TSN correspondent and investigative reporter Rick Westhead gave a lecture at Western University on Wednesday Nov. 12.
The lecture was titled “Beyond the Verdict: Why the London Hockey Trial Matters” and talked about the culture around hockey in Canada through the London hockey trial that took place over the summer. Westhead’s new book “We Breed Lions” focuses on how the story broke, its impact on hockey culture, and gives a voice to victims who have been sexually assaulted by hockey players.
In 2022, Westhead was the one who broke the story that five players from 2018 Canada’s world junior team were being charged and how Hockey Canada handled the situation. The players were later acquitted of all charges in July 2025.
“If you think about, you know, some of the allegations we heard in the case in London during the criminal trial, it begs the question, what’s happening in hockey culture? What’s happening in minor hockey and junior hockey where these sorts of stories are coming out with regularity more than once a year.” Westhead said, talking about the cases impact on how hockey culture is viewed.
Westhead also talked about how opportunities to share how a journalist works through their process are important because of decreasing public trust in journalists.
“It’s a great opportunity to talk to students about how we do our work, right? To kind of pierce this illusion that whatever we hear might just get posted on social media. We go through a rigorous process before we report anything that we’re told. We have teams of editors, lawyers, a real hard vetting process.” Westhead said.
Before his time with TSN Westhead worked at the Toronto Star as a foreign correspondent where he reported on stories in countries such as Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, and China.
Westhead has also won six Canadian Screen Awards.
