Bill Smith/NHLI via Getty Images
Former Chicago Blackhawks skills coach
Paul Vincent provided details to investigators about the alleged
sexual abuse of players by former Hawks video coach Brad Aldrich
during an interview with the Jenner & Block law firm on Saturday.
Vincent provided a copy of his video interview with Jenner & Block, which was hired by the Blackhawks
to handle the investigation into allegations the NHL organization
attempted to cover up the alleged abuse, to TSN’s Rick Westhead.
He said defenseman Nick Boynton, who
played for the Hawks from 2009 through 2011, provided him with the
initial information in May 2010 and then he spoke with the two
alleged victims.
“They explain to me what happened,” Vincent said. “I didn’t need all the details. I knew that it was
wrong. They told me that [Aldrich] had tried to touch their penis,
wanted to touch their penis. That’s all I needed to know. I said,
‘It’s not my spot. I’m not a police officer anymore. I will go to the
proper people.'”
He said he passed the information to two other
team employees, sports psychologist James Gary and director of
security Brian Higgins, and was then summoned for a meeting with
several members of Chicago’s front office the following day.
Vincent told investigators president
John McDonough, general manager Stan Bowman, vice president of hockey
operations Al MacIsaac, Gary and one other individual he couldn’t recall were involved in the meeting, where he repeated the players’
allegations against Aldrich, per Westhead.
“I come in and Al MacIsaac says to
me, ‘What do you know?'” Vincent said. “I said, ‘The same thing I
told [Gary and Higgins].’ And with that, Al MacIsaac did most of the
speaking. He said, ‘We’ve got it handled. You are assuming something
happened and we’re going to look into it. You don’t need to look into
it anymore.'”
He also urged the executives to take
the information to the Chicago Police Department, but noted that
suggestion was pushed aside by MacIsaac.
“That’s when MacIsaac said, ‘You
don’t need to worry about this. We’ll take care of it…you can
leave now,'” Vincent said.
The Hawks allowed Aldrich to remain
with the organization for the remainder of the 2010 NHL playoffs,
which culminated with them winning the Stanley Cup in June of that
year, before he was fired.
Two lawsuits have been filed against
the organization.
One by a high school player who alleges
Chicago gave Aldrich a recommendation to coach at his high school
after he left the NHL team and the player was then sexually assaulted by
Aldrich in 2013. Aldrich was sentenced to nine months in jail and
five years of probation for that offense in 2014.
The other lawsuit was filed by one of
the former Hawks players who said he was sexually abused by Aldrich.
Chicago’s lawyers have asked the courts to dismiss
both of the lawsuits, per Westhead.
“We take this very seriously,”
Bowman, who remains the team’s GM, told reporters in July. “I take this very seriously. But we
have to let the process play itself out. That’s where things are
today. We’re going to let this play itself out.”
MacIsaac also remains in Chicago’s
front office. McDonough was fired in April 2020.
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