The Lightning have suspended defenseman Ian Cole pending the results of a league investigation into accusations of sexual abuse.
The NHL is looking into allegations posted on social media Friday from a woman who claims that Cole, a 13-year NHL veteran, had a sexual relationship with her that began when she was a minor, “and he had been playing in the NHL for a few years at that point.” She says Cole groomed her over a four-year stretch.
“We are aware of the allegations posted on social media,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said Sunday. “We are looking into it.”
The Lightning said in a statement that they will cooperate fully with the league.
“Our organization takes these allegations very seriously. While we continue to gather more details, we have decided to suspend Ian Cole pending the results of an investigation. No members of the organization, including players, will comment further at this time.”
The accuser, who says in her statement on Twitter that she is speaking out anonymously under the @emily_smith3333 handle, details meeting Cole while she was a minor and in high school and being pressured by him to have sex, including meetings at Cole’s team hotel. “On a few occasions, he would ask me to bring other girls from my high school with me, which I refused to do,” she says.
She alleges that Cole manipulated her, boasting about having sex with other women, and she says once she got to college, she found out Cole had sex with another high school-aged minor. The accuser said that one of Cole’s former NHL teammates told her how Cole bragged to his teammates about about having sex with her the night they met, sharing details that only she and Cole would have known.
“Ian felt emboldened to emotionally and sexually abuse me because the NHL fosters a culture of misogyny,” the accuser said in her tweet. “The NHL needs to hold themselves and their players accountable for creating an enabling environment of misogynistic and predatory behavior.”
Cole, 33, joined the Lightning in July, when he signed a one-year, $2.5 million deal to help provide a veteran presence to a rebuilt defenseman corps following the trade of defenseman Ryan McDonagh. He figured to play a major role on the blue line as a left-shot defenseman and a penalty killer. On Saturday, in the team’s final preseason game, Cole logged 20:32 minutes of ice time.
Cole’s suspension (with pay) means that newcomer Haydn Fleury will likely join the Lightning’s opening night lineup as the team’s third left-shot defenseman behind Victor Hedman and Mikhail Sergachev. Without Cole, the Lightning have just six defensemen on the active roster, but could add left-shot defenseman Sean Day or right-shot rookie defensemen Nick Perbix or Darren Raddysh for depth.
The accusations against Cole represent the latest black eye for the sport, which is reeling from numerous sexual abuse claims. Nearly a year ago, former Blackhawks player Kyle Beach came forward as the player who sued the franchise for mishandling his allegations that he was sexually abused by a former video coach. The case was settled out of court.
Hockey Canada has come under fire after it was revealed in May that the organization reached a settlement with a woman who said she was sexually assaulted by eight players, including members of Canada’s world junior team, in 2018. A sexual assault case involving members of the 2003 world junior team came to light in July.
Before signing with Tampa Bay, Cole played with six other teams (Blues, Penguins, Blue Jackets, Avalanche, Wild, Hurricanes), with his most recent stint in Carolina. He was a member of the Pittsburgh team that won back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017.
The Lightning were off Sunday and practice Monday morning at Amalie Arena before traveling to New York for their nationally-televised season opener against the New York Rangers on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden.
