New sexual assault trial for 5 ex-junior hockey players begins in London, Ont.
I'm Karen Pauls, a senior reporter for CBC. I've been working on this story for years, including covering the 2023 IIHF world junior championships in Halifax.
One important piece of context is how some folks believe hockey culture is on trial here. There have been questions about how we treat talented young players and if coaches from early on are responsible for creating an 'entitled' atmosphere, where goal scorers can get away with bad behaviour off the ice if they keep winning on the ice.
Kristi Allain teaches sociology and is the Canada Research Chair in Physical Culture and Social Life at St. Thomas University in Fredericton.
'In this case, we have put the sport on trial and I think that's actually really important because we have enough evidence now to suggest that maybe there's something not right about the ways that these institutions are preparing young men,' she says, adding many hockey players coach when their own careers have ended.
Canadians have a narrative about what it means to be a hockey player — images of polite, well-dressed young men walking into the arena and inspiring the nation when they win the big games.
'Hearing allegations of sexual assault against some of the best hockey players in the world in their age group really challenges that, not just for Canadians, but I think for people outside of Canada as well who have real questions about what this means,' Allain says.
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