Two Canadian hockey stars have been jailed for a prolonged sexual assault on a teenage hotel worker who later realised she was “the perfect sardine for his fishing net”.
Nicolas Daigle, 21, lured the 17-year-old into his room where his Victoriaville Tigres teammate Massimo Siciliano, 21, was also waiting before the pair assaulted her for 40 minutes in June 2021.
The rest of the team was celebrating their win in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League, and Daigle ran downstairs to show them the video she had filmed of the attack.
But a Quebec City court heard that a team employee simply made him delete the video while Siciliano continued the assault upstairs.
Crown prosecutor Michel Berube said he hoped the case would encourage other victims to come forward, as Daigle was sentenced to 32 months in prison and Siciliano to 30.
“It is a significant sentence that reflects the seriousness of what happened,” he added.
Nicolas Daigle, 21 (left) and Massimo Siciliano, 21 (right) enter the courtroom before their plea hearing with defense attorney Michael Lebrun
Daigle and Siciliano were rising stars with the Victoriaville Tigers when they attacked the teenage hotel worker after luring her into their room in June 2021.
The court heard the teenage victim met Daigle during the month her team spent at the hotel in the Quebec resort town of Lac-Beauport during the 2021 playoffs.
She declined an invitation from team members to join her party in a hotel conference room on June 5, and also refused Daigle’s request to join him in his room, citing company rules.
But Daigle sent her another message after she finished her shift and convinced her to go to his room.
She did not know Siciliano and told the court she felt trapped as both men assaulted her, sometimes simultaneously, while Daigle filmed her surreptitious video.
“I was vulnerable, the perfect bait for his fishing net,” she said at a sentencing hearing in March.
‘For a long time I fell into the trap of thinking it was my fault that I was there. I felt guilty.
“I am now more convinced than ever that what I experienced should not have happened, that it was not my fault, that I was the victim of sexual assault.”
The court heard she was sobbing as she sought refuge in the bathroom and that her attackers admitted to each other that she had not enjoyed it when they spoke afterwards.
The team had been celebrating their victory in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League.
The team had spent a month at the hotel in the picturesque resort town of Lac-Beauport, Quebec, as they prepared for the league playoffs in June 2021.
The scandal is just the latest to rock sport in Canada, where five international stars are still awaiting trial for the alleged gang rape of a young woman in 2018.
Police initially dropped their investigation into the attack at the Delta London Armouries Hotel in London, Ontario, and only resumed it in 2022 after the woman won a $3.5 million lawsuit against Hockey Canada.
Former New Jersey Devils players Michael McLeod and Cal Foote, Calgary Flames players Dillon Dube, Philadelphia Flyers players Carter Hart and former NHL player Alex Formenton, now playing in Switzerland, are all facing court dates next month.
Ontario Detective Sergeant Katherine Dann admitted in February that there was insufficient evidence to bring charges against the three other men accused of being involved.
“I will simply say that we have laid out the charges for which we have reasonable grounds at this time,” he explained.
Daigle and Siciliano admitted to sexual assault at a hearing in October, at the start of what was to have been an 11-day trial.
Daigle also admitted to two counts of filming and displaying a video of the attack, a video the victim only became aware of the following day.
Michael McLeod (left) and Carter Hart (right) are two of five players awaiting trial for rape.
They told the court they had been drunk and admitted they had failed to take reasonable steps to obtain the victim’s consent.
Before Monday’s sentencing, they expressed remorse and said they no longer planned to pursue careers as hockey players.
“We have two individuals who played in a prestigious league in Quebec, who committed acts and were found guilty and sent to prison today,” Berube told reporters.
‘I hope the courage of the victim in this case inspires anyone who has been a victim of sexual assault to come forward, no matter how powerful or influential their perpetrator was.’
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