Kyle Beach has stepped forward as John Doe 1 in the Chicago Blackhawks’ sexual assault investigation.
Beach appeared on TSN’s SportsCentre on Wednesday night to identify himself as the first accuser of former Blackhawks’ video coach Brad Aldrich.
He had been named John Doe 1 in court documents related to the sexual assaults in 2010.
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Beach, from North Vancouver, B.C., was selected 11th overall in the 2008 draft by Chicago.
He never played in the NHL but was a so-called Black Ace for Chicago in 2010, practising with the team on a regular basis in case the team needed a replacement player if another player was injured.
The Blackhawks hired Jenner & Block to conduct what they called an independent review in response to two lawsuits filed against the franchise, including one filed by Beach.
According to the report, the encounter between the 20-year-old Doe — now self-identified as Beach — and Aldrich, then 27, occurred on May 8 or 9 in 2010.
Beach told investigators that Aldrich threatened him with a souvenir baseball bat before forcibly performing oral sex on him and masturbating, allegations that he also detailed in his lawsuit.
Beach told TSN that he had his career threatened in the days after the assault, and faced homophobic slurs from other players in the locker room after word “spread pretty quick” through the team.
“I felt like I was alone and there was nothing I could do and nobody I could turn to for help,” he said. “And I didn’t know what to do as a 20-year-old.
“I would never dream, or you could never imagine being put in this situation by somebody who’s supposed to be there to help you and to make you a better hockey player and a better person and continue to build your career.”
Aldrich left the Blackhawks after the 2009-10 season. He is also accused of later assaulting a 16-year-old student of his in Michigan in 2013.
On Tuesday, Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman stepped down following the release of the independent report, saying he did not want to be a distraction for the team.
Team CEO Danny Wirtz called the report “both disturbing and difficult to read,” and the NHL fined the team $2 million for mishandling the accusations.
–With files from Global News
© 2021 The Canadian Press
