Hockey Canada has decided to make all players from the 2018 World Juniors ineligible for Team Canada at the 2023 IIHF Men's World Hockey Championship.
“Earlier this year, Hockey Canada made a decision that until the investigation and adjudicative process of the alleged incident in 2018 are complete, no players from the 2018 National Junior Team will be considered for participation for Team Canada," Hockey Canada said in a statement sent to Sportsnet. "This has been communicated to the management group for Team Canada at the 2023 IIHF Men’s World Championship.”
The news was first reported by Rick Westhead. The 2023 Men's Worlds, co-hosted by Tampere, Finland, and Riga, Latvia, will be played from May 11-28.
Earlier on Monday, the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage passed a motion demanding Hockey Canada provide the final report the governing body has received from law firm Henein Hutchison's investigation into the alleged sexual assault implicating players from the 2018 World Junior team.
In October, London Police Services submitted a filing with the Ontario Court of Justice, saying they had reasonable grounds to believe five members of the 2018 world junior hockey team sexually assaulted a woman after a fundraising event.
None of the allegations have been proven in court and the players have denied any wrongdoing and claim that any sexual contact was consensual. No charges have been laid.
