Drug Allegations In Washington

Off ice stories continue to keep compelling on-ice stories on the back pages.

If it is not Jim Balsillie's attempted hijacking of the Phoenix Coyotes, then it is something else. Like today - the hockey world is reeling somewhat from allegations of steroid use by members of the Washington Capitals.

This story may all be hogwash, but I think it is pretty naive for us to believe there is no steroid use in hockey. If you're a young player and you know bulking up is the difference between getting a NHL contract or not, wouldn't you seriously consider using them? If you are a weary veteran and you could take a pill that magically increases your recovery time so you can play your best every night, wouldn't you be intrigued?

Where there is smoke there is fire. Maybe not necessarily fire within the Caps room, but in hockey for sure.

This story reminds me a lot of the May 12th, 1986 edition of Sports Illustrated where Armen Keteyian and Donald Ramsay dropped a bombshell in what is possibly SI's most famous hockey story ever printed. It too involved drugs, though of a more serious nature:

On top of everything else, the Oilers have been the subject of rampant drug-use rumors. One former Oiler insider told SI that at least five team members have had "substantial" cocaine problems. Three sources told SI they have seen Oiler players use cocaine or marijuana at parties in Edmonton and other NHL cities. One agent quoted an Edmonton player he represents as having told him, "Every time we go into New York City, it's a real blizzard, and I'm not talking about the weather." One of SI's sources, a player for another NHL team, told of having used cocaine with three members of the Oilers during the '85-86 season. Edmonton and Canadian law enforcement officials say they have received unsubstantiated reports of drug use among team members. "We've had information passed on to us," says staff sergeant Hal Johnson, head of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's Edmonton drug squad. "We do not have evidence to lay charges, but we have information that there are users on the club."

Now everyone poo-pooed that article too. Yet in early September, 1990 the hockey world was rocked when Oilers' goaltending great Grant Fuhr was suspended after admitting to cocaine use dating back seven years.

Where there is smoke, there is fire. The game on ice does not usually deal well with fire.