Kyle Beach, Assistant captain of the 2010 Stanley Cup win revealed himself as  the John Doe in the infamous Blackhawks  sexual assault case. Stepping into the spotlight almost 11 years later, Beach called out the Blackhawks organization and noted on the mismanagement of the club then and now currently sitting at a 0-5-1 record.

In May of 2021, John Doe 1 filed a lawsuit in an Illinois court against the Blackhawks organization, alleging the team ignored the player and a teammate’s 2010 disclosure of then-video coach Brad Aldrich’s sexual assault.

Beach felt it was time to put an end to the secrecy that had burdened him over the past decade, tellingspittenchiclet[ML1] s, a barstool sports run hockey podcast, that he was glad to be able to finally tell his side of the story.[ML2]

“Just a great feeling of relief and vindication, and it was no longer my word against everybody else’s,” he said.”Because a lot of things were made public, a lot of people were interviewed, and I really felt like there was a lot of lies told in the media. And it was very special and important to me to have that.”

The events with Beach weren’t the only assault cases Aldrich was involved in. He has had three encounters since the event, including one with a former teammate of  Kyle Beach and two with minors, including one with a high school hockey player Aldrich coached. Aldrich was convicted of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct and is now a registered sex offender in Michigan.

The Blackhawks organization has been struggling in the wake of Beaches admission. ESPN reported that the team’s General Manager Stan Bowman stepped down, with current Vice President of Hockey Strategy and Analytics Kyle Davidson taking over in the interim.

After the general manager was relieved of his duties, the NHL world, media, fans, and players, turned to coaches of the 2010 team to find out more into the story. NHL commissioner, Gary Bettman, is set to meet with assistant coach, Cheveldayoff, who has just resigned from his current coaching job in the AHL, and with head coach, Joel Quenneville, to discuss their involvement in the matter.

West-head notes that multiple sponsors “put the NHL on notice” with regards to improving its response to the scandal, while also stating the the “NHL brand [has been] significantly tarnished over [the] past week.” The sponsors’ main point of contention is how poorly the NHL’s crisis management has been throughout this process.