A former player for the Chicago Blackhawks alleged in a lawsuit that an assistant coach sexually assaulted him in 2010 and the team did nothing about it.
Reporting by Chicago public radio station WBEZ found through police records and legal filings that the ex-player is suing the team over its inaction against Bradley Aldrich, a video coach for the team at the time.
The suit says that on one occasion, Aldrich “turned on porn” in the team’s meeting room. It also alleges that Aldrich sent the player inappropriate texts and threatened to “physically, financially and emotionally” harm him if he didn’t agree to engage in sexual activity.
The former Blackhawk, who remains unidentified, is not the only alleged victim coming forward.
The report found that Aldrich had multiple victims — at least one underage — of “inappropriate” sexual contact after the coach had left the Blackhawks.
He worked for a time as Miami University of Ohio’s director of hockey operations. Miami’s attorney told police that Aldrich resigned in 2012 “under suspicion of unwanted touching of a male adult.”
In 2013, Aldrich was convicted of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a student and was placed on the sex offender registry in the state of Michigan. That victim is part of the suit against the Blackhawks, WBEZ said, as attorney Susan Loggans contends that the NHL team’s lack of intervention while Aldrich was their employee allowed him to go on and prey on other victims.
TSN reported that there were two former Chicago players whom Aldrich assaulted, and that former skills coach Paul Vincent wants to testify against Aldrich in the case.
Vincent alleged that the players told him of Aldrich’s abuse, which took place during the 2010 Western Conference finals shortly before Chicago won the Stanley Cup. Vincent claimed that he went to upper management, including team president John McDonough and general manager Stan Bowman, asking them to report Aldrich to the police, but was denied.
“I feel a weight has been lifted off of me,” Vincent told TSN this week. “I will stand up in court and say what happened. I know what the team did to cover this up, and coming forward was the right thing to do.”
–Field Level Media