Accuser: Quenneville aware of assault
Panthers coach Joel Quenneville was aware of a Kyle Beach’s 2010 sexual assault allegation against then-Blackhawks video coach Brad Aldrich, the formerly unnamed accuser said.
Joel Quenneville was aware of Kyle Beach’s 2010 sexual assault allegation against a then-Chicago Blackhawks video coach, Beach said in an interview Wednesday, yet Quenneville coached the Panthers on Wednesday during their 4-1 victory against the Boston Bruins at FLA Live Arena in Sunrise.
Beach, who was a previously unnamed accuser and was with the Blackhawks for the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs, outed himself Wednesday on The Sports Network’s SportsCentre and said, “There’s absolutely no way that he can deny knowing it,” in reference to Quenneville. He also accused the thenChicago coach and the Blackhawks of sweeping his allegation against Brad Aldrich under the rug as they chased a Stanley Cup.
“I witnessed meetings, right after I reported it to James Gary, that were held in Joel Quenneville’s office,” Beach said. “If this had been reported to someone other than John
McDonough, or Joel Quenneville or Stan Bowman that didn’t have skin in the game of winning a Stanley Cup, it would have been dealt with and would have protected all of the survivors that came after me.”
Aldrich was later convicted of fourth-degree sexual assault for an incident involving a high school student in Michigan.
Quenneville is scheduled to meet with commissioner Gary Bettman on Thursday in New York to further discuss his role in Chicago’s mishandling of the accusation.
“I look forward to continuing to contribute to the process,” he said, reading from a prepared statement at his postmorning skate press conference. “I won’t comment any further until the appropriate time after I meet with the commissioner.”
When asked about Bettman’s upcoming meeting with Quenneville, Beach said he hopes the league finally takes the matter seriously.
“The NHL is inclusive, the NHL includes everybody, and they let me down and they’ve let down others, as well,” Beach said. “But they continue to try and protect their name over the health and the well-being of the people who put their lives on the line every day to make the NHL what it is. I hope through and through that Gary Bettman takes this seriously, and that he does his due diligence, that he talks to not only them, but Stan Bowman, John McDonough and anybody else that has information to offer before he makes his decision because they already let me down. They wouldn’t investigate for me, so why would they now?”
The fallout from the investigation, the results of which were published Tuesday by Chicago law firm Jenner & Block, included Bowman stepping down as Blackhawks general manager and Chicago senior vice president of hockey operations Al MacIsac leaving the organization. No one from the Blackhawks’ 2010 management team will remain with the organization moving forward, Chicago CEO Danny Wirtz said.
The key passage from the report with regards to Quenneville detailed a 2010 meeting of “senior club management” on the day the Blackhawks beat the San Jose Sharks to reach the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals.
“After discussion of the alleged incident and how the Club should be dealing with it — including the potential options of initiating an investigation, notifying appropriate members of the Human Resources Department, ensuring the immediate separation of Aldrich from the Club’s players, among other things — ultimately the determination was made and direction given that Hockey Operations personnel should devote their exclusive attention to on-ice matters heading into the Stanley Cup Final,” the report said, “and that other appropriate
Club personnel within the organization would take responsibility for ‘handling’ the Aldrich situation.”
Aldrich remained with the team through the end of the 2010 Cup playoffs and even took part in Chicago’s championship celebration. He eventually stepped down when given the choice to either resign or take part in an internal investigation.
The specifics of the meeting remain murky — “Accounts of the meeting vary significantly,” the report said — but the report and Beach’s public comments contradict a statement Quenneville made in the summer to The Associated Press.
“I first learned of these allegations through the media earlier this summer,” Quenneville told the AP in July. “I have contacted the Blackhawks organization to let them know I will support and participate in the independent review.”
The Panthers thus far have declined to comment as an organization.
The Blackhawks fired Quenneville in 2018 and Florida hired him on a six-year contract in 2019. In his third season, Quenneville has the Panthers off to the best start in franchise history at 7-0 after they put together their best regular season ever last year.