Steriods In Hockey?

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

yahoo.com

11/25/05

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=yspsctnhdln>NHL players, execs deny Pound's allegations of widespread steroid use in league</TD></TR><TR><TD height=7><SPACER type="block" width="1" height="1"></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>November 25, 2005
LONDON, Ontario (AP) -- NHL players and executives denied allegations by World Anti-Doping Agency president Dick Pound that as many as a third of the league's 700 players may take some form of performance-enhancing substances.

"I would respectfully suggest that Mr. Pound's comments have absolutely no basis in fact," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told The Canadian Press on Thursday. "I find it troubling, to say the least, that he would find it necessary to comment on something he has absolutely no knowledge of."
In an interview for a story published Friday, Pound told the London Free Press on Thursday that he spoke to league commissioner Gary Bettman and told him he thought there was widespread use of performance-enhancing substances in the NHL.

"I spoke with Gary and he said, `We don't have the problem in hockey,"' Pound told the newspaper. "I told him he does. You wouldn't be far wrong if you said a third."


Asked if he meant performing-enhancing drugs, the Montreal lawyer replied, "Yes."

NHL Players' Association executive director Ted Saskin bristled at Pound's statement.

"Dick Pound's comments are incredibly irresponsible and have no basis in fact," Saskin said. "He has no knowledge of our sport and our players and, frankly, has no business making such comments."

The NHL introduced random tests for performance-enhancing drugs in its new collective bargaining agreement. Players are subject to a minimum of two tests a year without warning. A first-time offender gets a 20-game suspension, a second offense calls for a 60-game suspension, and a third offense results in a lifetime ban.

"The NHL has reached a deal with their players that looks as though they found an early copy of the baseball policy on the floor somewhere," Pound said after addressing students at the University of Western Ontario's law school.

"Who's Dick Pound?" Vancouver Canucks forward Todd Bertuzzi said. "Tell him to come in our dressing room with our shirts off and we'll see how performance-enhanced we are. Tell him he can come hang out with me and see my workout.

"Trust me, we're not."

San Jose Sharks defenseman Scott Hannan acknowledged that it's possible some players take performance-enhancing drugs, but insisted Pound's assessment is inaccurate. "Am I naive in saying that nobody's ever used it or nobody is? Probably," Hannan said. "But as far as extensively, I think that's a baseless comment."
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[Brutus1]

At least the NHL gets it. Twenty games for a first time offender is
pretty significant.

I didn't see anywhere what evidence helped him arrive at the 1/3 figure.

 

[StooGrimson]

The article noted that the new CBA introduced random testing. What type of testing (if any) was done prior to this? And shouldn't Todd Bertuzzi just keep his mouth shut considering he's one of the biggest scumbags in hockey history?

 

[jimotis4heisman]

these guys go through the olympic testing and the iihf testing also.

i will defend bertuzzi to the end, steve moore is the real scumbag. hes the one who through the dirty elbow to larkus naslund then ran his mouth how he deserved it. in that shift bertuzzi tried to fight him straight up twice and then moore slashed bertuzzi in the back of the skates THEN the infamous chase and hit occured.

 

[greatwhitenorth]

Steve Moore is an idiot but you can't defend what Bertuzzi did. As far as the steroid allegations, there is no evidence to prove the claim and yes there probably are some NHLers using performance enhancements but not at the level Pound suggest.

 

[jimotis4heisman]

i apologize neither guy is an idiot or real scumbag. but both are guilty of dirty and play against the spirit of the game.


but back on steroids.

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Since 1994, albeit early in the dope-testing game, "well over 3,000" tests have been conducted at IIHF events, including Olympics and World Championships, and there have been eight positive tests, a rate of approximately 0.2 percent.

During the 2003-04 season, the National Hockey League Players' Association conducted tests on virtually every player in the league as an educational dry run to prepare for what everyone expected would be a new policy on drug testing. Less than 1 percent, or fewer than seven players, tested positive.

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said three NHLers have tested positive over the past 15 years at international events, one involving a painkiller used for an "acute" injury, another involved "therapeutic use" for an existing health condition which was later excused and the third was "mistaken use."