An independent appeals board has ruled that Carter Hart and three other acquitted Canadian hockey players must stay out of Hockey Canada-sanctioned programmes, even after their July 2025 not guilty verdict. The board said Alex Formenton broke conduct rules and will be reinstated, while Hart, Michael McLeod, Dillon Dube and Cal Foote remain barred at the national level.
The timing matters because the ruling sets the path back for each player now, including a 10 November 2027 date for Hart. It also leaves Hockey Canada with a disciplinary decision that diverges from the court outcome, a split that has kept the case in focus across Canada since the players were acquitted.
The case stems from a 2018 incident in London, Ontario, when the five players were accused of assaulting EM in a hotel room. Justice Maria Carroccia later said she did not find EM's evidence credible or reliable. In the wake of that verdict, Canada's current secretary of sport, Adam van Koeverden, said the case started a national conversation about safe sport and the problematic culture in men's hockey.
That does not mean the players are done playing. The ruling leaves all five eligible for National Hockey League teams, and the league allowed them to sign contracts again late last year. Hockey Canada, by contrast, is keeping four of them suspended from its programmes under its code of conduct, with Foote eligible on 10 November of this year, Dube on 10 November 2028 and McLeod on 10 November 2030.
The gap between acquittal and reinstatement is now the point. Formenton is being brought back because the board found conduct violations, but officials did not explain why the return dates differ for the others. Hart's date gives the clearest answer for now: he cannot return to Hockey Canada-sanctioned competition until 10 November 2027, and the board has left the rest to sit with that decision.
