'Gay Tuesdays?' Suburban Boston High School Hockey Player Claims Sexual Abuse in Locker Room

A suburban Boston high school hockey player has come forth to describe sexual abuse, homophobia and racist hazing in the high school hockey team's locker room, reports Boston's ABC-affiliate news station WCVB in an investigative report.

"One hockey player who was subjected to the abuse sat down with 5 Investigates and said after being interviewed by police and others from town government he is still waiting for accountability," reports WCVB.

"I was very, very scared, very uncomfortable, and I wanted to leave very, very, very, very quickly," the player said, speaking on the condition of anonymity, when asked about first observing the abuse.

He also acknowledged he was abused.

"The alleged assaults and other hazing took place, he said, during rituals that took place inside the hockey team's locker room. The rituals were explicitly homophobic, starkly racist, and sometimes violent, according to his account, and always featured abuse of young players by upper classmen," writes WCVB.

He went on to explain an event called "Gay Tuesdays" in which the lights were turned off in the locker room and everyone had to take off their clothes. He acknowledged that in the dark players genitals were touched.

"The main concept was they were mocking gay people," he said.

He also described what the team called "Hard-R Fridays."

"Players who refused to say the N-word with a hard 'R' were physically beaten, sometimes with a red sex toy," the player told WCVB.

"On Friday, I would refuse to say it and get held down by multiple of my friends and beaten," he said. "And then I'd walk around with shame, being heckled for the rest of the night, skating around with the outline of a penis on my face.

"There were moments where I saw other people get beat and did not move," he said. "I didn't do anything. I didn't help them because I was so scared of what it would be like for it to happen to me again that I didn't lash out."

He also said that an assistant coach walked in during one of these sessions.

"He turned the lights on. Saw everyone naked. One of the captains in the middle of the room, he asked him what's going on and the player said, 'Coach, it's Gay Tuesday,' And the coach says, 'I don't want to know.' He turns the lights back off and he leaves, closes the door," the player said.

"The player was interviewed by school and police officials as well as an independent investigator hired by the town. His statements were witnessed by other adults," adds WCVB.

"There were ultimately three separate investigations into hazing, bullying, homophobia and racism. But those reports, provided by the town and police department to 5 Investigates, though, are almost entirely blacked out, and therefore unreadable and useless to the public."

"It's really astonishing that they felt that the best option was to just try to cover it up and it'll go away," the player said. "But it won't go away."

"According to an unredacted portion of the police report, police found no evidence of criminal misconduct," writes WCVB. "The head hockey coach, Steve Baldassare, who was also the school resource police officer, was placed on leave in January of 2021, then reinstated in February. In July, he resigned. He and the assistant coaches denied any knowledge of misconduct to investigators. Baldassare did not return our call."

Nor is the town being forthcoming about the accusations.

"I feel like the people who should be accountable are not accountable. That's not the kids," the player said. He said he does not blame the players. He actually said he sees them as victims.

"The adults are the people who have been given the power, they're the ones who are paid to monitor this type of thing," he said. "Their whole job is to make sure that these kids act a certain way, and they really dropped the ball."