Things get way worse for Blackhawks in sexual abuse scandal

How will they shake this off now?

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 2 years ago
Things get way worse for Blackhawks in sexual abuse scandal
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The Chicago Blackhawks organization has been absolutely rocked by scandal this offseason after it was uncovered that the team hid allegations of sexual assault for over a decade.

The allegations came to light earlier this offseason after a former player filed a lawsuit in Chicago against the franchise. That unnamed player alleges that he reported the abuse to the team and that he was essentially ignored. The player alleges that then team video coach Brad Aldrich had allegedly sexually assaulted him and then threatened him via text messages and other communications against making a complaint.

A second former player alleges that he was also sexual assaulted by Aldrich and he also accuses the Blackhawks of covering up the abuse of two players and then granting Aldrich a letter of reference when he left the team quietly in the summer of 2010. That letter gave him the opportunity to go on and find other victims, the lawsuit alleges. Aldrich would go on to be convicted of abusing a 17 year old hockey player in 2013 after resigning from his position as director of hockey operations at Miami University on Nov. 27, 2012, “under suspicion of unwanted touching of a male adult."

Needless to say, these do not sound like hollow allegations. Now, on top of this already huge pile of scandal, something got added up on Thursday when TSN's Rick Westhead, who kicked off the investigation, revealed that a Chicago Tribune review of public records found police and employers documented allegations against Aldrich of a sexual nature involving four teenagers and five men after his time with the Blackhawks.

Nothing was done by the Hawks to stop this disgusting man! 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.

We all wonder how the Blackhawks will respond to this, but, as you know, the team hasn't done a very good job with this significant problem ever since it was brought to light. 

Wow.

Source: TSN