Gordon Stuckless — the “monster” responsible for sexually assaulting more than 40 boys over decades at Maple Leaf Gardens and elsewhere — died Thursday night but the pain he caused lives on in his victims and their families.

Stuckless, 70, used his job as an usher at the famed hockey arena in the 1970s and 1980s, and his position as a volunteer hockey coach, to befriend, manipulate and ultimately sexually abuse young boys, leaving them with a lifetime of psychological damage.

“Our world now is a safer place without Gordon Stuckless,” said Gary Kruze, whose brother Martin was a victim of Stuckless.

“Hopefully it brings the survivors a little bit of closure, peace, strength and comfort knowing all the children are now safe from this monster.”

But while this chapter is closed, Martin Kruze’s legacy continues in the work Gary Kruze and his wife Teresa have been doing to fight for survivors of child sexual abuse.

Martin Kruze shared his story publicly in February 1997, prompting many more victims of Stuckless and two other men at Maple Leaf Gardens to come forward, revealing one of Canada’s most notorious sex-abuse rings.

“It just didn’t seem real,” Gary recalled. “How could that happen at Maple Leaf Gardens? We knew everybody there . . . it was like a bad dream. But then every day after Martin came out with his story there were more survivors coming out, one after another. Seventy-five in two months.”

Kruze died by suicide at the age of 34 seven months later, in October 1997, two days after Stuckless was sentenced to two years less a day for sexually assaulting 24 boys including Kruze while he worked at Maple Leaf Gardens between 1969 and 1988.

Kruze was an advocate for more support for victims of sexual abuse and harsher penalties for perpetrators. Theresa Kruze says much more still needs to be done to hold anyone who sexually abuses children accountable, including the federal government legislating longer prison sentences.

“Perpetrators of sexual crimes against children are still being given slaps on the wrist,” she said.

Stuckless twice had his sentences significantly increased by the Ontario Court of Appeal to reflect the “staggering” magnitude of his crimes and the incalculable harm he has caused.

His initial sentence of two years less a day in 1997 was increased to five years. Stuckless was released on parole in 2001.

In 2014 he pleaded guilty to 100 charges for incidents related to the sexual abuse of another 18 boys between 1965 and 1985.

After a trial he was convicted of two more charges related to two of those victims and sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison in June 2016 — a sentence increased on appeal in 2019 to 10 years.

Stuckless was released to a halfway house on day parole in December. Ari Goldkind, his lawyer, said Stuckless had a brain hemorrhage on Tuesday and died Thursday night at a hospital in Hamilton.

“Mr. Stuckless left a trail of devastation in his wake. Of that there can be no doubt. I saw that firsthand in my representation of him over the last decade,” Goldkind said in an email.

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“Upon his release from jail, he made a vow to never repeat the monstrous acts he committed that ruined so many innocent young lives.”

Gary and Teresa Kruze say the news of Stuckless’s death has brought up difficult memories for many of the survivors he harmed. They are still serving “life sentences” and so are their families — parents, spouses, siblings and children, they said.

“We will always be proud for the rest of our lives of what Martin did,” Gary said. “And, on behalf of my brother, we are so darn proud of all of the survivors across Canada. Be strong. We are here to give you love and support. We will make things better for generations to come. We can’t help what has happened in the past but we can work on making big changes for other generations to come.”

Support for male survivors of sexual abuse is available at 1-866-887-0015.

The Toronto Rape Crisis Centre can be reached at 416-597-8808

The Assaulted Women’s Helpline can be reached at 1-866-863-0511

With files from the Star’s wire services

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