Add Arizona Coyotes defenseman Conor Timmins to the list of players coming forward to clear their names in the investigation of the alleged 2018 sexual assault involving members of the 2018 Canadian World Junior Championship team.
Timmins, 23, published the following statement Monday via the Quartexx Hockey Twitter account:
Timmins joins Victor Mete, Cale Makar, Dante Fabbro, Carter Hart, Cal Foote and Jonah Gadjovich as members of the 2018 team who, through speaking publicly or through their representatives confirming their absences from the 2018 event, have denied their involvement in the alleged incident.
In April, a woman filed a lawsuit against Hockey Canada claiming she was sexually assaulted by eight members of the Canadian national junior team in June 2018 in London, Ont., following a Hockey Canada event. The suit was settled in May before reaching court.
Hockey Canada’s senior leadership told the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage last month that players were encouraged to but not required to co-operate with the initial probe into the matter, which returned no names among the eight accused players and brought a storm of criticism upon the Canadian governing hockey body’s handling of the investigation, culminating in the freezing of government funding for Hockey Canada and multiple major corporations pulling sponsorships. In the past few weeks, the NHL has confirmed it will conduct its own investigation in the 2018 incident, while Hockey Canada has issued a public apology for its handling of the matter and announced it will reopen its own investigation.
The woman who filed the 2018 suit had originally opted not to participate in Hockey Canada’s and the London Police’s investigations of the matter, but her attorney confirmed last week that she will be participating in Hockey Canada’s investigation going forward.
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