As the Bruins begin a challenging two-game road trip against the Panthers Wednesday night, the attention of the hockey world remains focused on the fallout from the Chicago Blackhawks’ sexual assault scandal.
On Tuesday, private firm Jenner & Block released the findings of their independent investigation into how the Blackhawks handled allegations of sexual assault by former video coach Brad Aldrich against a player (named John Doe in the report) during their 2010 Stanley Cup run.
The report found that seven people in prominent positions within the organization were made aware of the allegations in May 2010, but failed to take any action for several weeks while the team completed its Cup run, allowing Aldrich to remain around the team and attend team events and celebrations after the season, including situations where John Doe was present.
When the allegations were finally reported to the human resources department, Aldrich was allowed to leave the team without a full investigation being conducted and without any public acknowledgement of what had happened. Aldrich went on to land jobs with multiple colleges and a high school. In 2013, he was arrested and pled guilty to criminal sexual conduct involving a minor.
Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman and senior vice president Al MacIsaac -- two of the people in the 2010 meeting -- resigned on Tuesday. The organization has been fined $2 million. Two other people who were also in that meeting -- current Panthers coach Joel Quenneville and current Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff -- will be meeting with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman in the coming days, with possible action being taken from there.
Quenneville is expected to be behind the bench for Wednesday night’s game against the Bruins. Prior to that game, Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron and coach Bruce Cassidy were both asked for their reactions to the report.
Bergeron said the whole situation is a reminder that some things need to be more important than hockey games.
“It is [a reminder],” Bergeron said via audio shared by the Bruins. “I think you have to handle things the right way, and in a timely manner as well. Hockey’s one thing, but obviously there’s more important things in life, and you have to prioritize those things.”
Cassidy, who played for the Blackhawks organization in the 1980s and was an assistant coach with the team from 2004-06, said he knows some of the people involved, but didn’t have much to say beyond hoping that it’s handled correctly from here.
“I’m certainly familiar with some of the people involved, but don’t have much for you there otherwise,” Cassidy said. “It looks like the league is handling it in an appropriate manner, and hopefully whoever the player was is doing OK. I guess they’ll sort it out from there.”
Cassidy was then asked if he was surprised to see Quenneville still coaching for Florida Wednesday night.
“I think that’s the league’s call. I don’t have enough information on it. I’m not the guy who should comment on it, because of that,” Cassidy said. “They make their decisions, and I think they should have the best interests of the players at heart when they make these decisions. So they’ve done their fact-finding, and I guess we’ll find out. It’s not going to affect the way we prepare to play the game.”
The player currently known as John Doe is set to reveal his identity and discuss the scandal on TSN in Canada Wednesday night.