Some background on the accused
While we wait for the proceedings to start, here’s a bit of background on the case.
Before they were NHLers, the five players on trial were in London in 2018 for a golf tournament and gala to celebrate their world junior hockey gold-medal win. The team captain was Dillon Dubé, one of the men charged. The other accused are Michael McLeod, Cal Foote, Alex Formenton and Carter Hart. McLeod is also charged with being a party to the offence, the only one facing two charges.
McLeod and Foote were with the New Jersey Devils, Dubé was with the Calgary Flames and Hart was with the Philadelphia Flyers. Formenton was signed by the Ottawa Senators but was playing in Switzerland when the sexual assault charges were announced. Foote and Hart aren’t playing hockey now; McLeod and Dubé have been with Kontinental Hockey League teams. Formenton has indicated he left hockey and is working in construction in Barrie, Ont.
The courtroom is pretty big because it was constructed to house another major trial – for six Bandidos bikers who killed eight other bikers in 2006 (they were convicted). There are 14 jurors and two alternates, who will be dismissed after the opening statements.
This trial will be in the public eye and under scrutiny by the hockey world over the next eight weeks.