KITCHENER -- A former Kitchener Rangers player has gone public with allegations of a toxic playing environment during his time in the Ontario Hockey League, which includes forced drug use by another teammate.
In a video posted to Eric Guest's Instagram on Monday, he says he’s finally able to share these alleged experiences now that he no longer plans to pursue a career in the National Hockey League.
“I would never say anything along these lines when I was still playing, because you can’t. If I said something or talked about some of this stuff, any chance I had at playing professional hockey is over instantly,” says Guest in the video.
Over the course of a 15-minute video, Guest goes on to say that, during his first season playing for the Rangers, an older teammate took him and another younger teammate into a bathroom at a team party and made them do drugs.
“He locks the door, and he says ‘you guys aren’t leaving this bathroom until you do this,’” says Guest.
“He said ‘you’re not leaving the bathroom until you do cocaine.’”
He doesn’t name the older teammate in question, but says that this incident is part of the larger issue of toxic masculinity in sports.
“You can’t go to your coaches, your GMs, and say this stuff is happening in the locker room,” he says.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Canadian Hockey League, which includes the OHL, says the league only became aware of the allegations on Monday evening.
"These allegations constitute a serious violation of OHL rules and include allegations of criminal conduct," the statement goes on.
"We have reached out to Eric, requested an immediate meeting to receive the pertinent details and to initiate an investigation. Once we have spoken to Eric we will have a better understanding of the next steps."
The Kilworth, Ont.-native played for the Rangers for the majority of three seasons between 2016 and 2019.
During that time, Guest lived in a billet house and says he struggled mentally, turning to marijuana to cope.
He says ultimately those issues led to him being hospitalized for mental health issues for around 45 days.
In an email to CTV News, the Rangers initially declined to comment on the allegations, but by Tuesday afternoon the organization had issued a statement.
It starts similar to the one issued by the CHL, but goes on to say that the Rangers have contacted the Waterloo Regional Police Service to investigate the "extremely serious and potentially criminal conduct."
"We will participate with the Commissioner and the League in their investigation. Until the investigation is complete the club will be making no further comments," the statement reads.
Guest also decided not to speak to CTV News about the allegations, referring instead to the Instagram video he posted.
