Lydia Glenn

Staff Writer

Kyle Beach who is a former Blackhawks player recently came forward to the public with new that he was sexually assaulted by former Blackhawks video coach, Brad Aldrich. Initially, Beach filed a lawsuit against the Blackhawks organization and kept his name private, only going by “John Doe”. The lawsuit outlined that Beach was filing because of the Blackhawks failure to punish Aldrich when the sexual assault happened. 

In response to the lawsuit, Chicago hired an independent law firm to conduct an investigation on the team. The investigation was headed by Reid Schar who is a former assistant U.S. attorney, and once complete, he handed the results of the investigation over to the Blackhawks organization on Monday October 22nd. The report was released to the public that Friday, October 26th.  

According to said report and a timeline set up by the NHL commission, it all started on May 8th and 9th of 2010. During the Western Conference finals series between the Chicago Blackhawks and the San Jose Sharks, Aldrich and Beach engaged in a sexual encounter. Beach told investigators that “it was not entirely consensual”, but Aldrich said otherwise, claiming that it was all consensual. According to the report, Aldrich told Beach he would never play in the NHL or walk again if he didn’t “act like he enjoyed the sexual encounter.” After Aldrich told Beach this, he forced himself on Beach. 

On May 12th through the 19th of 2010, Beach told the Blackhawks skill coach Paul Vincent about the assault. According to Beach, Vincent reported what Beach had told him to the front office, but there was no action taking. Beach told investigators that he trusted Vincent and did not blame him, but blamed the organization for not taking action after it was reported. Beach said it made him “feel like I didn’t exist.” 

After Vincent reported the incident, there was a senior staff meeting between higher-ups in the Blackhawks organization. The meeting was with Al MacIssac – the senior director of hockey operations, John McDonough – former president, Stan Bowman – general manager, Jay Blunk – executive VP, Kevin Cheveldayoff – assistant GM, Joel Quenneville – head coach, and James Gary – mental skills coach. 

The meeting took place on May 23, 2010, and senior members discussed the incident. Bowman was quoted in saying that McDonough and Quenneville brushed the idea off, hoping to avoid bad publicity during the Stanley Cup playoffs. They also wanted their team to have no distractions, so they took no action after the meeting and decided it would be best to ignore. 

On June 10th, Aldrich made sexual advances toward an intern. Aldrich “physically grabbed” the intern during the sexual assault according to the report from the independent firm. 

Then, on June 14th through the 16th, 2010, McDonough reported to human resources about the two alleged sexual assaults. Human resources brought Aldrich in where he didn’t confirm or deny the allegations. Aldrich was given an ultimatum, and investigation or resignation. Aldrich chose to resign and the Blackhawks paid him severance, a playoff bonus and gifted him a championship ring even after his resignation. Aldrich also had his name carved on the Stanley Cup and attended the team’s celebration and banner-raising ceremony the following year. 

After his two assaults in Chicago, Aldrich moved on to Miami Ohio where he sexually assaulted two more men while serving as the University’s director of hockey operations. Aldrich resigned from the position, bringing the timeline to 2013 where he sexually assaulted a high school boy from Michigan that was on the hockey team he coached. 

This time, Aldrich was reported to the police and Houghton and admitted his sexual advances on the child. Houghton police opened an investigation into Aldrich and tried to question the Chicago Blackhawks, but the director of human resources declined to answer any questions concerning Aldrich. 

In 2014, Aldrich was sentenced to nine months in Houghton County Jail for sexual assault on a minor. Aldrich was eventually released after his sentence and was registered as a sex offender and he had to serve 5 years probation and pay restitution to the family. 

Then finally in 2021, Kyle Beach filed his lawsuit against the Chicago Blackhawks organization. As said before, the Blackhawks then opened their own investigation where an independent firm found that they violated their own sexual harassment policy by waiting three weeks before taking action. 

Bringing the timeline back to the present, on October 26th, Bowman and MacIssac stepped down from their positions from the Blackhawks. 

The Blackhawks CEO said, “the report is both disturbing and difficult to read, it speaks for itself, and our leadership tea, reviewed the report and we have had important and difficult conversations about how our organization will move forward.” 

Later that same day, October 26th, the NHL stated that they were fining the Blackhawks $2 million for their “inadequate internal procedures.” The NHL and Blackhawks decided to send $1 million of the fine to organizations dedicated to supporting survivors of sexual and other forms of abuse. 

Although the timeline comes to an end after the NHL fined the Blackhawks, a few more noteworthy events happened. October 27th, Beach came forward and is no longer “John Doe.” Then on October 28th, Quenneville, one of the other senior members of the Blackhawks resigned. 

On October 30th, Bettman – the commissioner of the NHL – met with Beach to discuss the incident and gained insight on how to prevent sexual misconduct in the future. 

While the case against the Blackhawks is still pending, the timeline of events has proven Aldrich is and was a sex offender, and the Chicago Blackhawks did not take proper action until about a month after it was reported. 

Beach coming forward put the Blackhawks in the public’s view, in a bad way. During the investigation, it was also reported that some teammates of Beach’s teased him about the allegations and used anti-gay slurs. His bravery in coming forward put pressure on the Blackhawks and the NHL and is forcing them to take action now for the damage they caused and to prevent future incidents like this from happening.