Group calls for Stan Bowman to be removed from Team USA

Child USA, an American advocacy group that studies child abuse and prevention, has formerly asked the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USPOC) to suspend Stan Bowman from his position as general manager of the U.S. Olympic men’s hockey team while he faces allegations that he essentially helped lead a cover up of a sexual abuse scandal that has rocked the Chicago Blackhawks organization.

Bowman, of course, was President and GM of the Blackhawks in 2010 when two unnamed players were allegedly sexually assaulted by then-video coach Brad Aldrich. Aldrich was released from his position with the team, but was given a letter of recommendation and a good reference on his way out the door. Aldrich would then go on to commit further crimes while employed in the NCAA and was convicted of those crimes. Had Bowman or anyone else in the Blackhawks' organization gone to the authorities with their concerns though, there's reason to believe that the abuse would have ended. As it is, the Blackhawks essentially aided and abetted a sexual predator.

In a Sept. 10 letter to USPOC chief executive Sarah Hirshland, Marci Hamilton, founder of the advocacy group Child USA, wrote that Bowman, who is also the current GM of the Blackhawks, should be suspended by USA Hockey.

“I write to you today to request the suspension of Stan Bowman from his position as general manager of the U.S. Olympic men’s hockey team and that an independent investigation into Bowman’s behavior in his role as general manager of hockey operations of the Blackhawks NHL team be conducted,” Hamilton wrote.

TSN's Rick Westhead has been at the forefront of the Blackhawks' scandal this offseason and he conducted a phone interview with Hamilton after learning of Child USA's formal letter.

“What we’re seeing now with the Blackhawks and USA Hockey is shocking not because of the behaviour of the predator,” Hamilton told Westhead over the phone. “What’s shocking is that it’s been 19 years since we learned, thanks to the Boston Globe journalists, how the bishops in the Catholic church repeatedly covered up sexual abuse by priests. This hockey case is shocking because by now people should know the proper way to respond to allegations like this.”

“Bowman is still the general manager of the Blackhawks and earlier this year he was appointed as the general manager of the U.S. Olympic men’s hockey team for the 2022 Beijing Games," Hamilton continued. "How could Bowman, who has been publicly accused of covering up the abuse of a serial predator, be allowed to lead USA Hockey and represent our country at the international level?”