Chicago Blackhawks veterans Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane spoke to the media for the first time since results of private firm Jenner & Block’s investigation into how the Blackhawks handled allegations of sexual assault by former video coach Brad Alrich were made public.
Former Blackhawks forward Kyle Beach revealed himself as John Doe 1 in an interview Wednesday with TSN. Beach said he was sexually assaulted by Alrich weeks after being called up to the Blackhawks from the Rockford IceHogs for the playoffs in 2010, the same season Kane and Toews were a part of the Blackhawks’ Stanley Cup-winning team.
"Winning the Stanley Cup that year is beside the point," Toews said. "Whether we win or lose … we wish we could take it back and it never happened and young players didn't have to deal with a situation like that.
"I feel a ton for what Kyle went through and what he's dealing with at this point, too. I don't know what else to say. I think the guys that were part of that group all wish they could have done something different."
Toews, the Blackhawks captain, said he didn’t hear about the allegations until training camp the next year. On Tuesday, Chicago announced general manager Stan Bowman and vice president of hockey operations Al MacIsaac left their roles with the team as a result of Jenner & Block's investigation. The investigation was made public Tuesday.
TSN reported that two players reported Aldrich’s conduct to skills coach Paul Vincent just before the start of the Western Conference finals and that Vincent brought it to Bowman, MacIsaac, team president John McDonough and then-mental skills coach James Gary. Also in that meeting were executive vice president Jay Blunk, assistant general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff and then-head coach Joel Quenneville, according to the Jenner & Block investigation.
Quenneville, now the coach of the Florida Panthers, did not speak to media following Wednesday's game against the Boston Bruins. Quenneville is scheduled to meet with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman on Thursday.
"Stan and Al … they’re not directly complicit in the activities that happened," Toews said. "It’s not up to me to comment on whether they would like to deal with it differently or not. … I have a lot of respect for them as people. They're good people."
Kane said he didn’t know John Doe was Beach until Wednesday.
"Very courageous for (Beach) to come out and let his name be known to the world after everything he went through," Kane said. "I wish back then we could have done some different things, knew about some different things, maybe we could have helped him."
(Photo: Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune / Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
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