Rick Westhead on the ongoing Investigations into Hockey Canada | The Steve Dangle Podcast
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ก.ค. 2022
- Warning: This podcast contains descriptions of sexual abuse, and may not be suitable for all audiences.
Rick Westhead joins the Steve Dangle Podcast to talk about the ongoing investigations of Hockey Canada's handling of a lawsuit alleging a sexual assault involving players from the 2018 World Junior Team and the subsequent settlement.
Transcript: docs.google.com/document/d/1c...
Recorded July 15th, 2022
Read Rick's work here for continued updates on the situation: www.tsn.ca/rick-westhead-1.88451
If you or someone you know is in need of support, resources can be found: endingviolencecanada.org/sexu...
For our American listeners, a list of resources can be found here: www.rainn.org/national-resour... - กีฬา
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You know how I know Rick Westhead is a good reporter? No major sports federation or league wants to talk to him. When major institutions fear you because of the questions that you ask, you're good at your job.
Oh yeah. I bet anyone from the NHL or teams front offices just trembles when they hear "Rick Westhead is on line 1 asking for a comment."
@Lefroy Statements like these are part of the problem, why such incidents don't get reported right away. Victim blaming, calling victims "liars" or "crazy unhinged women" further feelings of guilt and shame for the victims. Don't do that please. Also, if there were no grounds for the accusations, Hockey Canada would not have payed millions in settlement money.
@Lefroy Do you know anything about the case? The police was involved, but as often with female abuse victims, decided it was nothing worth pressing any charges for. And if you don't want to make it about genders, Kyle Beach also filed the lawsuit years after the actual abuse happened. Probably also because of feelings of guilt and shame even though, they're the victims in these scenarios.
Hockey Canada is not dumb. If they didn't think there was anything there, they would not have payed a large sum of money.
@Lefroy this isn't someone getting in a fight or getting punched in the face. This is someone who was completely powerless while being raped over and over for hours by 8 assailants. If you can't see a difference in trauma level compared to a simple assault, then I don't know what to tell you and forces me to conclude that you're a clinical moron.
@Lefroy there's a psychological element that you're completely ignoring here, it's very rare for someone to come forward just because of how uncertain that they will be believed or not, it's not as simple as your made up scenario
I have to say, I’m proud to be a fan of a bunch of guys who care so deeply about the game. Sunlight is the best disinfectant, and Rick and SDPN should keep pulling back the curtains. Thank you, thank you!
So glad you guys keeps highlighting these stories. And thanks to Rick westhead to keep exposing these horrific scandals.
Thank you all for reporting on this and not avoiding difficult topics. Hope you can get Rick back on in the nearish future to discuss the findings from the various cases and what the fallout is.
Rick Westhead must live rent free in the heads of every abuser in the Country.
And I love that for him
My wife is a survivor of domestic abuse from before I came into her life, we listened to the Kyle Beech and multiple John Doe stories, and now this. It was all very tough for both of us to listen. Taking all of this negative into a positive, we both sat there and said "Rick Westhead deserves a Pulitzer Prize for what he has done for these people". I also acknowledge other reporters like Katie Strang, we only say Rick because he has shown up the most on the resources we follow.
fully agree with you. about what these reporters are doing. it's awesome and it more than time for these much needed scandals? to be exposed,
Why are you set on re living the trama man?
STOP listening to "survivor" podcasts and take your lady out to dinner ...you know, have FUN maybe.
Damn that timeline turnaround at the end was a bombshell. Thanks for making that clear guys.
Yeah I didn't catch that at first either. They just mentioned it seemed to be settled really fast.... then made it clear later, they settled because they knew Rick had the story and was about to blow them up.
As someone who has never been to Canada, let alone live in Canada, what Rick does is so critical. Shinning light on what has happened under the cover of darkness around the world of sport is how we drive change. It's how the culture changes. Thank you Rick for what you do, and thank you SPD for working as hard as you do to give him a space to speak to a broader audience within the hockey community.
He's one of the few decent sports journalist actually doing their job and holding powerful organizations and people accountable.
What Rick says at 20:27 is VERY important.
Indeed.
Incredible job, it’s so important to make sure that stories like this and the Kyle Beach case stay alive.
Let's not call it the Kyle Beach case - Kyle had nothing to do with it. Brad Aldrich is the perpetrator and should be named and shamed for it going forward.
Thank you guys so much for talking about this and making it known!
Wow. Steve's face towards the end says it all.
This topic needs a lot more coverage. Thank you for dedicating time to this.
This is why i follow you guys. You dont shy away from the hard subjects. Keep it up guys!!
Robyn Doolittle with the Glob & Mail won the Michener Award for journalism in 2017 for the "Unfounded" article Rick referred to. My question is, when is Rick going to get his Michener award?
Thank you so much for having Rick on, he's so amazing and I'm glad you support him.
Been waiting for this. Great job guys
Thank you all so much for having this conversation and using your platform to bring more of a light to these awful incidents. I agree with Rick -- and I hate it -- that we can't guarantee that it won't happen again, because we know it will. But I hope you and Rick can make a difference.
Side note, I don't recall if it was in this podcast or another one where Steve recommended the Hockey Unfiltered Substack, but I subscribed to it because of that recommendation, and completely agree that it's excellent.
Thank you for reporting on this topic!
Thank you so much for shows that tackle the tough stuff.
Well done covering these hard subjects. Much respect for doing so.
So glad you guys talked about it.. Thank you Rick! Keep doing what your doing.
I want to see this to the end.
Thanks for your time Rick. You're doing an awesome job
Thanks guys for talking about this incident and keep this story in the lime light until answers are obtained to what happened and who was involved along with those who covered it up !!!
I hate, hate, Hate, these type of stories... but it must be told and must be reported on. Good job guys and Keep up the good work.
Excellent reporting & delivery. Rick is so well-spoken.
Thank you for this. Keep up the great reporting!
Thank you so much for this.
Thank you for this important coverage.
As an American who is losing faith in journalism by the day thank you Rick. Nobody likes these stories or even wants to hear about them. Shining a light on the shadows is never easy. Thank you for all the work you do hopefully this story has some good come from it.
Great work Rick.....name the players and jail the players involved!!!
Pick any 8 names from the list of the 2018 juniors team, and there has to be at least 1 name who has played at least 99 games in the NHL. Of the names on the roster 6 have 150+ games, 6 have 100-149, 5 have 50-99, 1 has less than 50 and 2 never made it past the AHL but are still pros right now. There's no way this goes away quietly now.
Wow. Hockey Canada is gross..... That sucks being a Canadian citizen and fan.. 😡
Actual, proper journalism. Who would have thought.
Oh my god, I forgot how much I love Rick. Shedding light on important stories, and still so damned humble
“Liquidating investments” sounds a lot like spending other people’s money.
i love this poedcast so much for not shying away from the heavy stuff
great episode
It's a strange path, navigating two contradictory emotions while watching the Westhead interviews. On the one hand, feeling happy for the guys to have "arrived" as a leading outlet for hockey news, and at the forefront of some of the more sinister stories from the hockey world. On the other hand, there is a sense of profound disappointment and some shame as well as hockey culture is clearly problematic, and obviously has so much further to go when it comes to maintaining a culture of dignity and inclusion.
Thanks for the good reporting.
Thanks for keeping this in the media. Too bad mainstream media won't also bring attention to this issue.
Keep reporting on this topic boys. Thankful you are and not shying away from it or just reporting once on the topic. But continue to post follow up videos. Please keep it up, great job!
Good job folks!
Thank you for keeping the spotlight on darker corners where people are victimized.
I had forgotten about Robyn Doolittle's report, which caused a few days worth of blah blah blah from police here in London. Did they take it seriously? Last May, several women at an event at the Zeta Psi fraternity ended up in hospital, victims of a mass drugging. Not only have police not taken it seriously, London Health Sciences refused to co-operate with one of the victims who wanted her blood checked to find out what the drug was. A private lab later determined it was an opiate. So far, nothing has been done and I don't expect anything will be done about that mass poisoning. So, if you are still wondering why the victim of a sexual assault wouldn't lay charges in Criminal Court, this is why. From Cops to Prosecutors and Judges, they've demonstrated time and again that Criminal Court is not the venue for justice in sexual assault cases. So victims are left to civil court to seek justice.
I can say with absolute 100% confidence that London Police worked with an independent task force the nature of which I will not disclose and yes this incident was taken extremely seriously but due to the manner in which it needed to be handled it was intentionally taken out of the public eye. The investigation was not above board but the decision made in this case was it didn't need to be above board it just needed to get done. And it did. There was a ton of political heat on the situation and unfortunately UWO has been a target for these attacks for decades due to not only being a "party school" but also in large part due to some huge gaps in security both on and around the campus area. All people involved were identified and appropriate action was taken but you also need to consider something most people don't. If these are foreign exchange students from "difficult" countries they cannot be publicly outed because that would cause an international incident. It is a shame that it needed to be handled in this sketchy off the books manner but it was handled and handled quite swiftly. I imagine there is a large number of NDAs that needed to be signed when it was all said and done. Hopefully that indirectly gives you enough context to understand what I'm saying happened and why it happened.
@@headie3737 my girlfriend at the time was very close with one of the victims. And trust me the people who did it got a lot more than a "please go home" from the locals. It's just an all around shitty situation but you can't really complain much if a rapist gets his or her ass kicked by people without a badge. Sometimes good old fashioned street justice is the easiest (though nowadays most frowned upon) method of dealing with offenders of this nature. It wasn't *ONLY* people on visas however the presence of 1 or more of them and the response from their representatives may have played a large factor in the overall handling of the situation.
@@CClark-Gaming Thank you for the fascinating insight. I read this first thing this morning, and gave it some thought. What you say just re-enforces what I said earlier, in the end. While I am not naive to the realities of international politics, neither am I too sympathetic to political interference in the judicial process, which what you say seems to indicate. While this can threaten to go off on tangents and stray into many other topics, let's go back to the start. The way this incident was mishandled, just re-enforces the idea that victims of sexual assault have no criminal court redress against the wealthy and connected. That's one lesson we can draw from this instance that just gets filed away with the hundreds if not thousands of similar cases. The other lesson goes out to prospective rapists that, if they have the right pull they can do what they desire. Prosecutors just are not interested in going to court against a defendant that can afford decent to superlative defense council. They want to pad their conviction record against Ne'er Do Wells that can't afford much more than duty council. While many of us know specifics of court cases, I think most soak this up over the years by osmosis, and, I remain resolute that Law Enforcement in Canada (which includes police and all court officers such as prosecutors) has always sent a message to sexual assault victims not to bother them if the accused can fight back. "No reasonable prospect of conviction" is all a Crown Attorney has to say, and he or she doesn't have to explain anything to anyone beyond that. There's no public oversight of Crown Atorney's and this is one of the reasons the system is like it is.
What I think we need to do is realize that those in this system that protect sexual predators are, in fact sexual predators themselves, if not by act then as facilitators.
@@CClark-Gaming *GAG* See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. That's the London cops and sexual assault for you, in a nutshell. Action is reserved for when you are homeless and erect a tent in a park. Then they'll be all over you with bulldozers.
@Lefroy She reported it to Hockey Canada and an investigation was opened by the London Police literally a few weeks after it happened. Hockey Canada intentionally covered it up for 4 years. I'm unsure of the exact timeline but she didn't wait 4 years. The legal system did
Thank you so much for this podcast 🙏🙏
And also for the graceful content warning 🙌
The section @24:49 onward. Adam ends by calling it "Important", which it definitely is. I think another word for it would be "Suspicious" or "Convenient".
I've said many times over the past year that Rick Westhead is THE most important journalist in the sports industry right now, and this episode just proves it yet again.
Great segment, hope the predators that did this get arrested
Name the scumbags!
Especially the p.o.s player this women trusted and gave consent too only for him to let his buddies take turns on her.
Slow down dude. Wait for facts. If proven by all means pile on.
Rick is a national hero. Period.
The 8 players should never play again earning a living and playing pro hockey is a privilege
So much love for our boy Rick! He’s part of the SDPN the way I see it
If an investigation finds that the 8 players are guilty, each and every one of those fucks should have their contract terminated, if they're in the NHL, and be sent to prison for the maximum allowable sentence. Every single person involved in Hockey Canada and the government who was involved with the initial investigation, cover-up, and settlement needs to be fired and if possible prosecuted. The victim should be able to sue each player individually for the amount of money remaining on their contracts.
So if hypothetically Robert Thomas and Drake Batherson is involved she should be able to get 84m?
@@stevenmclarssen6608 lol makar too
@@jordon7718 haha thatd be another 45m so she'd be getting at least 129m lol. I think a win win situation is the players involved have to pay 25% of their salary to the girl and 25% to charities/foundations related to sexual assault for the next 5 years. Shell be 20m richer and the foundations too while the players can still play
@@stevenmclarssen6608 Each player should be tried in a criminal court and if found guilty should be sentenced to 10+ years in jail, have their contracts terminated, be registered as a sexual predator, and be issued a lifetime ban from future participation or association with Hockey Canada. They should not be playing in the NHL.
@@none-ya1699 if you care about the victim as much as you seem you do you would happily like to see her and the corresponding foundations 20m richer
It will be very interesting to see what this investigation leads to. What I have wondered since I first heard this is what is the goal of this? What can or should come out of this? This potentially could affect more people even than the Kyle Beach investigation did.
this is a BIG black eye on hockey canada and the nhl!
Rough, I hadn't even heard about this
This is disburbing, a couple of players have already issued statements saying they were not involved. The truth will come out.
It’s so important that these stories really get talked about as much as possible. You guys really are doing an amazing job, by bringing these stories to people that might not have heard about it before. Every person can make a difference to stop this kind of crap. Much Love SDPN & Rick!
I really appreciate y'all putting these stories front and center and having rick on (at some point, would y'all ever have Katie Strang on?). It's important and I'm glad you did it. That said, we gotta stop being shocked about this stuff. Every time you're shocked and "can't imagine how something like this could happen" it feels like you're calling victim/survivors and activists that do this work day in day out and have been shouting that this culture is toxic and harmful liars. I know that's not the intent. But a book was written about this very culture and these kind of instances back in the 90s! It should not shock you anymore. People have been telling all y'all for long enough that this is the type of shit that's been going on. It'd be rad if y'all started to really take that to heart. Again. Really, really appreciate that you've platformed this story and Rick's work. It's so important.
Westhead's tone is so calm and deliberate. He explains everything so meticulously and matter-of-factly that it's scary.
As a Brit that loves ice hockey I've been looking at this with horror but not really surprise. The have been so many cases coming out recently in hockey and heard so many stories that haven't come out.
Compared to other sports like football for example. We have started to hear about cases here as well but it's being dealt with in a variety of ways.
This type of reporting is necessary. I just hope people aren't jumping to conclusions. I sincerely hope that cold sober analysis uncovers the facts. Facts not emotions. If this is true man they better hold these young men accountable.
Really do admire Rick. Great sports journalist and wades through some really heavy stuff. I know it must have been tough because reading the description made me feel sick.
I’m so proud of the woman who is finally going to cooperate!!! I hope she tells everyone every single last detail. These guys need to be held accountable!!! If she is reading this (doubt she is) but i’m so proud of you, it is so hard I now it is, but I admire your courage and bravery for saying anything in the first place.
That’s a hell of a statement of claim. Settlements are given based on optics not facts and not law. This is awful for everyone involved.
Really hope all the information comes out in full on this case including the 8 players names so the rest of the players on that team are fully cleared I just got done looking at that roster and right now they are all suspects until eliminated and that can only happen when we all know the 8 players that were involved and not look at the rest sideways always wondering were you one of the 8
Rick is a fucking hero.
Very happy with Canadians on this. Hockey Canada probably only doing what Canadians are demanding they do. A victim likely encouraged by the Canadians who don't want to let this one go. Beautiful. Be problematic. Find out who and make an example of them. The players would have a good idea of a group of guys that might be like that, hung out together, and even maybe who went to the bar together that night. Maybe told some stories. The players who rightfully want the question mark beside their name erased. The guys who did this, did this to themselves after all, and to her.
Also note powerful people can squirm, be moved on any issue we choose to call an obvious bipartisan single issue. Like one day actually punishing convicted rapists a meaningful amount for instance. Our list of demands as human beings instead of partisan hacks could be very substantial and beneficial to our societies.
I wished they would have asked if it was confirmed that all 8 players were on the team.
I know that previously there was talk about 8 CHL-players and that all of them weren’t on the national-team but may have been on other CHL-teams.
I am assuming that the negotiated settlement was through attorneys and not a bag of cash handed to her in a dark alley?!
It's so strange how it can be "settled" when 4 years later it's being seen as a huge investigation. What is it? Settled (ultimately not) or criminal sexual misconduct and government cover-up? If this was brought up at the time and police aren't immediately involved it feels weird. No moral prosecuting attorney would just say "settle for the money" and we'll get em later. No recorded settlement is also a red flag.
What I'd like to know is why is it always Westhead covering these things? I swear the only time I hear about the guy is hockey sex scandal. Let me be clear Im NOT criticizing Westhead but what Im saying is that reporters need to grow a pair and start reporting on this and not just one guy doing it.
How was this going to be handled by a sports organization, I don't get how it is a substitute of federal justice
The NHL will possibly investigate and will the police also investigate the 2003 player's allegedly involved?
When you look at the roster that was involved its so hard not to speculate, there are so many big players on that team, most notably Cale Makar...If he as involved imagine the repurcussions
This was only chl players, most likely in the OHL the team had 8 players from that league on that team. A few like Makar were not in the CHL so those names aren’t involved in this
Why is hockey canada liquidating assets to cover the asses of these criminals? Because if they did what she alleges, then they are criminals and should be punished. Liquidating assets to protect criminals should mean that govt money is cut off permanently. Also, those kids should go to jail for assault if that is what really happened. I don't care that they are hockey players. This needs to be resolved.
Any thoughts about moving a camera so we can see more than half of a guests face? otherwise, great reporting, and great pod. love it.
just look up the 2018 roster and you can see how many guys are in the NHL. this could be bad
As an American, My first question is exactly who is Hockey Canada? Is it a committee, Is it a branch of the government involved in just hockey or is it an organization that operates like the Mob did years ago in US in which they operate outside of law with their own discipline system in place rule by few powerful people. Any Canadians care to comment?
I hope the guilty parties get plenty of jail time.
In the other one I saw but this time about the 2000’s Canada team, Jordin Tootoo highlighted some of it on his book and suddenly last night is saying he never heard of anything happening. Dude wrote in his book they had their way with every woman. They all knew, they all need to stand trial. Especially after the description about what happened in that video
Rick Westhead is a real one.
23:00 That educating elite players about consent class that Rick brought up isn't going to do anything. Everyone knows you need consent to have sexual relations with someone, that's proven by the players who allegedly committed the acts as they got her to film a video saying she was sober and, if I'm not mistaken, gave consent to the act. Westheads comment saying that this will happen again because there are predators out there is unfortunately the only way to go about this type of thing because you can't stop crime before it happens, you can only deter it.
As much shit as I give you guys about Leafs bias, you guys actually look at larger issues like this.
So the more I read and hear about this, the more questions I have. Such as:
Why were none of the players named in the lawsuit? They weren't minors. Naming them wouldn't reveal the alleged victim? Why were there names just John Doe?
The seven players (even though there are 8 john does) who were involved didn't participate in the Hockey Canada investigation because of the on going police case - which they heavily participated in by turning over videos and text messages involving the incident. Why was the Hockey Canada investigation finished before the police investigation? What was the rush to finish it?
Are we all focusing on a micro incident and not the marco one? What type of culture is being fostered for these 15 - 16 year old boys leaving home to play a competitive sport where this is considered acceptable? Is the privilege that these kids obtain being corrupted into this, and how should that be addressed? Something tells me this isn't the only incident over the years.
You’re right about many questions….
The first question after Rick started giving a timeline was why would a father after hearing his daughter say she was sexually assaulted by 8 hockey players contact Hockey Canada first and not the police? Then to hear it was hockey Canada that contacted the police and not the family? Why? Something seems missing in this reporting.
All involved in the coverup players,officials,and politicians should be held accountable and fired and all retirement money revoked and charged criminally
There are some big names on that 2018 Canadian World Junior team...Cale Makar, Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou, Dante Fabbro, Drake Batherson, Sam Steel, Max Comtois, Cal Foote, Jake Bean...and 8 of them apparently gang assaulted this poor girl...that's so fucked up. I hope they get exposed, whoever they are...
Boys... so important that we talk about this! Good F job
Sadly this was handled so poorly the chance of actual believable facts coming to light are next to impossible.
Do you think that the GM's know who was and wasn't involved in this incident before signing a player? Asking for my buddy Kyle. Do you imagine that this is part of the due diligence that a team should be involved in? There is a slippery slope about presumed innocence, but right now the needle seems to be stuck on subvert and protect the toxic culture.
It isnt fair to wonder about a player specifically... ie VM, but if I were in the GMs shoes I'd investigate before bringing in someone from that team. Yes, I think the nhl should be canceling contracts... even CM if he was involved.
believe survivors.
Prove you are a survivor. The Christine Blasey-Ford's of the world have blown it for the real victims.
@Lefroy her step father called the police the next day…what are you talking about four years?
@Lefroy She reported it that evening or early morning. I have no doubt something happened, the question is consent and the ability to consent.
This, even moreso than Kyle Beach, brings to mind the US women's gymnastics abuse and the cover up at every level that led to so much damage. If it is anything like that, this story is just the tip of the iceberg.
So many current NHL players are part of this scandal, 2 guys on the Sens top 9 might be involved, Yikes 😬
Once the sponsors start running that's when people wake up normally
yeah and who sponsors these bozos?
@@andrewcrenshaw8093 hockey Canada? Like all the big Canadian companies'
So what happens if one of the guys that did it now has his name on the cup? Purely asking, no evidence of such and I'm not claiming it to be true... just curious.
I really hope, that this, and maybe the Kyle beach situation should have been, but I hope this is a start of a reset of hockey culture and it needs to start at the top which is hockey Canada.
I have to two sons who are young, but I have no interest in getting them into hockey because of the culture of hockey. I love the sport, don’t like the culture of it.
Cale Makar on that 2018 junior team, along with the many other big names. So... who are the 8 john doe's????????
He’s not a chl player.
@@pdubcentral he was in 2018 and he was on the World Junior team. This is when it happened. Not during CHL play.
Hart
Bean
Dube
Katchouk
Steenbergen
Batherson
McLeod
Formenton
Those are the 8 players. I could face legal action for publicly exposing them so all I can do is anonymously post their names various places online.
how do u know these players r the 8?
@@Brlowvgsnhdhhtdvjg I have a buddy who was there that night
@@allsaints1951 Goodness what a mess. And now the mess with Ian Cole.. Be careful- even though you are commenting on who you think are involved this could come back on you. One question I had doesn't the bar have camera's?
@@allsaints1951 No problem..Hockey Canada definitely has issues, I guess this has come up before but they payoff the victims involved. Another mess for the NHL. Last season it was E. Kane now Cole.. Read the statement by the person involved. Sounds questionable if she wants money and a way to get back at him and the NHL or the Lightning.
This is so vague.
Rick does such important work, but man, I don’t know how he deals with such heavy shit so often. If you see this man, buy him a drink. But him dinner. Give him a hug. Rick is a god damn treasure.
The more I think of this story, the more disgusted I get. Hopefully the famous 8 get their dues…….pigs….desperate pigs.