LONDON, ONTARIO (KYW Newsradio) — Former Philadelphia Flyers Goaltender Carter Hart and four other men were acquitted by a Canadian judge of sexually assaulting a woman while they were on Canada’s world junior hockey team back in 2018.
Hart, 26, had been accused of non-consensual sex from the complainant known as E.M., but Justice Maria Carroccia said in the court room in London, Ontario that the prosecution failed to prove without a reasonable doubt that E.M. did not consent.
He played for the Flyers from 2018 to 2023, and was a former player for Canada’s World Junior Hockey Team. As part of the latter, Hart and four other teammates — Michael McLeod, Cal Foote, Dillon Dubé, and Alex Formenton —- were accused of sexually assaulting a woman in an Ontario hotel room in 2018. The players were attending a Hockey Canada gala.
The charges sent shockwaves through the hockey world and Canada. Hart was released by the Flyers in 2024 after his alleged involvement in the scandal became public.
All five men were found not guilty of sexual assault.
Judge Carroccia said she did not find the complainant’s evidence “credible or reliable.”