July 25 (UPI) -- All five players of the gold medal-winning 2018 Canadian world junior hockey team who were accused of sexually assaulting a woman in a hotel room have been acquitted of all charges in a trial that has shaken the Canadian hockey world.
"The accused are free to go," Superior Court Justice Maria Carroccia said Thursday in a London, Ont., courtroom, about 120 miles southwest of Toronto, after finding Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dube and Cal Foote not guilty.
The five hockey players, four of whom played for NHL clubs when charged in 2024, pleaded not guilty to allegations of sexually assaulting a woman, known as E.M. in court documents, in a London hotel room in June 2018 following a Hockey Canada fundraising event.
The London Police Service had been contacted the following morning after the alleged assault and closed the case without charges in February 2019.
The allegations became public in May 2022 when it was first reported that E.M. had, a month prior, filed a $2.56 million lawsuit against Hockey Canada over the alleged assault.
