NHL responds to serious allegations made against Ian Cole.

There are some extremely serious allegations that have been made against Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Ian Cole, allegations that unfortunately seem to coincide with a rash of sexual assault allegations that have rocked the hockey world over the course of the past several months.

Last week, Cole was accused by a woman who only identified herself as Emily Smith of grooming and sexually assaulting her when she was a minor. Smith, which is likely an alias, goes into great detail about how she feels she was preyed upon by Smith who she claims knew full well that she was underage at the time of their alleged sexual encounters. You can read all of the disturbing details regarding these accusations in our earlier story on the topic found here.

Given the major scandal currently ongoing with Hockey Canada and another series of sexual assault allegations it seemed very unlikely that the National Hockey League would be able to ignore these accusations, and I am happy to report that they have not. Although the league will likely need time to conduct a full investigation into this matter, they have acknowledged that they are aware of the accusations and they have also pledged to look into the matter thoroughly.

That was confirmed this afternoon when NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly made the only comments that the league has issued on this topic so far.

Please remember that these are only accusations at this time.