Former Blackhawks Player Kyle Beach Speaks Publicly About the Abuse He Endured

Now identified as the ‘John Doe’ in the sexual assault lawsuit against the Chicago Blackhawks, former Blackhawks prospect Kyle Beach joined TSN’s Rick Westhead on Sports Centre this evening. Beach and Westhead discussed the findings in the independent investigation by Block & Jenner, LLP. that were made public on Tuesday afternoon.

Beach said that after he was called up from the Rockford IceHogs to serve as a Black Ace during the Blackhawks’ 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs run, he was assaulted by then video coach Brad Aldrich. “Those memories were tainted, and my life was changed forever.”

Beach spoke highly of former Blackhawks skating coach Paul Vincent, who was the first person he told about the assault by Aldrich, but said that there is “no way” former Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville can say now that he didn’t know about anything. Beach spoke emotionally about the fear and mental anguish he endured after being told that his career would be negatively affected if he reported the incident. He said that he “felt sick to [his] stomach” when Aldrich remained with the team for weeks throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs after the front office was alerted to the incident.

Former mental skills coach Jim Gary went as far as to say that Beach had no one to blame but himself for the incident because he put himself in that situation, according to Beach.

“Now that I’m beginning to heal and I look back, it had a negative impact on my life,” Beach said about the alcohol and drug usage that he turned to in an attempt to numb the pain of the assault and the lack of fallout from the assault.

As far as whether or not the Blackhawks players knew about what hapepned, Beach said this: “I do believe that everybody in that locker room knew about it.”

You can watch the entirety of the 25-minute interview in its entirety here.

In response, the Blackhawks tonight released a statement:

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Patrick grew up in Chicago's Bridgeport and Garfield Ridge neighborhoods before moving to the Western Suburbs of Chicago before eventually relocating to the Las Vegas area with his family in 2023. He started with Bleacher Nation in 2021 and has spent time as a Staff Writer and on the Chicago Blackhawks beat. He is currently a writer and editor at Bleacher Nation covering the Chicago Bears and the NFL at large and the author of the Bleacher Nation Newsletter. Patrick is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA).

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