One of five hockey players accused of sexually assaulting a woman inside a London, Ont., hotel room asked some of his teammates for advice before heading toward the bathroom with her, another player testified Tuesday.
Alex Formenton made a comment along the lines of “should I be doing this?” to a few of the other players in the room as he and the woman were on their way, Brett Howden told the court.
The woman had been asking the men in the room to have sex with her but no one was taking her up on it, he testified, though two — Carter Hart and Michael McLeod — received oral sex.
Howden said he didn't remember how the woman and Formenton ended up together or if anyone answered Formenton directly.
"Everyone kind of just left it up to him,” said Howden, who currently plays in the NHL for the Vegas Golden Knights. “No one was telling him not to do it because it seemed like she was excited that she was taking him to the bathroom.”
No one spoke to the woman, who was next to Formenton, Howden said, nor could he remember if she said anything.
Formenton, McLeod, Hart and their former teammates Dillon Dube and Callan Foote have pleaded not guilty to sexual assault in connection with an encounter that took place in the early hours of June 19, 2018. McLeod has also pleaded not guilty to an additional charge of being a party to the offence of sexual assault.
All of the accused were members of Canada's 2018 world junior hockey team, and the events that are the focus of the trial took place as many on that year's roster were in London for a gala celebrating their championship win.
CAUTION: The following paragraphs contain graphic content some readers may find disturbing.
Prosecutors allege McLeod, Hart and Dube obtained oral sex from the woman without her consent, and Dube slapped her buttocks while she was engaged in a sexual act with someone else.
Foote is accused of doing the splits over her face and grazing his genitals on it without her consent. Formenton is alleged to have had vaginal sex with the complainant without her consent inside the bathroom.
The woman met a group of men including McLeod at a downtown bar where she was drinking with co-workers, she has testified.
She and McLeod left the bar together and went back to his hotel room, where they had sex, she said. That encounter is not part of the trial.
Afterward, a number of men came into the room while the woman was still naked, the complainant testified. She was drunk and scared, and felt she had no choice but to go along with what they wanted, she said. The woman engaged in sexual acts while on "autopilot," she said.
Defence lawyers have suggested the woman instead actively participated in and even initiated the sexual activity, asking the men if anyone would have sex with her and at times taunting them.
The woman, who cannot be identified under a publication ban, maintains she doesn't remember saying such things, and if she did, that would be an indication that she was out of her mind from intoxication.
Formenton's lawyer, Daniel Brown, suggested last week the woman pulled his client into the bathroom to have sex after he said he didn't want to do it in front of the others.
The woman, meanwhile, described someone following her when she got up to go to the bathroom, and said she resigned herself that sex was going to happen.
Howden told the court Tuesday he went to McLeod's room because he wanted to get food and ended up hanging out there with some of the players. He was surprised to see a woman, he said, adding no one had mentioned that possibility earlier.
He saw Hart and McLeod receive oral sex and saw Formenton and the woman walk toward the bathroom, though he didn't remember seeing them go inside. He also mentioned Dube "spanking the girl on the butt," but didn't remember seeing it himself.
The situation was uncomfortable, and Howden left soon after, he said.
Prosecutors asked Howden about texts he sent in a team group chat about a week later, after the players learned Hockey Canada was looking into the encounter. A recent change in phone numbers meant that he hadn't previously been part of the chat, but was added in, he said.
In one message, he said: “All we have to say is ‘someone brought the girl back to the room. We were all in there ordering food and then this girl started begging from everyone to have sex with her. Nobody would do it. But then as time went on she gave 3 guys head. Once things started to get out of hand we all left and got her out."
That was followed by another message asking "yeah or no," and another player, Maxime Comptois, replied "sounds good to me."
Howden said Tuesday he didn't know why he asked "yeah or no," and that he was just trying to tell the truth about what happened. He couldn't remember who was the third person he said received oral sex.
Some of his other messages showed anger because he felt the complainant was the one who "put us in that situation," Howden said. He agreed he didn't know what had happened in the room before he arrived or after he left, or inside the bathroom.
Throughout his testimony Tuesday, Howden said he couldn't remember details of what happened, even after reviewing statements he previously made to Hockey Canada investigators or police.
Asked whether he recalled seeing the complainant upset at any point, Howden said he knew he had said "something along those lines" in one of his past statements, but "sitting here, talking to you right now, I don't remember that."
Prosecutors said they identified more than a dozen inconsistencies related to his various statements and plan to make an application to explore them.
The trial went through a major upheaval last week when the judge dismissed the jury over concerns that some jurors harboured negative feelings toward the defence.
Rather than having a mistrial, the Crown and defence agreed to continue the trial with a judge alone, meaning witnesses who previously testified – including the complainant – will not need to do so again.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 20, 2025.
Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press
