The Sexual Abuse of Carl Latulippe in the QMJHL
(TW: sexual abuse)
During the short time I have had this newsletter, we have discussed many horrible events in hockey culture. Racism, ableism, and homophobia, but unfortunately today, we will be discussing sexual abuse in hockey. I will be foregoing my normal sarcastic humor about toxic hockey culture in this article.
The original article is in French, and if you like, you can read that here. But, I will summarize and discuss the important points in this article, which will be in English. So, this story revolves around Carl Latulippe in 1994-1995, during his rookie season for the Chicoutimi Saguenéens of the QMJHL. Martin Lavallée, acting commissioner of the QMJHL, started an investigation on March 21 into “allegations of a sexual nature” which have since been confirmed to revolve around Latulippe’s allegations.
At age 16, Carl was drafted in the first round by the Saguenéens. He didn’t even last a month with the team, playing only six games before going to play with the Drummondville Voltigeurs. He told La Presse this about his experiences: “It's not exceptional, my story. What is sickening is that it is far from unique”. What he endured was so horrible that he hasn’t stepped foot in a hockey arena since and has zero interest in the sport. So, what actually happened to him? Let’s get into that now.
The first red flag that he experienced was being forced by team veterans to give them the money he earned from playing. He didn’t get paid much, being an amateur player, but what he did get paid, the veterans made sure they got. Once a rookie went and complained about how the veterans were treating him. The result? That rookie got beaten up by said veterans. In the showers, the veterans would take towels, lather them with soap and beat the rookies with them. The event that made it too much for Carl to continue playing on the team was on one of the club’s first trips. I’m just going to translate what was written in La Presse for this.
In the bus, veterans reportedly asked recruits to undress and masturbate. The young players would have been told that they had a very short time to ejaculate and that those who would not get there would be locked in the toilet of the bus. To “help” recruits ejaculate, pornographic films were allegedly played on the bus’s common television, where adults were, according to Carl Latulippe.
The latter said that he had been crammed with other recruits in the toilet of the bus, still naked. He ignores the exact time they spent in this reduction. But today, he has trouble getting on a plane. He avoids crowds. "I'm claustrophobic," he said.
Another player who wished not to be identified also vouched for what Carl said. They also reported that “Slaps behind the head and punches on the mouth” happened. The bullying didn’t end there. The rookies had to buy the veterans what they wanted, transport their equipment and prepare their equipment for games as well. He saw teammates being forced to touch other sexually while pornographic movies were shown. They also said that this happened:
According to him, at least one rookie had to sit on a bus seat after a match on the road where the sperm of a veteran was located, who, a few minutes earlier, had had sex with a young woman in the vehicle. "I did it on purpose because I knew you were going to sit there," said the player.
This is the recap of what happened in English for those who don’t want to read a French article. I’m going to keep my commentary on this short: This is hockey culture. It has been going on for decades, and it's certainly still going on, and probably will go on for the foreseeable future. There is no genuine desire in the hockey world for there to be change. It’s stuff like this that makes it hard to enjoy hockey in any meaningful way, especially when you know that this is still happening. But also, what’s even worse, is that many of the perpetrators will face no meaningful repercussions, if any at all. Look at the most high-profile case as of late, with Kyle Beach. Sure, a few people may have been fired (but there are already rumors of teams looking to hire Quenneville, so, he’s not likely to be in the doghouse for much longer), but what actual change or repercussions happened? Nothing happened at all to the Blackhawks organization. Kane and Toews still have their reputations intact. The organization didn’t lose any draft picks, get fined anything, etc. Nothing of consequence happened to anyone who is actually a part of the organization currently, only those outside of it. We need to ask: why did no one who is still a part of the organization who helped cover up the abuse receive any punishment? Because the NHL isn’t interested in actually changing hockey culture or protecting victims. So, if the NHL, the biggest hockey league in the world, the one that sets the tone for everyone else, isn’t interested in taking sexual abuse and assault seriously, why would amateur hockey? Nothing is going to change any time soon because there is no appetite for change. If change were to happen, too many of those in positions of power would have tarnished reputations and potentially lose massive amounts of money and their power. All we the fans can do is demand accountability and support those who do come out with such allegations. We need to show that the public is listening and cares, and we want to see change. Sure, that by itself won’t do anything, but hopefully, it can help set into motion what will be a long, hard road to creating safer environments for these players.