[tvp2003]

New reporting on this today and it doesn't sound very good: https://www.tsn.ca/rick-westhead-for...ions-1.1680876

Former Chicago Blackhawks skills coach Paul Vincent told investigators probing abuse allegations that after two players confided in him that they were sexually assaulted by former video coach Brad Aldrich, he shared their accounts with both the team’s sports psychologist and director of security.

During an Aug. 7 interview via Zoom with three lawyers from Jenner & Block – the Chicago law firm hired in June by the Blackhawks to scrutinize claims that team management covered up the alleged sexual abuse of two players – Vincent said he first learned of the allegations from Chicago defenceman Nick Boynton in May 2010 when the team was in San Jose during the Stanley Cup Western Conference final.

Vincent said he shared the allegations with Blackhawks sports psychologist James Gary and Brian Higgins, then the team’s director of security.

A day later, Vincent said he was called into a meeting with team officials including president John McDonough, general manager Stan Bowman, vice president of hockey operations Al MacIsaac, and Gary. Vincent told the Jenner & Block lawyers another person was present at the meeting but he could not recall who it was.

“I come in and Al MacIsaac says to me, ‘What do you know?’” Vincent said. “I said, ‘The same thing I told [Gary and Higgins].’ And with that, Al MacIsaac did most of the speaking. He said, ‘We’ve got it handled. You are assuming something happened and we’re going to look into it. You don’t need to look into it anymore.’” Vincent said he advised the executives to report the alleged abuse to police. “I did say to them I think you need to call the Chicago PD (Police Department) and have them quietly investigate,” Vincent told the Jenner & Block investigators. “That’s when MacIsaac said, ‘You don’t need to worry about this. We’ll take care of it… You can leave now.’ So I walk outside. Two of the coaches are still waiting for me, John Torchetti and Mike Haviland. I said, ‘You won’t believe what just happened.’ I explained it. And we went off to dinner.”