Doping in the NHL

On a recent Coaches Corner, Don Cherry interviewed Dick Pound. Don apparently is still upset over Dick’s guess that 1/3 of NHL players are using illegal drugs. If you want to see the video: click here. (btw, this coaches corners shows that Cherry isn’t as dumb as he usually appears to be).

Despite Don’s attempt to take Dick to task on this issue, I would say that they both agree to the same things in principle. Dick wants to see the NHL use in-competition and out-of-competition random testing, along with testing before and after games. For anyone that has followed doping in other sports such as cycling, this is obvious if they want testing to be valid. As well, Dick says a third party needs to do the testing. Again, this is completely valid and accepted as being the proper way to carry out testing.

I bet Don would be heart-broken to find out the real numbers of dopers in the NHL. Although 1/3 of all players may be a bit high, I certainly wouldn’t be surprised by that. Picture this: 18 year guy, whole life devoted to hockey, no fallback position (work, education), 20lbs and not quite strong enough for the NHL. Hello steroids, where have you been all his life? Add to that a physically demanding and high-energy game with an 80 game schedule and you’re asking for trouble.