Three former Northwestern players have filed lawsuits against the school and former coach Pat Fitzgerald, alleging hazing and mistreatment within the football program, including the initial whistleblower who sparked an investigation into the claims.

Former linebacker Nathan Fox, who played for Northwestern from 2015 to 2019, and two men identified as John Doe filed the lawsuits in Cook County circuit court this week. Both Fox and the whistleblower, identified as John Doe 22, spoke with attorney Maggie Hickey, whom Northwestern hired to investigate John Doe 22’s allegations after they were first brought forward in late 2022.

Hickey’s investigation found that the player’s hazing allegations could largely be corroborated but that there was no evidence Fitzgerald and other coaches and staff members had knowledge of the incidents. After Hickey’s investigation concluded, Northwestern suspended Fitzgerald for two weeks without pay. The whistleblower then went public with his allegations in the Daily Northwestern campus newspaper, and Northwestern president Michael Schill fired Fitzgerald two days later.

Fitzgerald in October filed a $130 million wrongful termination lawsuit against Schill and the school. His case is set for trial in 2025. A total of 25 former players have filed lawsuits against Northwestern, alleging hazing and other mistreatment.

Fox’s lawsuit outlines many of the hazing allegations from previous filings, including “running” and other sexualized acts, many of which allegedly took place during the team’s preseason training camp in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He said he reported his experiences to six Northwestern staff members, including a therapist in 2018 who had him sign an agreement allowing her to share his allegations with the athletic training staff. Fox said that shortly after, Fitzgerald chastised him in a team meeting for complaining of unfair treatment. Fox said an athletic trainer also called him out.

The lawsuit also states another Northwestern psychologist, upon hearing of Fox’s hazing allegations, told him they weren’t real and stemmed from a diagnosis of bipolar disorder that Fox has never received. Fox said the psychologist prescribed him medication that led to him contemplating suicide.

According to the lawsuit, he did not report the allegations directly to the coaching staff because of fear of retaliation, and went to Hickey upon learning of the hazing investigation into Northwestern football.

The plaintiffs are seeking damages in excess of $50,000. Northwestern is not commenting on pending litigation against the school.

“It is abundantly clear to us that numerous staff members knew about the violent sexual hazing and emotional abuse that was occurring under Northwestern’s watch,” attorney Margaret Battersby Black, whose firm is representing several plaintiffs, said in a statement. “Employees were told about the abusive hazing by some of the players including Nathan Fox, who brought the abuse to their attention years before the Maggie Hickey investigation. Instead of doing the right thing and reporting the abuse or taking steps to stop it, those who knew either ignored it or retaliated against those who came forward.”

More lawsuits from former players are expected to be filed against Northwestern in the coming days.

VANCOUVER — There were questions, and the Edmonton Oilers certainly had answers about how they lost a three-goal lead in Wednesday night’s 5-4 loss to the Vancouver Canucks in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals.

Especially when the Oilers’ latest loss dropped them to 0-5 against the Canucks in the regular season and the playoffs combined. Even while facing questions about what went wrong, the Oilers remained steadfast about their Game 1 performance and why the series is far from over after just one game.

“I thought we gave them this one, and I think we know that it’s going to be a long series,” Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner said. “That’s how the playoffs are — you got to win four in order to keep it going. They’re up one right now, and we know that we can beat these guys. They beat us five games this year, but that gives us a lot of fire for ourselves to try to come back and get back in the series right away.”

Edmonton took a 2-0 lead on a pair of first-period goals from Zach Hyman and Mattias Ekholm. The Canucks cut the lead in half in the second period when Dakota Joshua scored 53 seconds into the frame, only to see Cody Ceci and Hyman push the lead to 4-1 with 6:49 remaining in the second.

So how did the Oilers go from having a firm lead to eventually losing their grip?

Canucks center Elias Lindholm was at the goal line when he flicked a puck on net that appeared to have been deflected as it slipped beyond Skinner, making the score 4-2 with 2:59 left in the second.

With a little more than 10 minutes left in the third period, Canucks forward Brock Boeser played a pass to J.T. Miller that saw the puck go off his stick and past Skinner to cut the lead to 4-3.

Four minutes later, Canucks forward Teddy Blueger played a back pass to Nikita Zadorov, with the hulking defenseman launching a slap shot that beat Skinner to tie the score at 4-4 with 6:13 left.

Then came the goal that allowed the Canucks to complete the comeback, causing Rogers Arena to go from library quiet to deafeningly loud.

Vancouver had just won a faceoff in its own zone when Zadorov played an outlet pass from behind the net to Joshua. He held the puck for less than two seconds at center ice, which freed Conor Garland to fake a shot before firing an actual attempt a second later that sailed past Skinner for a 5-4 lead with 5:35 remaining.

Garland’s goal also underlined how the Canucks, after struggling to find their footing, outshot the Oilers 19-7 between the second and third periods.

“It’s something we’ll have to learn from a little bit,” Ekholm said. “When they score, it’s all about that next shift. They’re going to score. It’s not like we’re going to keep them to nothing. At the end of the day, we let them get three goals and put ourselves in a tough spot. Up until that point, we were in a really great spot, but we kind of gave it away, so that’s the disappointing part.”

Ekholm also said he thought quite a few of the Canucks’ goals were not due to the Oilers having a breakdown in their system. Natural Stat Trick’s metrics showed that while the Canucks had 10 high-danger chances, they had only one in 5-on-5 play in the third period while having a shot share of 42.1%.

Oilers star center and captain Connor McDavid echoed that sentiment.

“I thought they were strange goals all around,” McDavid said. “We’ve scored some strange ones, too. In kind of a frantic game, you’re going to get that. Definitely some weird ones, some preventable ones, too. Overall, I didn’t mind our game.”

Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said his team was a little too passive.

But did Knoblauch agree with his players that the system worked but didn’t get the desired results?

“There’s always things you can adjust,” Knoblauch said. “There’s going to be mistakes. … The players have to read and react. I thought they were in pretty good positions, and we didn’t have any major breakdowns.”

Boston and Florida turned up the heat in Game 2 of their second-round Stanley Cup playoff series on Wednesday with a heavyweight bout between stars Matthew Tkachuk and David Pastrnak.

The visiting Bruins — who entered with a 1-0 series lead — were trailing 6-1 with just over seven minutes remaining in the third period when top winger Pastrnak and Panthers forward Tkachuk dropped the gloves in an uncharacteristic fight that Pastrnak was ready to accept when Tkachuk agreed to the challenge.

“I’m not afraid of him, to be honest,” Pastrnak said. “I can take a punch.”

The fisticuffs actually appeared to be approved by Bruins coach Jim Montgomery. Cameras showed Montgomery seemingly giving Pastrnak the nod to mix it up with Tkachuk shortly before the two went after one another.

Montgomery denied he offered explicit permission, but he wasn’t upset over Pastrnak getting physical in the Bruins’ eventual 6-1 loss that tied the series as it moves to Boston for Game 3 on Friday.

“I’m really proud of Pasta,” Montgomery said. “He just went out there and fought. You like your hockey players to be competitors.”

What Montgomery didn’t appreciate was the added hits he thought Tkachuk got in as Pastrnak went to the ice.

“That’s not part of the game to me,” Montgomery said.

For his part, Florida coach Paul Maurice felt the scrap was a positive.

“I thought it was awesome,” Maurice said.

Both Tkachuk and Pastrnak received penalties for fighting and a game misconduct. But as Pastrnak blatantly admitted after the final whistle, “The game was over.”

It was a difficult night all around for Boston, which sustained its most lopsided loss of the postseason. The Bruins started well, with Charlie Coyle offering them a 1-0 lead through 20 minutes. But it was all Florida from there, as the Panthers scored six unanswered goals to secure their first victory of the series.

Boston had been enjoying sensational goaltending by Jeremy Swayman throughout the playoffs — he entered Game 2 with a 5-2 record, .955 save percentage and 1.42 goals against average — but Montgomery pulled Swayman early in the third after he allowed the fourth Panthers goal. Swayman, who hadn’t given up more than two goals in a playoff contest to that point, was replaced by Linus Ullmark in his first action since Game 2 of Boston’s first-round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Montgomery didn’t think the downturn had to do with Swayman, though, as much as the Bruins having played their starter in six of seven games through a first-round series that ended Saturday and again in Monday’s Game 1 — during which Swayman was exceptional in making 38 stops in the win.

“The workload played into our effort tonight,” Montgomery said. “We didn’t have juice tonight. Swayman was terrific. I thought about taking him out at 3-1, and then when the fourth goal went in, I was like, ‘I’m taking him out now.'”

Ullmark finished with eight saves on 10 shots to Swayman’s 19 stops of 23 shots.

It has been the Bruins’ habit not to announce a starting goaltender prior to games in the postseason. It’s unlikely Montgomery will break with tradition prior to Game 3.