on Tuesday for the team’s “inadequate internal procedures and insufficient and untimely response” to the 2010 allegations. Stan Bowman, the team’s president of hockey operations, and Al MacIsaac, the senior director of hockey administration, resigned from their positions. Bowman and MacIsaac were among the team executives who were made aware in 2010 of the minor-leaguer’s accusation, the investigation report said. None of the other executives who were made aware are still employed by the team.
