2025 Showdown: Hockey Stars' Sexual Assault Trial in the Spotlight!

Justice Delayed: The Hockey Trial Saga Continues

Given the latest courtroom timeline revelations, it's looking like the much-anticipated jury trial of five former Team Canada junior hockey champs won't kick off until 2025. That's right, folks—the courtroom drama unfolded practically before our eyes during a brisk 11-minute virtual huddle, where judicial top brass, including Justice Alissa Mitchell, green-lit a three-week-long series of pre-trial motions starting this November 25. If the show goes the distance, it wraps on December 13.

But why the stall? Nicolas Lust, legal eagle from Ottawa with a rep for handling hot-button sexual assault cases, spills the tea. He's not on the bench for this game but is confident enough to drop a prediction: May court dates mean zilch if December's motions play out in full.

Legal Playbook: The Off-Ice Strategy Session

Stepping into this legal rink, we've got Alex Formenton, Carter Hart, Dillon Dubé, Michael McLeod, and Cal Foote—all slapped with charges by London's finest over an alleged 2018 incident. McLeod's looking at a double minor with a duo of charges. All this fuss over something that supposedly went down in a Delta London Armouries Hotel room, right after these ice gladiators basked in the glow of their world junior gold.

Each lawyer's got their own move to make, and with a pending pre-trial meet-up on April 16, it's all about scooping up more evidence. That's the game plan, at least. And those pre-trial motions that everyone's tight-lipped about? Justice Mitchell's playing ref, signaling attorneys to get 'em in by October's end. Robichaud, another heavyweight in the Toronto law scene, echoes Lust, hinting we might see a play for evidence that's pretty personal for the complainant—think texts, medical records—the stuff that's off-limits without the judge's go-ahead.

For the five players, it's time off the ice—exits from their teams and a looming free agent status come July 1. NHL head honcho Bettman chimes in with the tough love: better to hit the defense hard in court than skate on team ice, especially with those legal clouds hanging over the rink.