Report: Hockey Canada sexual assault trial involving Carter Hart set for April

The trial for former Flyers goaltender Carter Hart and four other players from the 2018 Canadian World Junior team will begin on April 22, 2025, in London, Ontario, according to a report from The Athletic.

Hart is one of five players from that Canada team charged with sexual assault in connection to an alleged incident in June 2018. Alex Formenton, Dillon Dubé, Cal Foote, and Michael McLeod are the others. The new jury trial date will move up proceedings by five months. The trial was initially scheduled to begin in September 2025. The Ministry of the Attorney General agreed to move up the date since pretrial applications would be concluded by the end of 2024. TSN reported that the trial is expected to last eight weeks.

The sexual assault charges stem from an alleged incident following a Hockey Canada banquet in London. A woman alleged that she was assaulted by a group of hockey players in a hotel room in the early hours of June 19, 2018, after she met them at a local bar. Both London police and Hockey Canada (via a third-party firm) opened investigations into the alleged sexual assault in June 2018. London police closed their criminal investigation in 2019 and Hockey Canada ended its inquiry in 2020.

» READ MORE: What we know about the Hockey Canada sexual assault investigation

In April 2022, the woman filed a lawsuit against Hockey Canada, the organization that oversees Canadian junior hockey, and eight unnamed players from Canada’s 2018 World Junior team, seeking $3.55 million in damages. In May of that year, TSN reported that Hockey Canada had settled the lawsuit with the woman out of court. Against a backdrop of public outrage and the revelation of other sexual assault allegations tied to members of Hockey Canada, the London police investigation was reopened in July 2022.

The NHL later opened its own investigation into the events of that night, as many of the members of that Canada World Junior team were playing in the league.

In January 2024, Hart, Dubé, Foote, and McLeod took leaves of absence from their respective NHL teams citing personal reasons. (Formenton, who was not signed to an NHL team at the time, also left his professional team in Switzerland.) On Feb. 5, four of the players were officially charged with one count of sexual assault, while McLeod was charged with two counts of sexual assault, the additional charge for aiding someone else in committing the offense.

On Jan. 30, Hart’s lawyers, Megan Savard and Riaz Sayani of Toronto-based law firm Savard Foy, issued a statement on behalf of the goaltender.

“He is innocent and will provide a full response to this false allegation in the proper forum, a court of law,” the statement by Savard Foy LLP read on X. “Until then, we will have no comment.”

Hart had previously been asked about the case by local media, including The Inquirer, saying in 2022, “I can’t really talk about it right now. I wish I could. I’m respecting the process with the NHL and fully cooperating with their investigation. But that’s all I can really say.” In September 2023, he made a similar statement about the investigation being ongoing.

Commissioner Gary Bettman announced on Feb. 2 at All-Star weekend that the league had concluded its investigation and was prepared to share the findings with the NHL Players’ Association. Those findings were not shared with the public to avoid obstructing the ongoing legal case, according to Bettman. He also clarified that the players would not be suspended or put on a commissioner’s exempt list and that they would instead remain on paid leave through the end of the season.

» READ MORE: Police chief apologizes for lengthy investigation in Carter Hart sexual assault case

All five players were scheduled to hit free agency this past summer and none of them was tendered an NHL contract, including Hart by the Flyers. Hart, who was drafted in 2016 by the Flyers, played six seasons for the organization. He is currently a free agent. Dubé (Belarus) and Foote (Slovakia) are playing abroad as they await trial.

On Feb. 28, it was revealed that the five players had opted for a jury trial and to be tried together.