Jordin Tootoo’s name began making waves online when an excerpt from his book, “All The Way: My Life on Ice,” was connected to new sexual assault allegations against members of the 2002-03 national junior Canadian team at the 2003 IIHF World Junior Championship.
The allegations involve a group sexual assault committed by members of that team, for which Tootoo played, broken by Rick Westhead of TSN/CTV National News.
The details of the alleged assault were “deeply disturbing” according to a Hockey Canada statement released Friday, July 22.
“Mr. Westhead informed Hockey Canada he has spoken to multiple witnesses who provided him with explicit descriptions of an assault,” wrote Hockey Canada’s statement.
Tootoo’s book has an excerpt that quotes as follows: “But frick, we were just kids back then. The **** that we did… . We were horny young men. We were in Halifax and we had every goddamned girl hitting on us. What are you going to do? Let’s start slaying these broads. And it wasn’t just one-on one action. A few of the guys would get a couple of girls after practice and head into one of the rooms. Enough said.”
Social media users began speculating about Tootoo’s quote in regards to the allegations, asking him about it on his social media accounts.
The Rankin Inlet-born NHL star released a statement Saturday, July 23.
“I join the community in calling for a full investigation into disturbing allegations that surfaced involving members of the 2003 Canadian World Junior Hockey Team,” reads Tootoo’s statement, posted on his social media Saturday, July 23.
“My book chronicles many experiences from the tournament when I was age 19, as well as my journey with alcohol addiction, which started at age 14. If I am being totally honest with myself and you, I don’t recall knowing or hearing about the incident in question during or after the tournament. I was shocked when I heard about it in the media and will cooperate fully with any investigation.”
