Legal arguments to continue next week in five hockey players’ sex assault case

LONDON, Ont. — More legal arguments are expected next week in the sexual assault case of five former members of Canada’s world junior hockey team as they prepare to face trial this spring.

Dillon Dube, Carter Hart, Michael McLeod, Cal Foote and Alex Formenton were charged with sexual assault early last year in an incident that allegedly took place in London, Ont., nearly six years earlier.

McLeod is facing an additional charge of being a party to the offence of sexual assault.

All five players are expected to plead not guilty. A jury trial is set to begin in London on April 22 before Superior Court Justice Maria Carroccia.

None of the evidence or arguments presented in next week’s hearings — or a stretch of similar hearings held last fall — can be reported at this time due to a publication ban.

An initial police investigation was closed without charges in 2019 and then reopened three years later. Police have given little information on the investigations but said they were able to lay charges after collecting new evidence.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 20, 2025.