Police Investigating Sexual Assault Involving 8 Former Steelheads Players (Report)

According to a report from TSN’s Rick Westhead, Peel Regional Police confirmed their special victims unit is investigating an alleged sexual assault involving eight former Ontario Hockey League (OHL) players with the Mississauga Steelheads in November of 2014.

According to the report, spokesmen for the Steelheads and the OHL did not respond to requests to comment. The report also states that a source close to the situation explained, “(The victim) didn’t know whether she would contact police because some of the hockey players were 16 (years old) and had seemed pressured to take part in the assault by the 19-year-old player who invited her to the home.”

At that time, four rostered players were 16 years of age, including Michael McLeod, who was charged with ‘sexual assault’ and ‘being a party to the offence’ in a recent case involving the 2018 Hockey Canada World Juniors team. McLeod took a leave of absence from the New Jersey Devils in the 2023-24 season and never returned. He’s now playing in the Russian Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).

The other 16-year-olds were Nathan Bastian, current forward for the Devils, Sean Day (HV71, Swedish Hockey League) and Marcus Dickerson (Retired in 2018). It’s widely known that Bastian had a very close relationship with McLeod, as there are many photos of the duo together on Bastian’s public Instagram account. 

The full roster of that 2014-15 Steelheads team is available here. Westhead mentioned on his X account that he will discuss the matter on CTV National News as well as TSN’s SportsCentre tonight (Mar. 5).

Canadian junior hockey culture as a whole has been under heavy fire for its toxicity in recent years. The Hockey Canada case, which McLeod was charged for, will begin trial on Apr. 22, 2025. The trial is expected to last approximately eight weeks.