Blackhawks formally request for Brad Aldrich’s name to be removed from Stanley CupSatchel Priceon October 29, 2021 at 2:44 pm

A close-up look at names etched on the Stanley Cup trophy. | Chicago Sun-Times

Hawks chairman Rocky Wirtz sent a letter Friday asking the Hockey Hall of Fame to consider “x-ing” out Aldrich’s name on the famous trophy.

Three days after the release of an independent investigation into the Blackhawks’ handling of 2010 sexual assault allegations against former coach Bradley Aldrich, the team sent a letter Friday to the Hockey Hall of Fame formally requesting the removal of Aldrich’s name from the Stanley Cup, ESPN reports.

“The names of some of hockey’s most talented athletes appear on the Stanley Cup. But so does the name ‘Brad Aldrich,’ whose role as video coach made him eligible for the engraving. His conduct disqualified him, however, and it was a mistake to submit his name,” team chairman Rocky Wirtz wrote in a letter to Lanny McDonald, the head of the Hockey Hall of Fame.

The request to “X out” Aldrich’s name on the Stanley Cup comes as the latest development in the aftermath of the investigative report unveiled by law firm Jenner & Block earlier this week, which led to top executives Stan Bowman and Al MacIsaac leaving the organization.

The Hawks’ head coach at the time, Joel Quenneville, was also implicated in the report and a subsequent interview given by former player Kyle Beach, who revealed himself as one of Aldrich’s victims. Quenneville resigned from his post as the Panthers’ head coach Thursday night.

There is precedent for the removal of a name from the Stanley Cup, which Wirtz pointed out in his letter to the Hall of Fame. In 1984, one of the Oilers owners at the time put the name of his father, Basil Pockington, on the Cup even though the man had no connections to the NHL team. After the league discovered this, it ordered the removal of the name, which is now covered by a series of “X” marks.

Wirtz requests the same treatment on the Cup for Aldrich: “I am humbly requesting that the Hockey Hall of Fame consider “x-ing” out his name on the Stanley Cup. While nothing can undo what he did, leaving his name on the most prestigious trophy in sports seems profoundly wrong.”

Read the full letter from Wirtz to the Hall of Fame below.

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