Chicago Blackhawks report is out and beyond damning

Why?  Why on earth would an organization both enable the abuse of it's own players and then enable the abuser to go fuck up some innocent kids.

What possible reason could there be to protect this scum and then help him hurt more people?

I dont get it.  At ALL.

I can go to ESPN if I want to read this, I come here to get away from this shit.

Ask anyone whose had to be involved in these kinds of things... it ain't easy.

You have an employee who EMPHATICALLY claims that it was consensual, and people coming out of the wood work in support of him and sometimes leveling veiled threats at YOU if you "come after their guy."  

You have "allegations" and "claims" made by folks who, for obvious (and sometimes not-so-obvious) reasons, are more willing to "insinuate" than directly accuse, and aren't willing to go on record or have specific, DIRECT, conversations.  One, maybe two, are willing to speak openly, but then their stories don't always add up, or make sense, or match what someone else is saying (memory is a funny thing).  Plus, you're never quite sure, when the going gets tough, if they're going to bail on the whole thing (and you can't blame them if they do). 

Often, the people who are most willing to speak aren't the victims themselves but people close to them... which... not as helpful as you think.

Imagine being an employer who commits to not only terminating someone for conduct like this, but also commits to publicly disclosing the allegations in order to protect future potential victims.  You're talking about destroying a person's life, over something that wasn't personally witnessed by anyone in authority.  You need A LOT backing you up.  

By the time you're on your third or fourth conversation with the employee, they've lawyered up.    The lawyer tells you to either provide substantial proof or let it go... OR get your ass sued.  

Meanwhile you're working with YOUR lawyers.  They remind you of the way our justice system works; you have to substantiate the claims, and they look at what you have, which if true are horrible, but are never *quiiite* as solid as the case law suggests they need to be in order to shield you from all the grief this employee and his lawyer will bring down upon you should continue down this path.  You pay thousands of dollars for a legal opinion that puts your odds of coming out of the situation as the "justified party" at less than 50%.  *Might* win, depending on if this goes right, or that goes right... *might* lose if you get the wrong judge, or the wobbly witness retracts their statement, or something you never could have possibly known about a key figure suddenly comes to light... meanwhile the higher ups just want this thing over.  They have a business to run. 

In the end, the employment situation is untenable; who wants a guy like THAT working for them?  Who wants to work for an employer that would believe THAT OTHER PERSON over THEM?  And you part ways.  Now the best you can hope for is that the employee is willing to walk away without demanding some kind of payoff to do so.  AND, you can't provide a negative reference for all of the reasons noted above.  

We all *think* we want a justice system that believes the alleged victims by default, until you're the person being accused of something.  

I didn't see the section on the 2005 allegations prior to hiring, what's the page number on that? (That's an actual question - not being a jerk)

Can't really imagine remaining a Blackhawks fan after this. We had a small moment where it seemed like we were a great franchise after decades of bullshit ownership only to find out they were tainted the entire way, and the guy calling the shots was directly responsible for it. Just don't have words really. 

Are people actually bringing up Happy Valley, East Lansing, and Columbus like Ann Arbor doesn’t exist? Good lord, why is objectivity so difficult for human beings? Unfortunately as we’re finding out, this type of disgusting behavior has occurred everywhere and the sooner the world learns that enabling and ignoring it is unacceptable the better.

What the fuck! Seriously! Everyone else who is scattered around the league needs to be fired as well, especially Coach Q.

The fact that USA Hockey hasn’t fired Stan Bowman yet is ridiculous!

Wait wait wait:

OP specifically says that the video coach "had troubling allegations regarding sexual assault of minors already on file when they hired him."  I've read the whole thing and I can't find mention of this.

OP also says "they gave him a positive referral to coach in Michigan after they decided they couldn't keep him on any longer."  But the report specifically says:

None of the witnesses we interviewed recalled anyone at the Blackhawks providing a written or verbal reference for Aldrich to his future employers. When interviewed, Aldrich stated that he did not list any Blackhawks employees as references on job applications, nor did he ask anyone from the Blackhawks to vouch for him or make any calls on his behalf.
 

and also:

Houghton High School reported to us that they identified no records reflecting a reference provided for Aldrich by the Blackhawks. The head hockey coach at Houghton High School told us that Aldrich did not formally apply for volunteer hockey coaching positions in 2010 and 2012. The head coach explained that Aldrich’s uncle, who was the assistant coach in 2010, had told the head coach that Aldrich was not working and asked if the team could help Aldrich. In 2012, the team re-hired Aldrich as a volunteer based on his work as a volunteer in 2010. The head coach said that he did not contact the Blackhawks about Aldrich at any time.

Very convenient that Patrick Kane but mainly Jonathan Toews were placed on Covid protocol today. Toews, the captain of that team, has some real questions coming his way that need to be answered. 

Reading the report, it seems it's almost impossible to figure out what actually happened as there appear to be like 8 different versions of what happened. I doubt you would have been able to find a prosecutor willing to charge Aldrich with a crime at the time because of all the inaccuracies and uncertainties about details (which are a gift any half competent defense attorney would be happy to accept).

That said, the one thing that's obvious is that Aldrich acted inappropriately to a very notable degree, and needed to be fired and shouldn't work in hockey at any level (but especially junior) again. It's obvious that he thought of his job as an easy way to find sexual partners, and was trying to use his position to make a positive outcome of his advances more likely.

The number one problem I see in the Hawks' response is that they sat on it for 3 weeks during the Finals and didn't do anything to ensure he stops his behavior in that time window. Less serious but also an issue is their willingness to allow Aldrich give the impression that his departure from the Hawks was on agreeable terms by letting Aldrich be a part of Cup celebrations, having a ring, a day with the Cup etc.

WTF? 11 years later?

Coverups galore.