Chapter Text
MLH Assault Allegations Timeline: who is alleged to have known what, and when?
Greg D. Eastman, TDA Senior Correspondent
Sat 10/14/17, 8:00 AM
Content warning: Homophobia, obscene language including censored homophobic slurs, references to sexual assault.
Until the Gemen Pace report is released, MLH almost certainly will not comment or provide evidence of any response to the alleged assaults. The lawsuit claims that none of the sexual contact between Eversby and the plaintiffs was consensual. Especially early on, commentary and corroboration from MLH players almost entirely reflect the opposite assumption. Players object not to sexual assault but to homosexuality in hockey, though 2017 chats begin to acknowledge a pattern that was at least partially predatory. Notably, 2011 and 2017 chats both describe Eversby’s alleged sexual contact with players as an open secret starting with his tenure on the Minnesota Nomads, while the lawsuit’s earliest claim dates to 2008, after he had started with the Raiders.
Please note: The round of October 2017 texts posted to Reddit—ostensibly from current and recent players, sent in the immediate wake of media attention on the lawsuit—have not been substantially verified as authentic. One anonymous source has credibly confirmed to this publication the participation of four teammates in several of the unauthenticated chats. All player names (every member of the chats as well as all players mentioned in them) were redacted.
| Eversby work history |
| Claims: John Doe I |
| Claims: John Doe II |
| Authenticated texts: 2011-2012 |
| Unverified texts: 2017 |
| Lawsuit activity |
| 2005 - 2006 season | |
| October | The Minnesota Nomads hire Mark Eversby away from Hockey Alberta's major junior program as an Assistant Skills Coach. |
| 2006 - 2007 season | |
| A 2017 group chat including several apparent former Nomads, who may or may not have been on the team at the time, discusses whether a redacted player was one of "Evvy's" (Eversby's) "little boyfriends" or was "just" forced to perform oral sex. | |
| 2007 - 2008 season | |
| November | Eversby takes a job with the Boston Raiders as a Skills Coach. |
| 2011 texts between players who were on the Nomads in 2007 describe a secondhand conversation, held after Eversby's departure, between a Nomads coach and a then-alternate captain. The conversation indirectly acknowledges sexual contact between a coach and a player and states that the Nomads had "tried to get the [slur] out before the new season." The players in the chat frame the sexual contact as consensual and take issue with "gays in the Major" instead. | |
| 2008 - 2009 season | |
| A May 2012 group Whatsapp among three former Raiders who started with the team in 2007 recalls Eversby as a "[slur]" who "found some pre-[same slur] rooks to fuck all through our second year." Subsequent texts between one of those former Raiders and another player say it "wasn't like it was a [...] secret." | |
| September - February |
Doe I attends Raiders preseason training camp and intermittently plays games for the Raiders. In early October, Eversby recommends a specialized course of off-ice one-on-one skills coaching. Over the next five months Eversby allegedly assaults Doe I during seven of these sessions. In February, Doe I is sent down to the Boston AHL affiliate, ostensibly for roster management reasons, and does not return that season. |
| December 2011 group texts between five alumni of the US national development team, who in 2008 all played for different franchises, mention that "[Doe I] let a [slur] ruin his life." The texts do not mention Eversby by name, but refer to a Rapids coach who had worked for the Raiders as the other person involved in the incident. | |
| 2009 - 2010 season | |
| August | Doe I “informally” discusses “Eversby’s patterns with call-ups” with an MLHPA representative, and separately plans to schedule a meeting with a member of the Raiders’ player development staff. According to the filing, the representative promises to coordinate that meeting so that the MLHPA could be in attendance. The MLHPA representative leaves his role in late August. Doe I does not meet with team staff. |
| September | A 2011 group WhatsApp between five players on different teams recounts that "two years ago" "right before camp," Doe I "tried to bitch to the PA" about "having to [perform sex acts]" on an unnamed coach. |
| September | Doe I attends training camp and is sent back down to the AHL. He does not play games for the Raiders again. |
| September | A 2017 group chat including an apparent former Raider comments that Doe I "took it all the way to the PA before the season and got told to fuck himslf [sic]" until he could "come back with hot [semen] in his mouth to prove it." A second player responds, "lmao [semen] doesn't prove shit", and a third player responds, "cmon we knew who wanted an excuse to [perform a gay sexual act]. [slurs] taking over the league." |
| 2010 - 2011 season | |
| January | Doe I sends an anonymous email to the assistant directors of player development for the Nomads and Raiders recounting his assault and asking for both teams to investigate Eversby. He mentions he has corroborating evidence (February 2009 texts to his sister, an email to his sports psychologist, and records of a doctor's visit) but does not include it. He says if the league takes action, he'll participate fully as a named victim in any investigation on behalf of "the group of callups" Eversby allegedly assaulted. He claims to receive no response. |
| March - May | Eversby's LinkedIn marks a three-month employment gap. |
| June | Eversby joins the Colorado Rapids as an Assistant Skills Coach, a step down from his previous position. |
| 2011-2012 season | |
| October - March |
John Doe II is called up from the AHL affiliate on an intermittent basis. Eversby allegedly assaults Doe II over the course of eleven conditioning sessions. Two of these sessions occur while the team is traveling in Canada and in California. In November, Doe II discloses the assaults to a member of the Rapids' sports medicine team. In March, Doe II plays his last game for the Rapids. |
| A November 2011 group WhatsApp between six then-Rapids players mentions Doe II and alleges he is trading sex with Eversby and other staff in exchange for his multiple call-ups. | |
| In a June 2012 group WhatsApp including a Rapids player, another player asks, "is that [slur] still giving the callup [slurs] extra credit?", to which the Rapids player responds, "lmfao [another Rapids player] said hes heard it after practice." | |
| In a December 2011 group chat, an apparent former Rapids player states that Doe II, whose name is redacted but can be contextually inferred, "needed to [perform a gay sexual act] so bad he let himself [be sexually assaulted] out of MLH." The same player states that an unnamed coach "didn't want anything to do with the homo shitshow" and "stayed far away from the recovery room." | |
| 2014 - 2015 season | |
| December | The Edmonton Wolves hire Eversby as a Skills Coach. |
| February | Doe II texts the member of the Rapids sports medicine team to whom he had previously disclosed the assaults, asking if he knows why Eversby moved teams. The Rapids staff member responds, "I mean, not officially, but." The Rapids staff member offers to call instead of text about it. Doe II claims the call included recommendations for whom to talk to if he wanted to report the assaults to the organization without going to the MLHPA, in hopes of getting Eversby fired rather than risking the pursuit of criminal charges. |
| 2015 - 2016 season | |
| August | Doe II reaches out to Doe I and several players who never reported any misconduct, asking whether they want to solicit a collective MLHPA meeting that would include legal representation. Doe I initially declines participation. |
| A member of a 2017 group chat among apparent Wolves says, in discussing the media attention, "three or four of them [never reported anything], right?" | |
| A 2017 group chat among four unidentifiable players discusses the pattern of sexual contact: "wasnt everybody afraid to fire a [slur]? A bunch of [the group of players who allegedly had sexual contact with Eversby] were just his boyfriends lol" | |
| September | Doe II requests and schedules an in-person meeting with the Rapids' head of player development, but does not attend. |
| October | Doe II sends an anonymous email of limited coherence to the Rapids' and Wolves' heads of player development that briefly and graphically describes Eversby's alleged pattern of assault. In the email Doe II claims 'the group of us knew everybody knew.' Exhibits in the filing include an out-of-office response from the Wolves' head of player development. |
| April | The Brooklyn Scouts hire Eversby as Head Skills Coach. |
| In an October 2017 group chat among ostensible Brooklyn Scouts, one comments, "i mean we knew not to leave him alone w rooks when he arrived." | |
| 2016 - 2017 season | |
| February | The John Does and two additional players retain legal representation. At some point in the subsequent eight months, those additional players elect to remove themselves as plaintiffs. |
| 2017 - 2018 season | |
| September | On September 29, the John Does file John Does (2017) v. Major League Hockey in the civil court of the Southern District of New York. |
| October | On October 4, Rachel Cohen at Sport Weekly publishes nine group chats totalling 25 pages, which include a total of 27 MLH players across the league. The names of the allegedly assaulted players, as well as conclusively identifying information, are redacted. |
| October | On October 12, a Reddit burner account posts 32 more screencaps of player texts, all of which were sent between September 30 and October 11 of this year in reaction to the lawsuit and the first round of leaks. All player names (every member of the chats as well as all players mentioned in them) were redacted. These texts have not been substantially verified as authentic, though one anonymous source has credibly confirmed four teammates' participation in several of the chats to this publication. |