At the bars lining London’s streets, the Hockey Canada verdict hits close to home

A few hours after the verdict was handed down in the sexual assault trial of five former members of Canada’s world junior hockey team, a thunderstorm swept over London, Ont., soaking the streets and filling the darkening sky with bolts of lighting. But in the bar district a few blocks from the courthouse, the party continued. Groups of young men and young women trooped back and forth along Richmond Street, laughing, chatting and vaping as they went from bar to bar between bursts of rain.

Many had just learned that a judge had found the players not guilty, and the news was starting to sink in. The whole affair began on this strip at a place called Jack’s, where one of the players met the complainant in the case and took her back to a nearby hotel. What went on in that hotel room became the focus of a national conversation, raising questions about power dynamics, hockey culture and what constitutes sexual consent.