LONDON, Ont. — The complainant at the center of the Hockey Canada sex assault trial said she may have remained permissive and compliant as a coping mechanism while surrounded by men she didn’t know who were trying to “recreate a porn scene” in a London, Ont., hotel room.
During a third day of cross-examination in the trial of five former members of the 2018 World Junior Hockey team, Megan Savard — defense attorney for Carter Hart — questioned E.M. about statements she made during a pre-trial preparation session in March 2025 with London police and Crown attorneys. During that session, she described taking on the persona of a “porn star” to get through the alleged assault.
“One of your coping mechanisms may have actually been offering things and asking to have sex with these men,” Savard suggested.
E.M. denied having any memory of inviting sexual acts, but acknowledged she was not acting like herself and that it could be possible.
“I felt like I had no control,” she said. She described feeling numb throughout the sexual acts that occurred.
Hart, Michael McLeod, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dubé and Cal Foote are all facing sexual assault charges stemming from the alleged incident while players were in town for a Hockey Canada event celebrating their 2018 World Juniors championship. All five players have pleaded not guilty.
While none of the players physically forced her to stay in the hotel room, E.M. said she tried to leave several times but was coaxed to stay.
E.M. has appeared in the witness box by CCTV since Friday. David Humphrey, McLeod’s lawyer, cross-examined E.M. earlier this week. On Wednesday, E.M. appeared tired and admitted getting “flustered” by Savard’s questions. She will face cross-examination from defense attorneys for each of the five men.
She has testified that after a night of drinking and dancing at Jack’s Bar, she returned to the hotel with McLeod and engaged in consensual sex. Afterward, she said, men showed up in the hotel room without her consent and that she was scared. E.M. said that she was asked to lay down on a bedsheet on the floor, and did so because she felt she had no choice. Over the next couple of hours, she said she was coaxed into performing oral sex, vaginal sex, and was slapped and spit on.
E.M. has said she went on “auto-pilot” — describing a detached experience, in which her mind separated from her body — during the events in the hotel room, as she did what she felt the men in the room wanted her to do.
“It was a role I took on just to get through that,” E.M said Wednesday.
Referring to a statement E.M. made to police in 2018, Savard argued the E.M. she was acting in a way that would make the men think that she was consenting and that she encouraged the men to engage in sexual acts.
“I don’t recall how I was acting,” E.M. said. “I don’t know exactly what I was doing.”
During a tense cross-examination, Savard suggested that E.M.’s recollections of the evening were “more like a picture book than a novel,” and that she was filling in the gaps in her memory with assumptions.
Earlier, Savard pressed E.M. about cheating on her boyfriend, who is now her fiance, suggesting that she made up the story because she didn’t want to tell her boyfriend she had group sex with hockey players. E.M. said that she informed her boyfriend that she took responsibility for going to the hotel with McLeod and having sex with him.
Savard also questioned E.M.’s level of intoxication the night of the alleged incident and pressed the complainant on inconsistencies between statements she gave to police in 2018 and a later statement she signed on July 22, 2022, for an internal investigation by Hockey Canada. E.M. stated that she didn’t view her statement for Hockey Canada as seriously because it was just an internal investigation for a sports organization
“I was just really ready to leave this behind,” E.M. said of her state of mind at the time.
But Savard argued that E.M. had learned that London Police were reopening their investigation hours before she signed her statement for Hockey Canada.
In statements to police in 2018, Savard said, E.M. misidentified Sam Steel — currently a member of the Dallas Stars — as one of the men she performed oral sex on. Hart was later identified by someone else as that person, Savard told the court. (Steel has not been charged.)
E.M. said that she had difficulty telling the men apart from images she was shown because they all looked the same.
Savard pressed E.M. about the mistaken inclusion of Jonah Gadjovich — currently a member of the Florida Panthers — in an appendix to her 2022 civil suit against Hockey Canada, the Canadian Hockey League and eight members of the 2018 Canadian World Junior team. E.M. said the claim was drafted by her lawyer and she was not familiar with the legal process. The suit was settled by Hockey Canada without notifying the players involved.
She said she did not intentionally misidentify anyone. (Gadjovich has not been charged.)
As Savard continued to question her about the statement of claim in her 2022 civil lawsuit, E.M. broke down in tears and asked that court end for the day.
“I’m sorry,” she said, wiping her eyes. “I’m getting a little flustered with everything.”
The cross-examination will continue Thursday.
(E.M. depicted in a courtroom sketch during her on-screen testimony in the Hockey Canada sexual assault trial by Alexandra Newbould / The Canadian Press via AP)