A judge has found five members of the 2018 Canadian World Junior players not guilty on charges of sexual assault.

The five players, Dillon Dube, Cal Foote, Alex Formenton, Carter Hart and Michael McLeod were accused of an alleged sexual assault in London, Ontario, following a June 2018 ceremony to celebrate a Gold Medal win months earlier.

All faced one charge of sexual assault, while McLeod had faced two charges.

The ruling came down Thursday morning in a London court, where Justice Maria Carroccia found the complainant, known only as E.M. due to a publication ban, to not be “credible or reliable.” She added “The Crown cannot meet the onus of any of the counts before me,” and that “in this case, I have found actual consent not vitiated by fear.”

E.M. filed a lawsuit in court in April 2022, seeking $3.55-million in damages from Hockey Canada, the Canadian Hockey League and eight unnamed players. Hockey Canada settled the lawsuit a month later for an undisclosed amount outside of court. The lawsuit would reveal Hockey Canada having multiple funds, drawing from registration fees, to pay for sexual assault claims and other lawsuits.

All five players pled not guilty in the trial that began on April 22nd. The trial saw two sets of juries dismissed in the trial after jurors complained about the defence counsel’s behaviour. The first were dismissed by Justice Carroccia due to alleged improper communications between one of the defence attorneys and a juror on a lunch break, while the second were dismissed “because the jurors felt a bias toward the defence lawyers after claiming they insulted the jurors in court,” according to Daily Faceoff.

The players were all active in the NHL as recently as the 2023-24 season, with Formenton having last played in 2022. Dube and McLeod spent last season in the KHL, while Foote played in Slovakia. Formenton and Hart haven’t played since the charges were laid in January 2024.

Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s associate editor, senior columnist, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on Twitter, currently known as X, at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.