Former RI Hockey Star and Olympian Subject of Sexual Assault Lawsuit

Former RI Hockey Star and Olympian Subject of Sexual Assault Lawsuit

Former Rhode Island hockey star Clark Donatelli is the subject of a federal lawsuit.

A former minor league assistant and his wife are accusing the Pittsburgh Penguins of negligently retaining a coach -- Donatelli -- who allegedly sexually assaulted and harassed her and then retaliated against him for reporting the incident.

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Jarrod and Erin Skalde sued the Penguins nearly a year ago in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, alleging former Wilkes-Barre/Scranton coach Donatelli molested Erin Skalde during an outing in Providence on a road trip in 2018, according to the suit.

Donatelli was a hockey star at Moses Brown, Boston University, and played on the 1988 and 1992 Olympic Hockey Teams. He played for a number of years in the NHL, including stints with the Boston and Providence Bruins.

"They also allege that current Minnesota Wild general manager Bill Guerin, who was GM for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and assistant GM for the Penguins at the time, asked Jarrod Skalde to keep the reason for Donatelli's termination quiet and that the team punished Skalde for reporting the assault and later terminated his position under the guise of pandemic-related staff cuts," according to CBC.

Guerin is also the assistant GM for the U.S. Olympic men's hockey team. The GM, Stan Bowman, resigned from that job and from his job as head of hockey operations for Chicago earlier this week amid the fallout from the Chicago sexual assault investigation.

In the lawsuit, the Skaldes allege that Donatelli sexually assaulted Erin Skalde twice during an outing during the November 2018 road trip in Rhode Island. He allegedly made unwanted sexual advances, reached up her shirt and grabbed her breasts and then later, in the back of a car with her husband in the front seat unaware of what has happening, reached down her pants and touched her vagina, despite her efforts to stop him.

According to the lawsuit, Jarrod Skalde in May 2019 confronted Donatelli, who told him he was too drunk to remember and later apologized. They say after Erin Skalde confronted Donatelli, he pledged to come forward to Guerin but never did so.

Jarrod Skalde said he ended up reporting the incident to Guerin in June 2019 and that the GM assured him he would take care of the situation. Donatelli resigned later that month.

"When I learned of these allegations, I promptly brought them to Pittsburgh Penguins senior management," Guerin said last December. "The allegations were quickly investigated. I emphatically deny anything to the contrary." 

The Penguins in a statement issued last week said, "We took this incident very seriously and acted immediately. The team investigated and addressed the alleged incident within hours of being notified in June 2019 despite the fact that Mr. Skalde delayed seven months before he made any complaint. Following the report, Mr. Skalde continued to coach in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for an additional year, until we made significant staff reductions due to the COVID-19 pandemic."

The lawsuit is still active and a judge on September 30 denied the Penguins' motion for arbitration instead of a jury trial.

"The parties are in the process of exchanging information," David Fish, attorney for the couple said. "We think it's an attempt by the Penguins to keep this from being in a public courtroom. With all of the issues in sports now relating to similar issues, we think it's unfortunate, but we're going to push ahead."