University of Ottawa hockey program stays suspended for 2014-15

The suspension of theUniversity of Ottawa's mens varsity hockey programover allegations of misconduct related to a sexual assault investigationwill continue for the 2014-15 season,president Allan Rock announced Wednesday.

• University of Ottawa suspends men's hockey amid police probe
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• University of Ottawa hockey players say school has let them down

Thunder Bay police launched an investigation after receiving a third-party complaint of a sexual assaulton the weekend of Feb. 1, when the University of OttawaGee Gees were in town to play the LakeheadUniversity Thunderwolves.

Head coach Ral Paiement, who was with the team during the road trip, was initially suspended with pay but has now been "relieved of his duties," Rock said.

Paiementlearned of the allegations "hours" after they occurred, and"devised and imposed measures by himself with respect to the team" but did not inform the university, Rock said.

Paiementpreviously coached theAcadie-BathurstTitan junior hockey team in New Brunswick from 2000 to2004, and again for the 2010-11 season.

No charges have been laid, but Rock said the university is acting on the results of an internal review.

"We suspended the programnot the team," Rock said.

"We know enough to say that what happened there was unacceptable so we're shutting down the program, the coach is being replaced, we're putting new policies and processes in place, and moving forward with a new program."

Review reveals 'unacceptable' behaviour: Rock

Rocklaunched an internal review andannounced the team wassuspended inMarchafter learning of the "serious allegations."

Anindependent investigator was hired to conduct interviews about the events in Thunder Bay, including allegations of excessive drinking and sexual misconduct, Rock said.

The results of that reviewrevealed that "the behaviour of some individuals in Thunder Bay on the weekend in question was unacceptable," Rock said.

"Their behaviour did not meet the university's expectations of our student athletes and was not in keeping with the university community's values," he said.

The final report willnot be released, Rock said.

"We want to avoid any interference with the ongoing police investigation and to respect the university's privacy obligations," he said.

The review also included an assessment of the university's policies, practices and procedures regardingsport management, ethics and student disciplinary processes.

The results of that review were made public Wednesday, andall the recommendations will be implemented, including new guidelines for student athletes,Rock said.

The investigation did notinvolve theLakeheadUniversityThunderwolves hockey team, police said, and the assault is not alleged to have happened on university property.

Some players may file defamation suit

Rock acknowledged that not all players on the team were involved in the police investigation into the alleged sex assault.

"The shadow cast by the allegations of misconduct has affected all members of the team, some unfairly," he said. "We cannot name names either way for fear of doing greater injustice or running afoul of the law ourselves."

The lawyer for sevenplayers said after Wednesday's announcement they're considering launching a defamation lawsuit.

"Suspend those three guys [allegedly directly involved],let these other innocent guys back on the ice and help restore their reputation," said Lawrence Greenspon.

"I'm talking about guys who have gone to parties and been called rapists. One of them [had]the co-op program he was in tell him not to bother coming back to work anymore, another guy had all kinds of job interviews lined up that were cancelled."

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