A former Gilmour Academy hockey player says he was sexually assaulted several times by multiple teammates during a January 2022 tournament trip to Lake Placid, New York, according to a federal lawsuit filed under the pseudonym Mark. The school, several coaches, and former students are named as defendants, and Gilmour Academy has denied the allegations, saying the matter was investigated and resolved years ago.
According to Cleveland.com, Gilmour Academy attorneys filed a public response to the federal lawsuit last week, denying that the school or its hockey program fostered a culture of hazing. Mark was 16 years old at the time of the tournament and was staying at a hotel with teammates, the outlet reports. He alleges that an older team member forcibly sexually assaulted him on each night of January 14, 15 and 16, 2022, and that he was assaulted by team members while sleeping.
The lawsuit alleges that Defendant No. 9 filmed one of the assaults and sent the recording to others on Snapchat, and that members forced their penises into Mark's mouth and touched his face with their penises. Per Cleveland.com, the suit claims the videos constituted child sexual abuse material because of the plaintiff's age, and that recordings of the incident were distributed in group chats. A separate federal lawsuit tracked on CourtListener shows a complaint with a jury demand filed against Gilmour Academy, coaches, and several student defendants on August 15, 2025; the docket entry was dated August 19, 2025.
What the Lawsuit Says About 'The Gauntlet'
Mark says school coaches knew the hockey team had a history of hazing that included sexual misconduct, according to Cleveland.com's reporting. The suit describes a ritual known as the Gauntlet that allegedly included forcible touching, bullying, name-calling, groping, striking buttocks, and rubbing younger players or call-ups with genitals. The lawsuit names coaches Timon Veach, Michael Chiellino, Joseph H. Nook III, Jonah Williams and Mark Ferfolia Jr. as defendants, along with Gilmour Academy itself.
The case initially named three students as defendants; two were later dismissed from the lawsuit, leaving one student retained as Defendant No. 9, per Cleveland.com. One of the dismissed students, Defendant No. 7, disputed Mark's account of the incident and was a minor himself in January 2022. According to the outlet, Defendant No. 7 acknowledged the existence of a video in a January affidavit, saying he knew of one video that was less than six seconds long.
Mark has said coaches stayed several rooms away or on a different floor at the hotel during the trip, but Cleveland.com reports that the defendants have disputed his account of the coaches' location. The defendants have also said they lack the information necessary to admit or deny the sexual assault allegations, the outlet notes. A school official has said some students were barred from campus after the incident, and the case saw delays after former students on both sides sought to use pseudonyms — a request a judge partially granted, with the court temporarily permitting Defendant Nos. 7 and 9 to proceed under pseudonyms as of November 14, 2025, according to the CourtListener docket.
Gilmour Academy's Response and Police Involvement
Attorney Michael Appelbaum, who represents Gilmour Academy and the coaches, has said the case was investigated quickly and resulted in no criminal charges, per Cleveland.com. Appelbaum said prior investigations did not reveal any known history of hazing within the Gilmour Academy Prep Hockey program, its coaching staff, or the school more broadly, and he said the school would continue to keep the former student and his family in its prayers.
Kathleen Kenny said in March 2022 that the school had seen a video as part of its investigation, and that the school was disappointed and sorry about what happened to the plaintiff, hoping he was recovering, Cleveland.com reported at the time. The Gates Mills Police Department investigated the allegations but referred the case to Lake Placid police because the incident occurred outside its jurisdiction, reporter Mike Day told Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer. Police were investigating the incident, though Cleveland.com reporter Lucas Daprile noted that additional information was requested from Lake Placid police.
Gilmour Academy, described by Cleveland.com as an elite Catholic school in Gates Mills, has said it maintains a zero-tolerance anti-hazing policy that it says is strictly enforced. The school has denied fostering a culture of hazing and has denied allegations that its hockey team's culture culminated in a student's sexual assault. A separate account, reported by Ideastream Public Media, describes the lawsuit's claim that two older students sexually assaulted Mark in his hotel room on multiple occasions and filmed it on Snapchat, and alleges that Gilmour's hockey program had a history of severe hazing that included sexually assaulting and exploiting younger boys. The lawsuit seeks a jury trial and compensatory damages, and as of June 22, 2026, the judge had not ruled on the school's motions to dismiss, nor had a trial date been set, per Ideastream.
A Pattern Beyond One School
Hazing has increasingly drawn scrutiny in youth and scholastic sports, with researchers noting it has emerged as a concern beyond college fraternities and sororities, according to the University of Dayton eCommons. A Reuters review of hazing literature found the behavior remains common in collegiate and youth sports, though definitions and reporting can vary widely. Elsewhere in Ohio, a hazing incident involving a high school girls soccer team near Columbus — in which players were allegedly bound and force-fed raw food — was reported to the sheriff's office, though no charges were filed, Cleveland.com reported separately. In a comparable case involving college athletics, former University of Michigan hockey players have sued, alleging they were sexually abused decades earlier, according to Newsday.
