A mother whose then teenage son was sexually assaulted several years ago in Michigan by a former Chicago Blackhawks video coach says she admires Kyle Beach, the first to accuse Brad Aldrich, more than he knows.
In an exclusive interview with TSN’s Rick Westhead, the mother says after watching Beach speak about what he went through, she wanted to “reach through that TV screen and hold him like I did my son that day.”
Last month, Beach, a former player with the Blackhawks’ farm system, revealed himself as John Doe in the team’s sexual assault investigation into Aldrich, Chicago’s video coach from 2008 to 2010.
“I just wanted to hold him and I just wanted to tell him that everything is going to be OK,” the mother, whose son is referred to in court documents as John Doe 2, said of Beach.
“It’s got to be OK, and I’m here for him and we don’t fault him at all. He’s not at fault for this at all, not at all. He’s a survivor, like my son.”
John Doe 2, then a high school student, was sexually assaulted at the age of 16 by Aldrich during a year-end hockey party in the spring of 2013. Aldrich pleaded guilty in the assault and was sentenced to nine months jail.
A third-party report, commissioned by the Blackhawks in response to lawsuits by Beach and John Doe 2 and released Oct. 26, detailed how senior leaders in the organization largely ignored Beach’s accusation that he had been assaulted by Aldrich in May 2010 for a three-week period before the club won the Stanley Cup that year.
Following the release of the independent report, the Blackhawks were fined US$2 million, while general manager Stan Bowman, top executive Al MacIsaac and Florida Panthers coach Joel Quenneville, who served as Chicago’s coach at the time, all resigned.
With files from The Canadian Press
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