Editors Note: The content of this post contains graphic and disturbing details of sexual assault and abuse.
In a series of depressing and frustrating new developments regarding the lawsuits against the Blackhawks and former video coach Brad Aldrich, one player says he was bullied by teammates over the allegations.
According to reports from Phil Thompson of the Chicago Tribune, Susan Loggans, the attorney for the players involved in the alleged incidents in 2010, says Blackhawks teammates “bullied” the player known as John Doe 1 after the allegations against then-video coach Brad Aldrich became known around the locker room.
From the Chicago Tribune:
“It occurred on the ice where some fellow players bullied him because they heard that Aldrich made advances at him and they heard about what happened and made inappropriate bullying comments to him of a sexual nature,” Loggans said. “That’s all I can say about that because I don’t want to be harmful to John Doe 1.”
This comes out after numerous players, both named and unnamed, have come out to say they either did know about the alleged incidents back when they happened in May of 2010, or that they learned about what happened after Aldrich had left the team, or that they had no knowledge of the incidents until the stories became public this summer. So it really continues to be a cloudy mess of who knew what and when.
Another development on Thursday afternoon came from the Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times, citing new details about the alleged incidents in May of 2010 involving the former players and Aldrich.
Just a warning, this is particularly graphic:
BREAKING: A new, amended version of the John Doe 1 lawsuit against the Blackhawks provides significant new details about Bradley Aldrich's alleged 2010 assault of the Hawks player.
Aldrich allegedly threatened the player with a baseball bat before forcing nonconsensual sex: pic.twitter.com/uC9G5odpgb
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) July 22, 2021
More from the newly amended version of the lawsuit…
The amended lawsuit also alleges the Blackhawks player experienced homophobic "trash talking" for years afterward in practices and scrimmages supervised by Hawks coaches: pic.twitter.com/5r3L05yoPS
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) July 22, 2021
The Blackhawks have filed motions to dismiss both the lawsuit against the team stemming from the alleged incidents in 2010 and the lawsuit stemming from an incident in 2013 between Aldrich and a former Michigan High School student, for which Aldrich was convicted of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a student and is now a registered sex offender in Michigan.
Blackhawks President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Stan Bowman spoke to the media for the first time since the allegations became public on Thursday afternoon, declining to comment on the lawsuits and allegations against the team and his alleged involvement in them.
Stan Bowman: "I do not condone or tolerate harassment or assault of any type. The Blackhawks have engaged an outside legal firm to conduct an investigation…for now, I have to respect the litigation and pending review. I'm not going to be able to make any comments about that."
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) July 22, 2021
The Blackhawks are currently handling an “independent review” of the alleged incidents from 2010 and 2013, led by the law firm Jenner and Block. Bowman said on Thursday afternoon that he would cooperate with the investigation.
We’ll keep up with more developments as this story continues.