Carter Hart charged with sexual assault in connection to 2018 Hockey Canada incident, lawyers say

Flyers goaltender Carter Hart has been charged with one count of sexual assault, his lawyers, Megan Savard and Riaz Sayani of Toronto-based law firm Savard Foy, said in a statement Tuesday night.

Hart is one of five members of the 2018 Canadian World Junior team who were directed to surrender to police in London, Ontario. The charge is in connection to an alleged sexual assault following a Hockey Canada banquet in London in the early hours of June 19, 2018. A woman alleges she was assaulted by several members of the team at a hotel following the event.

“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, formerly known as Twitter. “Until then, we will have no comment.”

The statement came after TSN reported earlier Tuesday that Hart is among the five players who are facing charges, along with Calgary’s Dillon Dubé, New Jersey’s Michael McLeod and Cal Foote, and former Ottawa Senator Alex Formenton. The Flyers issued the following statement to The Inquirer:

“We will respond appropriately to this very serious matter when the outcomes of the investigations are made public. The NHL has been very clear that teams should refer all investigation-related questions to them. In the meantime, members of the organization, including Flyers players, will not be commenting further.”

On Sunday, Formenton, who has been playing professionally in Switzerland, surrendered to police in connection with the case. In addition to the statement from Savard Foy on behalf of Hart, Dubé, McLeod, and Foote’s lawyers also released statements on X confirming the charges and maintaining their clients’ innocence.

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told The Inquirer that the league had no comment. The Inquirer has also reached out to Hart’s agent, Judd Moldaver, but has yet to receive a response.

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

The woman’s stepfather told Hockey Canada on June 19, 2018, that his stepdaughter said she was sexually assaulted by eight hockey players, including members of the 2018 World Junior team, while intoxicated the night before. She alleged that she went to a hotel room with a player where the two engaged in consensual sexual acts before the player “without her knowledge or consent” allowed seven other players, including members of the World Junior team, into the room. According to her 2022 statement of claim, she alleged that those players intimidated her and sexually assaulted her over several hours while she was too intoxicated to provide consent.

In June 2018, London police and Hockey Canada opened investigations into the alleged incident. London police closed their investigation in 2019 and Hockey Canada closed its investigation the following year.

On April 20, 2022, the woman filed a lawsuit in Ontario Superior Court in London against Hockey Canada, the Canadian Hockey League, and eight unnamed players seeking $3.55 million in damages. Hockey Canada settled with the woman out of court for an undisclosed amount of money that May. After an internal review, London police reopened their investigation in July of that year. The NHL opened its own investigation in 2022.

Each of the five players facing charges had recently been granted a leave of absence from his team. Hart, 25, was granted his indefinite leave of absence from the Flyers, citing personal reasons, on Jan. 23. The following day, the Globe and Mail reported that five unnamed players from the 2018 Canadian World Junior team had been ordered to turn themselves in.

The same day, Flyers general manager Danny Brière spoke to reporters at an already planned press conference in Voorhees. He did not confirm whether Hart’s leave of absence was related to his pending arrest, saying: “I don’t know. I really can’t tell because we don’t know anything. We’re not aware of anything. There’s a lot of speculation. That’s all we know.”

London police have said that there will be a Feb. 5 press conference to share further updates regarding the case. According to TSN, the players are all expected to turn themselves in to police before the Monday press conference. The conference will be streamed on the London police’s social media channels beginning at 2 p.m. ET.