Canadian NHL stars weigh in on Hockey Canada allegations

Connor McDavid has answered the call to wear Canada's red Maple Leaf throughout his career.

The same goes for Nathan MacKinnon.

And like the rest of the country, the two stars watched from afar as a scandal-filled summer unfolded for Hockey Canada — the sport's national governing body — after news broke of an alleged sexual assault involving members of the 2018 world junior team.

"I'm very proud to be Canadian, very proud to represent Hockey Canada," McDavid, the Edmonton Oilers captain, said Thursday at the NHL/NHLPA player media tour just outside Las Vegas.

"A situation that is terrible for everybody."

Hockey Canada has been under intense scrutiny since the alleged sexual assault following a 2018 gala in London, Ont., involving eight unidentified players — including members of that year's world junior team — and subsequent hushed settlement were revealed in May.

Allegations of gang sexual assault involving the 2003 world junior team then emerged in July.

"It's sad," said MacKinnon, who won the Stanley Cup with his Colorado Avalanche in June. "There's no place for that.

"I don't know all the investigation stuff, but whatever happened wasn't OK — that's the main thing."

It also came to light that Hockey Canada kept a so-called National Equity Fund maintained by player registrations from across the country to, in part, pay out uninsured liabilities, including sexual abuse claims, since the 1990s.

The organization has said it will no longer use the fund for that purpose.

In response to the firestorm, the organization released an action plan aimed at addressing systemic issues in hockey and has reopened its third-party investigation into the 2018 incident, as have police in London. The NHL is also investigating.

Colorado