Trial date set for 2018 World Junior players charged in London, Ont.

The trial for five players on the Canadian 2018 world junior hockey team charged with sexual assault will begin on April 22, 2025, a judge ruled on Tuesday.

The Superior Court jury trial is set for London, Ont., and is expected to take eight weeks, immediately following the selection of the jury.

Judge Bruce Thomas, who has presided over most of the pre-trial hearings for the case, determined the trial date during a virtual meeting with the Crown and defence attorneys on Tuesday in London, Ont. The judge rejected an alternative trial date in September 2025.

The case had been in judicial pre-trial hearings over the summer, some of them previously in front of Justice Renee Pomerance. Thomas, an acting regional senior justice, is now overseeing the trial hearings. 

Charged with one count each of sexual assault are former NHLers Dillon Dube, Cal Foote, Carter Hart and Alex Formenton. Michael McLeod has been charged with two counts of sexual assault, including one relating to aiding someone else in the offence.

NHL teams did not re-sign the players over the summer, making them unrestricted free agents. Dube and McLeod signed with KHL teams; McLeod is reportedly no longer with his KHL team.

In May 2022, a report revealed that Hockey Canada had settled a civil lawsuit with a woman in London after she alleged she was sexually assaulted by eight men, including members of the 2018 men’s world junior team, following an event honouring the team in June 2018.

The London Police Service launched an investigation in the summer of 2018 and closed it in February 2019. Investigators concluded that there was insufficient evidence to lay charges. Alongside widespread scrutiny of Hockey Canada’s handling of the situation, London police reopened their investigation in July 2022. 

The next set of pre-trial motions is scheduled to begin Nov. 25, 2024, in London, Ont.