“It is clear now that our organization did not do the right thing,” the Blackhawks said Monday.
The Chicago Blackhawks apologized to former minor league affiliate player Kyle Beach this week for speaking dismissively about his allegation that he was sexually assaulted by Brad Aldrich, a former video coach for the team. The apology comes after an found that team officials mishandled Beach’s allegations, leading to a $2 million fine from the National Hockey League. Beach, who was known as “John Doe” in the report, alleges that Aldrich sexually assaulted him in May 2010, after he was selected as a backup player for the team’s run in the NHL playoffs. Aldrich told the law firm investigating the allegation that the interaction was consensual, and denied assaulting Beach. Though the report criticizes the team’s handling of the allegation, concluding that officials waited until the Blackhawks had won the Stanley Cup to refer the matter to human resources and allowed Aldrich to resign without investigating, it said there was no evidence that team owners knew of the allegation. The report notes that it is not clear how much team officials knew about the nature of Beach’s claims. The Tuesday statement said the matter was brought to the attention of CEO Danny Wirtz and his father, team owner Rocky Wirtz, in 2020, when Beach’s lawyer contacted the team about a potential civil lawsuit.
