Canada looks to win its twentieth gold medal on home ice as the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF)’s 47th World Junior Championships (WJC) currently plays out in the Maritimes under the spectre of sexual assault investigations.
The 2023 iteration of the WJC, held in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Moncton, New Brunswick, started on Dec. 26, 2022 and culminates on Jan. 5, 2023 with the Gold Medal game.
At the time of writing, Canada sits second in IIHF World Junior tournament power rankings and finished second in Pool A behind Czechia, the only team to beat Canada in preliminary play.
This year’s hockey tournament is overshadowed by the exposure of a long history of sexual assault allegations against players of the Canadian men’s junior national team. In May 2022, reports indicated that Hockey Canada paid an out-of-court settlement to end a lawsuit without trial. This brought to light more than fifteen police investigations into sexual assault allegations dating as far back as 1989.
A timeline of events surrounding the investigation of allegations that eight players, including members of Canada’s 2018 WJC men’s team, sexually assaulted a woman following a Hockey Canada Foundation Gala and Golf event in 2018.
Hockey Canada has been publicly rebuked for its response as outrage forces the highest levels of the Canadian government to demand answers. Sport Canada froze its funding for Hockey Canada and a combination of major sponsors have also dropped their sponsorship.
Prior to the Team Canada game on Dec. 29, 2022, a group of people gathered outside the Scotiabank Arena protesting both Hockey Canada and the World Junior Championships.
As Hockey Canada craftily settled the lawsuits out of court, thereby preventing the potential of the allegations being “proven in a court of law,” the protestors believed the WJC should have been cancelled. They claim this would allow time for the fallout of the allegations against Hockey Canada, and the players implicated, to be dealt with.
Unfortunately, under these circumstances, one of Canada’s brightest emerging stars, 17-year-old phenom Connor Bedard, is breaking all the Canadian WJC records when he records his next point. Currently, he has 31 points, tying him with Hall of Famer Eric Lindros — but Bedard has potentially three more games to play in this year’s tournament.
He’s so good that in last year’s WJC Bedard broke the legendary Wayne Gretky’s record of being the first, and only, 16-year-old to score a hat-trick — except he scored four goals in that game against Austria.
With more years of age-based eligibility, it’s possible Bedard could return to the WJC in 2024 to extend his point totals, but he’s projected to be the first round pick in the National Hockey League’s 2023 Draft in June. Starting what should be a long and successful professional career will likely take priority over returning to break his own records.
Hockey is considered a national sport of Canada and has always carried millions of Canadians on emotional roller coaster rides as our teams compete at the highest levels. This world championship tournament will likely do the same thing — carry fans through the ups and downs of highly competitive sporting events.
Unfortunately, it will never help to address, or expose, the protection championship athletes, and their golden auras, receive as their wrongdoings are covered up by the toxic culture propelling them forward. A culture, it should be noted, that profits greatly from their stardom. There are plenty of asses to cover, except the unresponsive ones laying on the floor.
Steve is a third-year BFA creative writing/visual arts student who’s been a contributing writer, staff writer and now an editor at The Cascade. He's always found stories and adventures but now has the joy of capturing and reporting them.
