Kyle Beach: NHL team ignored allegations of sexual abuse

It is the evening of May 8 or 9, 2010, when the world of Kyle Beach turns upside down. Beach is considered a great ice hockey talent, being drawn in eleventh place in the first round of the NHL draft by the Chicago Blackhawks. The massive striker can look forward to a career worth millions in the best and largest ice hockey league in the world. But it will never come to that. At the beginning of May 2010, Beach, then 20 years old, was part of the extended roster of his team. The Blackhawks are on their way to the first championship since 1961. On one of the two evenings, Beach, according to his own account, will be played by Brad Aldrich, the Blackhawks’ video coach, sexually abused in his home. The details are published in a report on the Internet, they are difficult to take.

Beach reports the incident to the club, but the club initially does nothing. This is what it says in the 107-page report written by an independent law firm and published last week. A report that throws a grim picture of what is going on at the Blackhawks. A report that already had initial consequences for those responsible at the time. A report in which the victim is initially referred to as “John Doe” – the typical American term for a victim who is not named or who is unknown.

From “John Doe” becomes Kyle Beach

Shortly after the report was published, “John Doe” became Kyle Beach. The now 31-year-old is currently in the squad of the Black Dragons Erfurt in the ice hockey league and no longer wants to live with martyrdom alone. In conversation with the sports broadcaster TSN, Beach is in his apartment in Erfurt and reports on the incident. Again and again the tears come to him, the voice fails. “You can’t even imagine getting into a situation like this where someone who is supposed to help you takes advantage of you,” says Beach in the conversation. That the truth is now coming to light is a release for him. “It’s no longer my word against everyone else’s,” said Beach, who is slowly starting to heal with the release of the report.

After eleven years it goes public

The tall attacker lived with his experience for eleven years, but his former team failed to solve the incident for eleven years. Because, although those responsible were privy to the incident, they decided not to do anything. It was obviously more important to those in charge to celebrate the first championship in 49 years. The focus in the past few days has been on Joel Quenneville. The coach, who celebrated the championship with the Blackhawks in 2010, 2013 and 2015, did not want any further investigation into the allegations. Quenneville himself denies knowing about the allegations. He was only informed of this with the lawsuit, which was filed on May 7th this year.

A picture that is at least destroyed by the firm’s report, because two weeks after the incident there was a meeting of those responsible for the sexual assault. Quenneville and then club president John McDonough wanted to keep the team focused on the championship and avoid bad press. “Stan Bowman (the then general manager of the Blackhawks, editor’s note) quoted Joel Quenneville, who said that the playoffs and the championship are more important than sexual assault,” explains Beach tearfully. He could not believe that and as a person he could not understand it either. There was no way Quenneville could say he was unaware of the incidents.

Several officials are losing their jobs in the NHL

But even within the NHL, the allegation of abuse is widespread. Jonathan Toews, then and now captain of the Blackhawks, said he was unaware of the incident. “I sympathize with Kyle. In retrospect, it’s not meant to be an excuse, but a lot of us have been fixated on just playing ice hockey,” Toews said last week. Blackhawks superstar Patrick Kane told the Bleacher Report that he wished “that we knew more and did differently back then to help him.” On the other hand, Beach’s former teammates Nick Boynton and Brent Sopel paint a different picture, who say in the firm’s report that the whole team knew about the incidents. “Brent Sopel said in his conversation with us that ‘everyone’ would have known that Brad Aldrich wanted to touch the penises of the players during the playoffs,” the report said. Also that Aldrich had inadequate contact with players, they were therefore known.

Players’ union under fire

The focus is also on the NHLPA, the players’ union. Dan Fehr, the union director, has been briefed several times on what happened in Chicago, according to the report. He reported every single detail to the NHLPA, says Beach. Fehr promised to act and investigate the incident, but did not do so. “His job is to protect the players like hell and he turned away from me. I don’t see how he can stay in that position,” explained Beach.

The Blackhawks did not react until mid-June 2010, albeit very half-heartedly. After another attempted sexual assault by Aldrich on a Blackhawks intern, he is given the choice: an investigation into Kyle Beach’s allegations or he resigns. Aldrich decides to quit, receives a championship bonus and receives a salary for several months. Coach Joel Quenneville personally writes a testimonial praising Aldrich’s abilities. He doesn’t write a word about the Blackhawks incidents. There will be no investigation of the incidents until May 2021. “I reported the incident and nothing happened. He was able to live his life like the day before,” accuses Beach of the Blackhawks. Seeing Aldrich at the championship celebration made him feel like he didn’t exist. “It made me feel that his actions were right and mine were wrong,” said Beach, who describes himself as a “survivor”. The Blackhawks mental trainer told him that Beach was to blame for getting himself into this situation.

Aldrich is now out of “sex offender”

After leaving the Blackhawks, Aldrich continues to work as a video trainer. First with Team USA, later at two universities. In 2014 he assaulted a 16-year-old student and was sentenced to nine months in prison. Aldrich was a volunteer and unpaid high school coach – a position he would not have been given if the Blackhawks had sought a police investigation into the incidents. Aldrich is now listed in the Sex Offender file. After filing the indictment in May 2021, the Blackhawks also respond. You hire the law firm Jenner & Block to deal with the events. The result is the report that charges the club, the players and the league. As a result of the investigation, the Blackhawks now want to remove Aldrich’s name from the championship trophy, the Stanley Cup. The names of the championship team and the coaching team are engraved there every year.

Several leaders resigned

The report has immediate consequences for Joel Quenneville. The iconic trainer, now in the service of the Florida Panthers, resigned after the allegations last week. He now wants to withdraw and reflect on what happened. “I’m sorry Kyle had to go through all of this. The Blackhawks and I have a share in that pain,” the 63-year-old wrote in his statement. It is unclear whether he will ever be a coach in the NHL again. Leagues boss Gary Bettmann explained that one had to first examine the conditions under which this could be the case. Stan Bowman, now President of the Blackhawks, and team director Al MacIsaac also resigned from their posts.

Kyle Beach was silent for a long time after the Blackhawks incident. His family knew about the incidents, but he ate the experiences in himself. “I did what I thought I had to do to survive and keep chasing my dream of being a professional ice hockey player,” admits Beach, who never played a game in the NHL. Inwardly, however, the experience destroyed him, he began to numb the pain with alcohol and drugs. After four more years in the USA, Beach’s path led via Sweden, Austria and Hungary to Germany. He and his girlfriend feel that they are in good hands in Erfurt, and the team takes excellent care of them. Media inquiries are understandably not answered at the moment, Beach himself wants to progress step by step with his healing process. Because after eleven years of suffering, it has only just begun.

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