
Blackhawks owner angrily brushes off Kyle Beach talk
CHICAGO (AP) — Speaking Wednesday night at a town hall organized by the team, Chicago Blackhawks owner Rocky Wirtz angrily rejected any conversation connected to the franchise’s response when a player said he was sexually assaulted by an assistant coach.
It was the first time the franchise’s top leaders had faced questions in public since the team published a report by an outside law firm that found the organization badly mishandled Kyle Beach’s allegations that he was assaulted by then-video coach Brad Aldrich during the team’s run to the 2010 Stanley Cup title.
The town hall on a snowy night in Chicago was supposed to be the latest step in the franchise’s work to repair its tattered reputation. But it was derailed by Wirtz’s response when a reporter tried to ask Danny Wirtz, Rocky’s son and the team’s CEO, about what the organization was doing to address the power dynamic between players and coaches in light of Beach’s accusations.
“I’m going to answer the question, not Danny,” Rocky Wirtz said. “I think the report speaks for itself. The people that were involved are no longer here. We’re not looking back at 2010, we’re looking forward. And we’re not going to talk about 2010.”