Brand new report from July 18 exposes what went wrong in Chicago with Kyle Beach

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Joshua Deeds
July 19, 2024 (7:08 PM)

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Should the Edmonton Oilers hire Stan Bowman as the new GM, considering Ken Holland's exit? The Cult of Hockey's David Staples, cut through the noise to find the facts and make an assessment with evidence found from Jenner and Bock from 2021 and discern the truth himself.

Jenner and Bock was the firm hired by the Blackhawks in 2021, after being sued by Kyle Beach. The firm was led by former federal prosecutor Reid Schar in the case.

They would run an independent investigation into the suit, totaling 107 pages and is a troubling report of Brad Aldrich's misconduct. The report's executive summary concludes that Kyle Beach had sued the team for SA in 2010 by Aldrich.

«(Beach) further alleged that the Blackhawks were made aware of the alleged assault soon after it occurred and failed to act to address the assault.»

The investigators interviewed 139 witnesses in an effort to get the total story from executives to interns:

. «Several witnesses were interviewed more than once. We interviewed 21 current and former Blackhawks players and Rockford IceHogs players. We interviewed (Kyle Beach), Brad Aldrich, and individual players and personnel who were directly involved in the events described below.»

A detail quote on the incident:

«Our investigation uncovered the following events. On May 8 or 9, 2010, (Beach) had a sexual encounter with Brad Aldrich. The Blackhawks were in the midst of the National Hockey League playoffs and ultimately won the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1961. (Beach) was a twenty-year-old hockey player for the Blackhawks' minor league affiliate team. He was called up to Chicago during the 2010 playoffs to serve as a «Black Ace,» a prospect player who could be available to play for the Blackhawks if needed. Brad Aldrich was the Blackhawks' twenty-seven-year-old video coach in his second full year in the job. Aldrich was responsible for cutting video clips of game footage for the other Blackhawks' coaches.

«Today, (Beach) and Brad Aldrich have widely divergent recollections of the sexual encounter, but both men agree an encounter occurred. The heart of the difference between the two recollections is not only what occurred during the encounter, but most critically whether the encounter was consensual. (Beach) stated that the encounter was entirely non-consensual, (that) during the second week of May 2010, Aldrich invited him to his apartment, provided him with dinner and drinks, told him he had the power to get (Beach) onto the Blackhawks' roster, and turned on pornography.»

Beach would state that Aldrich threatened him, and his career in the NHL if he hadn't acted like he enjoyed the encounter, or "walk" again while he was forced to perform acts nonconsensually. They would follow up with Aldrich and a woman who was with both men that night in Aldrich's apartment.

Jenner and Bock would do their best to find the truth by combing through open-ended questions and learning and disseminating both accurate and inaccurate information.

Jenner and Bock would dig into the response by Management following the incident ranging from May to late June 2010:

«A Blackhawks policy at the time provided that all reports of sexual harassment would be �promptly and thoroughly' investigated. Our investigation uncovered no evidence, however, that McDonough or anyone else either contacted Human Resources or initiated an investigation between May 23 and June 14.

More importantly, after all the discussion of following rules of corporate governance, it appears the Blackhawks had none at the time.

«On June 16, 2010, the Director of Human Resources met with Aldrich and offered him the option to undergo an investigation into what occurred with (Beach) or to resign. Aldrich chose to resign and signed a separation agreement during the meeting. No investigation was conducted. Aldrich received a severance and a playoff bonus, and continued to be paid a salary for several months. He was permitted to host the Stanley Cup for a day in his hometown, his name was engraved on the Stanley Cup, he received a championship ring, and he attended a Stanley Cup banner-raising ceremony at the United Center. He went on to have paid and unpaid positions with USA Hockey, the University of Notre Dame, Miami University in Ohio, and Houghton High School in Houghton, Michigan. While in Houghton, in 2013, Aldrich was arrested and pled guilty to fourth degree criminal sexual conduct involving a minor.»

John McDonough oversaw Business and Hockey operations at the time and in the report characterized him as an aggressive and direct, and was described by witnesses as controlling and wanting to be the final decision maker. But he let the hockey operations employee make the decisions.

While Stan Bowman would later learn of the incident, didn't view it as an alarming topic. As at the time, SA wasn't a topic attached to the subject at the time. He and McDonough discussed the issue at the time and were thought to handle it after the latest Stanley Cup playoffs, a feat not seen in 18 years at the time. Later discussions would lead Bowman to ask McDonough a timetable of when it would be handled, and find out more about what happened.

After all of Bowman and McDonough's discussions, McDonough told Bowman he would handle it and to focus on the Stanley Cup Finals instead.

«As a result, the Blackhawks' own sexual harassment policy � which required investigation of all reports of sexual harassment to be conducted �promptly and thoroughly' �was violated. The failure to promptly and thoroughly investigate the matter and the decision to take no action from May 23 to June 14 had consequences. During that period, Aldrich continued to work with and travel with the team. Aldrich engaged in an unwanted sexual advance on a Blackhawks intern � physically grabbing the intern in a sexual manner. And Aldrich continued to participate in team activities and celebrations, in the presence of (Beach).

«Even after the allegations were finally reported to the Director of Human Resources, still no investigation occurred, and Aldrich was permitted to resign his position and to continue participating in Stanley Cup victory events.»

Bowman would later resign as the NHL would fine the club, and McDonough, Jay Blunk, Bowman and Al MacIsaac would no longer be employed by the Blackhawks, after all of the fallout from the Beach investigation.

Sheldon Kennedy would show support for Bowman, after his reinstatement on July 18th, 2024.

«I've always believed that regardless of how dire a situation may be, there is always some good that can emerge from it. This (Kyle Beach) incident was no exception,» Kennedy said, noting that Al MacIsaac, Joel Quenneville, and Stan Bowman had all contacted him after their suspensions and «wanted to learn more about the issues of sexual abuse and the critical role of bystanders in confronting and addressing maltreatment effectively.»

It sounds as if Bowman has worked through his own issues, and his own culpability if this is the case. A resounding endorsement from a survivor is helpful when you're trying to regain your footing in the sport you love and while Bowman's response in 2010 should ultimately be cause for concern, it's important that he learned his lesson.

Source: Edmonton Journal
Should the Edmonton Oilers consider hiring Stan Bowman? The inside report on what went wrong in Chicago