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LONDON, Ontario — The London Police Service cited a discovery of new evidence for reopening an investigation into an alleged sexual assault involving five players from Canada’s 2018 World Junior hockey team.

Chief Thai Truong and Detective Sgt. Katherine Dann of the LPS’s Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Section met with the media Monday to provide details on where the case stands after charges were formally laid nearly six years after the original complaint in June 2018.

Truong confirmed that Philadelphia’s Carter Hart, Calgary’s Dillon Dube, New Jersey’s Cal Foote and Michael McLeod, and former Ottawa Senator Alex Formenton (who has played recently in Switzerland) surrendered to London police over the past week to be charged with sexual assault. Hart, Dube, Foote and Formenton were each charged with a count of sexual assault, and McLeod faced a second charge of “being a party to the offense.”

In his opening remarks, Truong said there were “insufficient grounds” after the first investigation to bring charges in the case, which was closed in February 2019. He then apologized to the woman who filed the original complaint that it “took so long to reach this point” and said she had fully cooperated with police from the start of their inquiries.

“I want to extend on behalf of the London Police service my sincerest apology to the victim, to her family for the amount of time that it has taken to reach this point,” Truong said.

“This should not take this long. It shouldn’t take years and years for us to arrive to the outcome of today,” he added. “But I can assure you, I am confident, confident that this will not happen again.”

Neither Truong nor Dann spearheaded the first investigation, but Dann was asked to launch a new inquest in July 2022.

“Upon review of the [initial] occurrence, it was determined that there were additional steps that could be taken to advance the investigation,” Dann said. “When the case was reopened in 2022, our team explored investigative opportunities in addition to the [original] team investigation. Those leads were followed, and additional witnesses were spoken to, and we collected more evidence.”

Dann also read a statement from the woman’s representatives, stating that, “It takes an incredible amount of courage for any survivor of sexual assault to report to the police and participate in the criminal justice system. That is certainly true for E.M. Yet she remains committed to seeing this process through. We simply ask that the media and others respect her privacy and her dignity as this matter proceeds through the court process.”

The woman has been identified only as E.M. in court documents.

Truong said the London Police were encouraged to reexplore the case in part based on the local community facilitating those new leads. He would not answer whether the newly found evidence was available to the investigators in 2018 or was entirely fresh.

“This is one investigation, not two,” Truong said, “with the evidence that was collected in 2018 and 2019 used in combination with newly gathered evidence to form reasonable probable grounds to charge these five individuals with sexual assault.”

Truong refused to explain why it took six years for the London Police to bring these charges.

“Why it took so long will form part of the proceedings,” Truong said.

The alleged sexual assault took place on June 18, 2018, after a Hockey Canada banquet in London that featured players from Canada’s gold medal World Junior hockey team. Both Hockey Canada — the sport’s national governing body — and the London police were informed of the alleged incident when it occurred, and both entities launched investigations. Hockey Canada closed its inquiry in September 2020.

The woman subsequently filed a $3.55 million lawsuit in April 2022 against Hockey Canada and eight players she said to be involved; Hockey Canada quickly reached an out-of-court settlement with the woman, details of which were never made public.

In her court filing, the victim referenced being allegedly assaulted by eight individuals. Only five individuals have been charged, and there is no indication any more charges will be brought.

“We have laid changes for all the parties that we have reasonable grounds for,” Dann said. “We had varying levels of participation [in speaking with other members of the 2018 world junior team], but I won’t provide specifics on who cooperated.”

Dann did clarify that McLeod is facing a second charge related to the behavior of someone else involved in the alleged assault. She also said there has been no contact between her department and the NHL over the last several months.

Both Truong and Dann repeatedly assured the public it would provide more answers on the case after judicial proceedings were completed.

The assault case has now been adjourned until April 30 following a video conference on Monday with a justice of the peace and lawyers representing the accused. None of the players were present for Monday’s meeting, where no charges were read and no pleas were entered.

Lawyers for each of the accused previously released statements stating their clients would defend themselves against the allegations.

During Monday’s hearing, prosecutors obtained an order protecting the identity of the woman and of two witnesses in the case. Assistant Crown attorney Heather Donkers also told lawyers they would receive “substantial disclosure” from London Police over the next few days.

The NHL did not learn about the alleged incident until May 2022, and did its own investigation into the matter thereafter. League commissioner Gary Bettman told reporters on Friday that the NHL spoke with every player from the 2018 World Junior team as part of their work, but the woman involved in the case refused to speak with them. Bettman said the NHL will not release their findings until after the criminal court proceedings have finished.

All five players who were charged took leaves of absence from their respective teams last month after London police ordered their surrender. They, along with all 22 members of Canada’s 2018 team, were suspended from Hockey Canada activities on March 23, 2023. That ban will remain in place until Hockey Canada’s investigation into the alleged sexual assault is completed. The findings are currently under appeal.

The Devils, Flyers and Flames will all receive salary cap relief for their respective players, an NHL source told ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski on Monday. Bettman said Dube, Foote, Hart and McLeod are all still being paid while away from their teams and didn’t anticipate they would be suspended without pay or have their contracts terminated before the end of the season, when all four become restricted free agents.

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Stanton won’t blame ailing elbows on torpedo bats

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Stanton won't blame ailing elbows on torpedo bats

NEW YORK — Giancarlo Stanton, one of the first known adopters of the torpedo bat, declined Tuesday to say whether he believes using it last season caused the tendon ailments in both elbows that forced him to begin this season on the injured list.

Last month, Stanton alluded to “bat adjustments” he made last season as a possible reason for the epicondylitis, commonly known as tennis elbow, he’s dealing with.

“You’re not going to get the story you’re looking for,” Stanton said. “So, if that’s what you guys want, that ain’t going to happen.”

Stanton said he will continue using the torpedo bat when he returns from injury. The 35-year-old New York Yankees slugger, who has undergone multiple rounds of platelet-rich plasma injections to treat his elbows, shared during spring training that season-ending surgery on both elbows was a possibility. But he has progressed enough to recently begin hitting off a Trajekt — a pitching robot that simulates any pitcher’s windup, arm angle and arsenal. However, he still wouldn’t define his return as “close.”

He said he will first have to go on a minor league rehab assignment at an unknown date for an unknown period. It won’t start in the next week, he added.

“This is very unique,” Stanton said. “I definitely haven’t missed a full spring before. So, it just depends on my timing, really, how fast I get to feel comfortable in the box versus live pitching.”

While the craze of the torpedo bat (also known as the bowling pin bat) has swept the baseball world since it was revealed Saturday — while the Yankees were blasting nine home runs against the Milwaukee Brewers — that a few members of the Yankees were using one, the modified bat already had quietly spread throughout the majors in 2024. Both Stanton and former Yankees catcher Jose Trevino, now with the Cincinnati Reds, were among players who used the bats last season after being introduced to the concept by Aaron Leanhardt, an MIT-educated physicist and former minor league hitting coordinator for the organization.

Anthony Volpe, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Cody Bellinger, Paul Goldschmidt and Austin Wells were among the Yankees who used torpedo bats during their season-opening sweep of the Brewers.

Stanton explained he has changed bats before. He said he has usually adjusted the length. Sometimes, he opts for lighter bats at the end of the long season. In the past, when knuckleballers were more common in the majors, he’d opt for heavier lumber.

Last year, he said he simply chose his usual bat but with a different barrel after experimenting with a few models.

“I mean, it makes a lot of sense,” Stanton said. “But it’s, like, why hasn’t anyone thought of it in 100-plus years? So, it’s explained simply and then you try it and as long as it’s comfortable in your hands [it works]. We’re creatures of habit, so the bat’s got to feel kind of like a glove or an extension of your arm.”

Stanton went on to lead the majors with an average bat velocity of 81.2 mph — nearly 3 mph ahead of the competition. He had a rebound, but not spectacular, regular season in which he batted .233 with 27 home runs and a .773 OPS before clubbing seven home runs in 14 playoff games.

“It’s not like [it was] unreal all of a sudden for me,” Stanton said.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone described the torpedo bats “as the evolution of equipment” comparable to getting fitted for new golf clubs. He said the organization is not pushing players to use them and insisted the science is more complicated than just picking a bat with a different barrel.

“There’s a lot more to it than, ‘I’ll take the torpedo bat on the shelf over there — 34 [inches], 32 [ounces],'” Boone said. “Our guys are way more invested in it than that. And really personalized, really work with our players in creating this stuff. But it’s equipment evolving.”

As players around the majors order torpedo bats in droves after the Yankees’ barrage over the weekend — they clubbed a record-tying 13 homers in two games against the Brewers — Boone alluded to the notion that, though everyone is aware of the concept, not every organization can optimize its usage.

“You’re trying to just, where you can on the margins, move the needle a little bit,” Boone said. “And that’s really all you’re going to do. I don’t think this is some revelation to where we’re going to be; it’s not related to the weekend that we had, for example. Like, I don’t think it’s that. Maybe in some cases, for some players, it may help them incrementally. That’s how I view it.”

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Rangers’ Eovaldi gets season’s 1st complete game

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Rangers' Eovaldi gets season's 1st complete game

CINCINNATI — Nathan Eovaldi pitched a four-hitter for the majors’ first complete game of the season, and the Texas Rangers blanked the Cincinnati Reds 1-0 on Tuesday night.

Eovaldi struck out eight and walked none in his fifth career complete game. The right-hander threw 99 pitches, 70 for strikes.

It was Eovaldi’s first shutout since April 29, 2023, against the Yankees and just the third of his career. He became the first Ranger with multiple career shutouts with no walks in the past 30 seasons, according to ESPN Research.

“I feel like, by the fifth or sixth inning, that my pitch count was down, and I feel like we had a really good game plan going into it,” Eovaldi said in his on-field postgame interview on Victory+. “I thought [Texas catcher Kyle Higashioka] called a great game. We were on the same page throughout the entire game.”

In the first inning, Wyatt Langford homered for Texas against Carson Spiers (0-1), and that proved to be all Eovaldi needed. A day after Cincinnati collected 14 hits in a 14-3 victory in the series opener, Eovaldi (1-0) silenced the lineup.

“We needed it, these bats are still quiet,” Texas manager Bruce Bochy said of his starter’s outing. “It took a well-pitched game like that. What a game.”

The Reds put the tying run on second with two out in the ninth, but Eovaldi retired Elly De La Cruz on a grounder to first.

“He’s as good as I have seen as far as a pitcher performing under pressure,” Bochy said. “He is so good. He’s a pro out there. He wants to be out there.”

Eovaldi retired his first 12 batters, including five straight strikeouts during one stretch. Gavin Lux hit a leadoff single in the fifth for Cincinnati’s first baserunner.

“I think it was the first-pitch strikes,” Eovaldi said, when asked what made him so efficient. “But also, the off-speed pitches. I was able to get some quick outs, and I didn’t really have many deep counts. … And not walking guys helps.”

Spiers gave up three hits in six innings in his season debut. He struck out five and walked two for the Reds, who fell to 2-3.

The Rangers moved to 4-2, and Langford has been at the center of it all. He now has two home runs in six games to begin the season. In 2024, it took him until the 29th game of the season to homer for the first time. Langford hit 16 homers in 134 games last season during his rookie year.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Source: USC flips Ducks’ Topui, No. 3 DT in 2026

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Source: USC flips Ducks' Topui, No. 3 DT in 2026

USC secured the commitment of former Oregon defensive tackle pledge Tomuhini Topui on Tuesday, a source told ESPN, handing the Trojans their latest recruiting victory in the 2026 cycle over the Big Ten rival Ducks.

Topui, ESPN’s No. 3 defensive tackle and No. 72 overall recruit in the 2026 class, spent five and half months committed to Oregon before pulling his pledge from the program on March 27. Topui attended USC’s initial spring camp practice that afternoon, and seven days later the 6-foot-4, 295-pound defender gave the Trojans his pledge to become the sixth ESPN 300 defender in the program’s 2026 class.

Topui’s commitment gives USC its 10th ESPN 300 pledge this cycle — more than any other program nationally — and pulls a fourth top-100 recruit into the impressive defensive class the Trojans are building this spring. Alongside Topui, USC’s defensive class includes in-state cornerbacks R.J. Sermons (No. 26 in ESPN Junior 300) and Brandon Lockhart (No. 77); four-star outside linebacker Xavier Griffin (No. 27) out of Gainesville, Georgia; and two more defensive line pledges between Jaimeon Winfield (No. 143) and Simote Katoanga (No. 174).

The Trojans are working to reestablish their local recruiting presence in the 2026 class under newly hired general manager Chad Bowden. Topui not only gives the Trojans their 11th in-state commit in the cycle, but his pledge represents a potentially important step toward revamping the program’s pipeline to perennial local powerhouse Mater Dei High School, too.

Topui will enter his senior season this fall at Mater Dei, the program that has produced a long line of USC stars including Matt Leinart, Matt Barkley and Amon-Ra St. Brown. However, if Topui ultimately signs with the program later this year, he’ll mark the Trojans’ first Mater Dei signee since the 2022 cycle, when USC pulled three top-300 prospects — Domani Jackson, Raleek Brown and C.J. Williams — from the high school program based in Santa Ana, California.

Topui’s flip to the Trojans also adds another layer to a recruiting rivalry rekindling between USC and Oregon in the 2026 cycle.

Tuesday’s commitment comes less than two months after coach Lincoln Riley and the Trojans flipped four-star Oregon quarterback pledge Jonas Williams, ESPN’s No. 2 dual-threat quarterback in 2026. USC is expected to continue targeting several Ducks commits this spring, including four-star offensive tackle Kodi Greene, another top prospect out of Mater Dei.

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