NHL’s Ian Cole suspended for alleged grooming and sexually assaulting a minor

An anonymous woman who goes by the pseudonym Emily Smith claimed on Twitter Friday that National ice Hockey league Defense attorney Ian Cole sexually assaulted her when she was a minor in high school. By Sunday night, the Tampa Bay Lightning had suspended cabbage, an investigation into the allegations is pending.

Smith, whose Twitter Account was created in September and contains only a tweet detailing how Cole groomed, manipulated and sexually abused her while she was in high school. “It has taken me years to find the courage to speak up and I have decided to speak up anonymously because unfortunately I feel it is the only way to be fully transparent without harassment and retaliation,” she wrote.

Smith said she was “groomed” by Cole for four years, beginning in high school, though she didn’t specify how old she was or what year the incidents took place. Cole had been playing for the NHL for “a couple of years” when they had their first sexual encounter, she claimed. Smith claims she was a minor at the time and that he was “well aware” of her age. “He pressured me to have sex with him that night, although I made it very clear that I didn’t want to, he wouldn’t take no for an answer,” she wrote. “I was too young to understand at the time that forcing someone to have sex was sexual assault.”

Smith went on to describe how Cole got her number from a friend after the first encounter and repeated a message to her that they would meet again. She claimed he often defied her consent, including his refusal to wear condoms, even though she had been clear she wanted to. The one time Cole wore a condom, she said he did so to “humiliate her,” saying, “You’re probably riddled with STDs.” Cole also allegedly made “snide misogynist comments” to Smith, including boasting about other girls he slept with, and showed Smith their lyrics “to manipulate me into desperately seeking his approval and being less likely to say anything.”

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When Smith entered college, she said she heard that Cole had slept with another minor from her former high school. Years later, one of Cole’s former, unidentified teammates told her that Cole had bragged to his teammates about sexually assaulting a minor the first night he met her – apparently Smith, Herself. The teammate was able to recall details that Smith said only she and Cole knew. “I was targeted by him,” she wrote.

Regarding being involved in the league, Smith said Cole often asked her to leave school and meet him in a hotel room the NHL paid. On a few occasions, Cole reportedly asked her to bring other girls from her school – something Smith said she refused to do.

“Ian felt encouraged to emotionally and sexually abuse me and other women because the NHL fosters a culture of misogyny,” she concluded. “Those who have defended his character are the same people who have made this possible for him for so long … and are well aware of his abusive behavior towards women.”

Although it’s unclear how old Cole might have been when the alleged incidents occurred, Cole is currently 33 years old and entering his 13th NHL season. He was a 20-year-old when he made his league debut in 2010. He had a $3 million agent deal with the Lightning and should be in their lineup for Tuesday’s Tampa Bay season opener against the New York Rangers.

in an opinion, according to The Lightning told ESPN that they are aware of the allegations against Cole and are fully cooperating with the NHL in an investigation, although it is not yet clear who will conduct the investigation. ESPN’s Emily Kaplan reported that Cole’s suspension will be paid. Because the NHL doesn’t have a domestic violence policy, Kaplan said, everything in the league is handled on a case-by-case basis NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman “seldom acts without evidence.”

“Our organization takes these allegations very seriously,” the team said in a statement. “While we gather more details, we have decided to suspend Ian Cole pending the results of an inquest. No members of the organization, including players, will comment further at this time.”

Cole, in a statement from his agent Kevin Magnuson, said he “completely” denies the allegations and will be cooperating with the league, the team and their legal departments in the investigation.

“I take very seriously the allegations made against me in an anonymous tweet today,” said Cole. “I look forward to clearing my name and demonstrating to the NHL and the Tampa Bay Lightning that these allegations are unfounded.”

The allegations come at a time when hockey, as an international sport, is facing greater cultural reckoning. According to that New York Timesthe World Junior Tournament – ​​once a “jewel in Hockey Canada’s schedule” –played to a mostly empty arena earlier this year after a sports television network reported that Hockey Canada had paid Canadian$3.5 million to settle a 2018 sexual assault lawsuit. The woman who filed the lawsuit said eight members of the world youth team were there sexually harassed herand Hockey Canada later acknowledged that the settlement money came from a slush fund that had been used to pay someone else $7.6 million Settled nine sexual assault and sexual abuse lawsuits since 1989. More allegations of sexual assault surfaced 2003 another junior national teamsix of them alleged to have taken turns having sex with an unconscious woman on a pool table.

The NHL is too now investigate the Hockey Canada scandal, as many NHL players have previously played in its junior tournament. Additionally, several young players had been convicted of sexual misconduct only to spare jail time and later be signed by NHL teams. In 2021, the Montreal Canadiens drafted a junior player who was convicted, according to the Edmonton Journal share photos with his teammates of his “consensual sexual encounter” with a woman.