Bruin Can ‘Get On With Life’ After Ex-Coach Given Prison Kennedy Reveals Sexual Assaults Came While Playing Junior Hockey

Sheldon Kennedy stretched out in the Boston Bruins’ locker room after practice Monday and said he believes he finally can proceed with his life.

Kennedy, who has been shuttling from Boston to Alberta in recent weeks, said he was relieved after a Calgary provincial court sentenced his former junior hockey coach, Graham James, to 3-1/2 years in prison for sexual assault.

“For once, my story is out and people know what’s going on with Sheldon Kennedy,” he said. “They know that I’m not just some messed-up kid. I feel better about myself. It can only get better for me. It can’t get worse.”

Kennedy, 27, had been a victim of sexual abuse for six years, since his rights were acquired by James in 1984. James, the most successful junior coach in Canada in recent years, guided the Swift Current (Saskatchewan) Broncos of the Western Hockey League to the 1989 Memorial Cup and coached several current NHL players, including Theoren Fleury and Joe Sakic.

James, 43, was coaching the Winnipeg Warriors when he traded for Kennedy’s rights in 1984. He invited Kennedy, from Elkhorn, Manitoba, to his Winnipeg home and made sexual advances, threatening Kennedy with a shotgun. Kennedy said he did not reveal the situation because of fear.

Kennedy said he depended on James to promote his career. However, after an uneven start to his pro career and an alcohol problem, Kennedy decided to press charges.

On Sept. 5, 1996, James resigned as coach of the Calgary Hitmen of the WHL. The next day, police confirmed he was being investigated. On Nov. 22, charges were filed against James by Kennedy and another former Swift Current player.

“Everyone says it is courage,” said Kennedy, who is married and has a 1-year-old daughter. “But for me, it was a need to do something for myself and for my family. For me it was a need, for others it’s courage.

“I was put in this situation for a reason. I want to let people know that a lot of this stuff goes on, not only in the sports world, but in the world. The victims don’t say anything. Nobody involved says anything. It’s a quiet thing. It’s very touchy.

“I wanted to make it known so that people who are in these situations can feel more at ease, feel better about themselves.”

Kennedy said he was sexually assaulted more than 300 times. Kennedy told investigators that after a bus crash killed four Swift Current players in 1986, James told him, “If I lost you I wouldn’t be able to go on.”

“It was like I was his wife or his lover,” Kennedy told police.

Kennedy believed his career and life were controlled by James, described by the Calgary Herald as “a bright, articulate, nonsmoking, non-drinking bachelor, who was revered in the hockey-mad town of Swift Current.”

Kennedy sat with family and friends in a crowded courtroom Friday and glared at James as details of the abuse were read during a 2-1/2 hearing, according to the Calgary Herald.

“I offer no excuses,” James said after the sentencing. “I blame nobody but myself. I preached selflessness, but I was selfish. I am truly sorry that this happened.”

“I can’t fully put into words how difficult that (hearing) was,” James said in an interview with ESPN Sunday night. “Sometimes when love ceases to be a secret it is no longer love and to see it disappear to a degree …

“Despite what has happened, at some point I would like to be friends with him again. As ridiculous and impossible as it sounds, that is how I feel. I hope that someday something can be done to bring about a reconciliation.”

Monday, Kennedy said, “It’s not over for him. He believes he didn’t do anything wrong. And there are other victims. It is going to take time before they are ready to come forward. I am feeling better and better, but I have no idea how I am going to feel. I have never played without this on my mind. It’s nice to be able to concentrate on hockey.

“I am looking at a situation in which I can get back into the rhythm of hockey, preparing for games and winning. I’ve won every championship you can win except the Stanley Cup and now I hope I can win that.

“I feel a little bit of closure. I feel like something is over - there are not going to be 10 phone calls a day about when we might be going to court. It’s nice to know it’s done.”

Kennedy said he never trusted anyone enough to reveal his relationship with James until his marriage to Jana in April 1995.

“I never had any friends in my life,” Kennedy said. “I would feel a conversation starting and after two words I would run away. It was a very lonely time. You have something you have to protect and nobody can get at it. Your confidence is just shattered.”

Kennedy said he was unfairly portrayed as “uncontrollable” and forced to rely on James for guidance. According to a player agent, one NHL team was reluctant to sign Kennedy last year because it felt James was the only coach who could control him.

Since the Bruins signed Kennedy, they have allowed him to pursue the court case.

“After something comes out and the guys know the whole story, you get a little nervous coming in,” Kennedy said. “I feel a lot better. I’m looking forward to life.”