Content warning: This story contains details about alleged sexual abuse and sexual trauma. The content may be difficult to read and emotionally upsetting.
Three former hockey players have joined a federal lawsuit against USA Hockey, Illinois amateur hockey's state governing body (AHAI) and the University of Minnesota over sexual abuse they say they suffered while playing for prominent Chicago-area youth hockey coach Thomas "Chico" Adrahtas, according to an amended complaint filed in Minnesota district court on Friday.
Adrahtas is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit, which claims that individuals in positions of authority and multiple governing bodies failed to protect players from sexual abuse, molestation and unwanted touching, despite concerns, warnings and complaints about Adrahtas' conduct.
The three additional players are Jeffrey Walker, a former Boston College hockey player who said he was sexually assaulted by Adrahtas first as a 15-year-old while attending his Chicago goaltending camps in 1982; another designated John Doe, who was a member of the 1984-85 University of Minnesota men’s hockey team and said he was assaulted during his time there; and Frank Pietrangelo, who said he was also abused by Adrahtas during his time playing for the University of Minnesota.
According to the complaint, Walker was abused on multiple occasions by Adrahtas during summer camps from 1982 to '84; Adrahtas initially propositioned Walker by offering to procure a woman named “Sheila” to perform oral sex on Walker, with the caveat that he would be blindfolded and restrained. During one instance of the alleged abuse Walker described, which took place in Adrahtas’ hotel room in Newton, Mass., in 1985, Walker removed his blindfold to see only Adrahtas in the room. Walker said he was “emotionally and psychologically scarred” and “traumatized” by what he said happened to him.
John Doe A described a similar situation as Walker, in which he was propositioned with a no-strings-attached sexual encounter with a woman named “Sheila” while blindfolded during the 1984-85 season at the University of Minnesota. He said that he felt “uncomfortable and violated” “but was afraid to say anything because he was worried about … Adrahtas’ influence on his playing time and ability to play hockey at the next level.”
Pietrangelo, a former goaltender who helped the Pittsburgh Penguins win the 1991 Stanley Cup, came forward last month to detail the abuse, telling a CBS affiliate that Adrahtas would touch him everywhere — including the buttocks and the groin. According to the amended complaint, Adrahtas would do this while helping Pietrangelo with “visualization” practice.
Pietrangelo played for the University of Minnesota from 1982 to 1986. Adrahtas coached at the university from 1984 to 1985.
Pietrangelo said he spoke out after other victims of Adrahtas came forward, including Mike Sacks, a former junior hockey player.
Sacks wrote a letter to the American College Hockey Association detailing 20 months of sexual assault, saying that Adrahtas promised to further his career to gain his trust and then eventually sexually abused him.
The Athletic previously reported that over the four decades Adrahtas spent coaching various youth and college hockey teams, he was accused of manipulating his players and sexually abusing them before relocating once allegations surfaced.
Adrahtas was most recently the head coach at Robert Morris University in Illinois before he resigned in 2018 in the wake of a SafeSport investigation that was prompted by Sacks’ letter sent to the ACHA.
Defendants in the case will have 60 days to submit an answer to the amended complaint or file a motion to dismiss.
(Photo: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
