Ex-Peoria Rivermen and St. Louis Blues player from AHL era accused of sexual abuse
PEORIA — A former Peoria Rivermen player is under investigation for alleged sexual abuse.
The Tampa Bay Lightning have suspended former Rivermen defenseman Ian Cole pending an investigation into allegations made on social media that he sexually abused a woman when she was a minor.
Cole, 33, played parts of four seasons for the Rivermen in the American Hockey League, from 2009-10 through 2012-13, when Peoria was the primary farm team of the St. Louis Blues.
The Blues drafted him in the first round (18th overall) in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, out of Notre Dame, and he came to the Rivermen and played 109 games, with 10 goals and 28 assists.
Cole went on to play five seasons for the Blues, then had his name twice etched on the Stanley Cup with championships at Pittsburgh in 2015-16 and 2016-17. He has played 780 NHL games over 13 seasons with St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Colorado, Minnesota, Carolina and now Tampa.
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NHL Tampa on Sunday night said it was fully cooperating with the NHL on an investigation and that it made the decision to suspend Cole until more details are gathered.
"Our organization takes these allegations very seriously," the team said in a statement reported by The Associated Press. "No members of the organization, including players, will comment further at this time."
Cole, in a statement via agent Kevin Magnuson, said he completely denies the allegations and will cooperate with the league, team and their legal departments in the forthcoming investigation.
"I take the allegations made against me today in an anonymous tweet very seriously," Cole said. "I look forward to clearing my name and demonstrating to the NHL and the Tampa Bay Lightning that these allegations are unfounded."
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told AP earlier Sunday the league had launched an investigation. Daly added the league had no prior knowledge of the allegations until they were posted on social media.
The allegations were posted anonymously to Twitter on Friday via an account created last month. In that post, a person alleged Cole pressured her into having sex multiple times when she was a minor after he reached the NHL.
The person accused Cole of emotional and sexual abuse and said the NHL must hold itself and its players accountable for creating an environment of misogynistic and predatory behavior.
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ESPN reported the allegations against Cole were made in a statement posted to Twitter on Friday by an anonymous user. The person wrote that Cole groomed her for four years "starting when I was a minor in high school" and noted that Cole was "well aware of my age" at the time of the alleged sexual abuse.
The New York Post, meanwhile, identified that Twitter user account as @emily_smith3333, with a lone post containing a lengthy statement with the allegations enclosed.
It was not clear where he was playing when the person said Cole sexually abused and groomed her.
Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men's basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @icetimecleve. The Associated Press contributed to this article
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Ex-Peoria Rivermen and St. Louis Blues player accused of sexual abuse
