Hawks file motion to dismiss the lawsuit filed by student whom Aldrich sexually assaulted in 2013

This has been talked about for weeks now and it sounds like it needs to be told again, and again, louder and louder. Especially with today's news! 

Back in June, TSN’s Rick Westhead reported that “Chicago Blackhawks senior management allegedly refused to file a report to Chicago police during the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs after two players claimed a video coach who worked with the franchise had sexually assaulted them, according to a person familiar with the matter.”

In May 2010, when the Hawks were about to be crowned Stanley Cup champions, when in meeting with then-Blackhawks president John McDonough, vice president of hockey operations Al MacIsaac, GM Stan Bowman and team sports psychologist James Gary, when then-skills coach Paul Vincent revealed what the players had told him about being assaulted. Vincent asked the team executives to contact the sex crimes division of the Chicago police, the source told Westhead, adding that the request was denied. A lawsuit filed last month in an Illinois court by an unnamed former Blackhawks player, who states that the team ignored allegations that he and an unidentified teammate were sexually assaulted in separate incidents by video coach Brad Aldrich. Alrich, who does not work for the Hawks organization anymore, is said to have sent the player “inappropriate text messages” and threatened him “physically, financially and emotionally” if he “did not engage in sexual activity.” The players’ statement revealed even more disturbing events, that allegedly took place on May 16, 2010, before the opening game of the Western Conference finals between Chicago and the San Jose Sharks. The players allegedly told Vincent that on separate occasions Aldrich had gotten them drunk in his apartment, watched pornography, and then tried to perform oral sex on them. After the players shared their stories with Vincent, the then-Blackhawks skills coach asked Gary, the team’s sports psychologist, to follow up with the players, the person said. While Vincent demanded for a meeting with Blackhawks management on May 17, Gary allegedly convinced at least one of the former players “that the sexual assault was his fault, that he was culpable for what had happened, [and had] made mistakes during his encounter with the perpetrator and permitted the sexual assault to occur.” During the meeting, Vincent requested that the team report the alleged assault to Chicago police and asked his colleagues, “What would you do if this had happened to your son?” the person said. Vincent’s request was rejected, the person said.

This might have prompted Aldrich to feel untouchable and, of course, he repeated the offense, this time on a student. Aldrich worked as the director of hockey operations for the Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, before later joining a high school hockey team’s coaching staff in Houghton, Mich. In October 2013, he was charged and convicted of criminal sexual conduct related to a March 2013 incident involving one of the 17-year-old players he coached. Aldrich, who is now 38, was sentenced in February 2014 to nine months in prison and five years of probation. He completed his probation period in 2019 and is now a registered sex offender in Michigan, court records show.

On Friday, team insider Ben Pope of the Sun-Times has reported that the Blackhawks filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit filed by the Michigan high school student whom Bradley Aldrich sexually assaulted in 2013. 

“There are now motions to dismiss pending in both lawsuits.”

You would assume that after hearing that Aldrich hurt someone else when they refused to report him, the Hawks organization would feel horrible. 

Instead, they keep helping the guy… 

Disgusting!