Subhojeet Mukherjee on October 29, 2021
Florida Panthers head coach Joel Quenneville has decided to take a drastic measure recently. He resigned as head coach of the team. This took place after he admitted to have been involved in the handling of sexual abuse allegations during his time as the Chicago Blackhawks coach.
The NHL announced Joel Quenneville’s resignation on Thursday. It was said that he had a meeting with league commissioner Gary Bettman. After the meeting, it was agreed upon that he should step down as the head coach.
“All parties agreed that it was no longer appropriate that he continue to serve as Florida’s head coach,” Bettman said in a statement.
“We thank the Panthers’ organization for working with us to ensure that a thorough process was followed.”
Quenneville was the coach of the Blackhawks in 2010. During that time, a player by the name of Kyle Beach claimed that he was sexually assaulted by the team’s video coach. As stated in a civil suit, Baech claimed that the coach, Brad Aldrich, told Beach he would not play in the NHL if he did not reciprocate the coach’s sexual advances.
Beach alleged that he was forced to engage in a sexual encounter with the man. Aldrich has not denied having a relationship with Beach but claimed it was consensual in nature. Bettman fined the Blackhawks $2 million last week and said that it was a “direct and necessary response to the failure of the Club to follow-up and address the 2010 incident in a timely and appropriate manner.”
As revealed by the NHL’s investigation, Quenneville did have knowledge of Beach’s claims at the time. This was damning evidence as he had previously denied knowing about the allegations until this year.
“I want to express my sorrow for the pain this young man, Kyle Beach, has suffered. My former team, the Blackhawks, failed Kyle and I own my share of that,” Quenneville said in a statement. “I want to reflect on how all of this happened and take the time to educate myself on ensuring hockey spaces are safe for everyone.”
Beach took to Twitter recently and stated that he is healing and is grateful for all of the support he’s received this week amid the news of the scandal. He ended it by saying the Blackhawks are still trying “to destroy my case in court.” We will keep you updated on this ongoing case.
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October 29, 2021 10:29 am
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