Canada’s hockey case raised questions about toxic culture – so why did the accuser end up on trial?

Supporters of the complainant in the junior hockey sexual assault trial rally outside the courthouse in London, Ontario, on 24 July. Photograph: Nicole Osborne/The Canadian Press via AP

The stunning conclusion to a pivotal sexual assault trial has left some observers in Canada shocked but unsurprised – not only by a judge who seemed to scrutinize the female accuser more harshly than the five ice hockey players who ultimately walked free, but by yet another missed opportunity for a reckoning in the macho culture of a major professional sport.

The blockbuster case seemed to crystallize any number of hot-button topics – the #MeToo movement, the nature of consent, the role of pornography, the impunity of men – in the most Canadian way possible: through hockey.