Kyle Beach, former Blackhawks prospect, reveals he is ‘John Doe’ suing the team over 2010 sexual assault allegation: ‘I felt alone and dark’
CHICAGO — As an independent report on the Chicago Blackhawks’ handling of a 2010 sexual assault allegation against a former video coach continued to send shockwaves through the hockey world Wednesday, the former player whose complaint was at the heart of the scandal revealed his identity in a televised interview.
Kyle Beach, a Blackhawks center prospect from 2009 to 2013, revealed himself as “John Doe,” the pseudonym used in a negligence lawsuit against the team, during an interview Wednesday evening on Canada’s The Sports Network.
Beach, 31, spoke to TSN’s Rick Westhead about the 2010 allegations he has made against former Blackhawks video coach Brad Aldrich, which are the basis of his lawsuit, as well as the bombshell review of events that Chicago law firm Jenner & Block made public Tuesday.
He told Westhead he felt “just a great feeling of relief and vindication, and it was no longer my word against everybody else’s. Because a lot of things were made public, a lot of people were interviewed, and I really felt like there was a lot of lies told in the media. And it was very special and important to me to have that truth come out yesterday.”
Beach choked back emotion describing how he felt shortly after the alleged May 2010 encounter with Aldrich.
“To be honest, I was scared mostly. I was fearful. I had my career threatened. I felt alone and dark,” he said. “And I didn’t know what to do as a 20-year-old. I would never dream, or you could never imagine being put in this situation by somebody who’s supposed to be there to help you and to make you a better hockey player and a better person and continue to build your career.”
He said the first person he told was former Hawks skills
