Off-ice Antics

There´s no I in team. But there is an I in each of these stars. There is a litany of other second or third tier players who will be remembered as much for their off-ice antics as for anything they did on the ice. In many of those cases, the individuals engaged in a fearless and nasty style of play that fit in well with the hard-drinking desperado image. The likes of Steve Durbano, Link Gaetz and Billy Tibbets fit in this category.

Rob Ramage was found guilty of drunk driving in the incident that killed former Chicago Blackhawk Keith Magnuson. The response from his coterie of supporters is an odd sort of incredulity that he may actually have to pay for what he did. It’s a glaring example of the long-standing claim by many that athletes are so accustomed to being treated as special that they never learn what it means to take responsibility.

Derek Sanderson’s off-ice routine became one long alcohol-soaked party. As a way to keep himself plugged into, or insulated from, the non-stop lunacy of the off-ice distractions, he kept on pounding back the drinks. Sanderson eventually reached the proverbial bottom of the bottle. A down and out skid row vignette straight out of the pits of despair, Sanderson woke up on a park bench hung over, with waves of nausea and self-loathing coursing over him. For a player like Sanderson, who reached a high level in terms of playing ability, his off-ice downfall was similarly spectacular.

Bryan Fogarty could never handle the pressure of a big league career and drank as a way to deal with it all. Yet he was helpless to save what could have been a very good professional hockey career or at least a life lived beyond the age of 32. John Kordic was a bruiser who played for a handful of NHL teams including the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs. Like Fogarty, Kordic died at a young age as a direct result of his drinking (and drug use.) The two had apparently formed a brief friendship based on the shared understanding that they both had a serious problem.

Brian “Spinner” Spencer grew up in the tough northern B.C. town of Fort St. James. For Spencer, it must have somehow seemed appropriate to lead a reckless life on and off the ice. Perhaps he felt cursed after his father was killed in a shoot-out with police. He had been enraged when his son’s first big league game as a Toronto Maple Leaf played on a Saturday night, a match-up originally scheduled to be shown on the CBC in his area, was pre-empted. He stormed off with a gun to the closest CBC station and minutes after arriving he was dead. Spencer ended up leaving hockey earlier than he might have otherwise and was murdered during a drug deal in Florida in 1988.

Theoren Fleury was tough as nails, especially considering his stature, and could score goals as well. The drink still ended up costing Fleury a handful of suspensions and must have at least reduced his potential to some degree. Fleury did not hit rock-bottom in such a dramatic way as some other players and he benefited from an increasing awareness within the league and the advent of a substance abuse program in the NHL.

The NHL suspended Mark Bell, 27, after he pleaded no contest to drunk driving and hit-and-run charges stemming from an incident on Sept. 1, 2006, when he was a member of the San Jose Sharks. He will serve six months in a Santa Clara, Calif., county jail next summer, so as not to conflict with the NHL season. He will also need the approval of both the NHL and the NHL Players' Association to be reinstated, as per the terms of the league's substance abuse program.

Jay Bouwmeester plead guilty in Edmonton to one count of impaired driving. The Panthers blue-liner was fined $1,000 and banned from driving in Canada for a year. He must also pay a $150 victim surcharge. Bouwmeester, 23, was arrested near a popular nightclub area in Edmonton, his hometown. He was charged with impaired driving and operating a motor vehicle with a blood-alcohol level of more than .08. Police allege an off-duty officer saw the hockey player's vehicle swerving.

After the Hurricanes were eliminated from the playoffs in Boston and returned to Raleigh, Steve Chiasson wrecked his pickup on the way home from a team party at the home of Gary Roberts, killing himself instantly. According to teammate Kevin Dineen, Chiasson refused to call a taxi or accept a ride home, insisting on driving himself despite a blood alcohol content later found to be 0.27, over three times North Carolina's legal limit of 0.08.

Craig MacTavish missed the 1984-85 season after being convicted of vehicular homicide, having struck and killed a young woman while he was driving under the influence of alcohol. MacTavish spent a year in jail as punishment for his offence. After MacTavish was released from prison, the Bruins, feeling he deserved a fresh start, subsequently offered to let him out of his contract. MacTavish accepted.

Robert Colangelo, Timothy Haun, Ryan MacGregor, Bret Norris, Ryan Person and Christopher Reberni were hockey players used to getting a only few minutes in a penalty box for fighting on the ice. They spent Saturday night in jail after police said they attacked a homeowner in Jacksonville Beach. The Jacksonville Barracudas hockey team players showed up at a house in the 400 block of 4th Avenue South expecting a party became angry when there was nothing going on, police said.

Sean Avery, byy some accounts the most hated player in the National Hockey League - will be joining the estrogen-infused world of fashion as an unpaid intern at Vogue magazine. Avery, who never earned a college degree because he was drafted into the NHL right after high school, has said he wants to be a fashion magazine editor. Before signing with the Rangers as a free agent last year, Avery played for the Los Angeles Kings, displaying a flair for both fashion and celebrities. He has been linked to actresses Elisha Cuthbert and Mary Kate Olsen.

Teammates always have each other´s backs. And, apparently, each other´s wives´ fronts. After allegedly balling teammate Alexander Mogilny´s wife when both of them were Maple Leafs, Shayne Corson was excused from Toronto´s playoff run after claiming a bout of colitis. If his colon was feeling roughed up, we´re afraid to think of what Mrs. Mogilny´s pooper looked like.

Bob Probert made the first of his many negative headlines in November 1986, when he was barred from re-entering the United States by American customs agents on Nov. 2, 1986. The decision, early in the 1986-87 season, stemmed from Probert's being on probation for having assaulted a police officer outside a Windsor, Ontario, bar on July 6, 1986 - the incident that led to his first trip to a rehab facility. Probert had avoided jail time and been placed on probation on Oct. 2, 1986, after promising that he would no longer use alcohol. That situation with his right to cross the border was quickly resolved, but Detroit demoted Probert to the minor leagues on Nov. 6, 1986, recalling him on Nov. 20, 1986.

He played well after his recall, but got into trouble again at 1:55 a.m. on Dec. 19, 1986, when he was arrested in Windsor, Ontario, for driving while impaired - his second such arrest in eight months. This time, he was also charged with violating his probation. Probert had driven his car into a utility pole before being arrested. Police also charged him with violating his probation linked to his earlier drunken driving arrest and his assault of a Windsor police officer. His license was suspended, and he was fined $500. After the arrest, Detroit suspended Probert indefinitely, but the suspension was later reduced to just two games. Probert returned to the Red Wings lineup for Detroit's Dec. 23, 1986, game vs. Chicago.

Probert's NHL career nearly came to an end in March 1989, when he was expelled from the NHL after being arrested for attempting to smuggle cocaine over the U.S.-Canada border. On March 2, 1989, Probert was driving from his native Windsor, Ontario, into Detroit with a packet of cocaine tucked in his underwear. The cocaine, a total of 14.3 grams, fell out of his underwear during a strip search by U.S. Customs Service agents on the U.S. side of the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel. Police had noticed Probert driving his 1988 GMC Jimmy in an erratic fashion and noticed evidence of drug and alcohol use in the car, which was occupied by Probert, a man and two women. The street value of the cocaine found on Probert was thought to be at least $1,500. Probert was charged with drug smuggling, and he faced up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine if convicted. Released on $50,000 bond, Probert was dealt with harshly by the NHL. On March 4, 1989, NHL president John Ziegler banned Probert form the league and the Red Wings tore up his three-year, $600,000 contract. At the time, most fans assumed Probert was being banned for life, thereby becoming the fourth player ever given such a ban. He also became the third player in NHL history to be suspended for a drug-related criminal offense, joining Don Murdoch and Ric Nattress.

Red Wings officials said they knew Probert was rumored to have widened his alcohol addiction into the use of cocaine and were not surprised by the news of his arrest. They said Probert had refused the team's offers to help him get over his drug problem, denying that he used cocaine at all. Probert was not allowed to apply for reinstatement to the NHL until the legal case against him was closed. Over the course of the following year, Probert went through extensive rehab for his addiction and also served a 90-day sentence that resulted from his pleading guilty to federal drug-smuggling charges. He served his prison time at a federal penitentiary in Rochester, Minn.

After his release from prison, Probert began skating on March 5, 1990. Two days later, the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service granted him a 90-day work permit, enabling him to work in the U.S. despite being a convicted felon. After earning his work permit, he was finally reinstated by the NHL on March 9, 1990. The league had initially said he could not return until Nov. 1, 1990, but the Wings got the process expedited in time for the 1990 Stanley Cup playoffs. Ziegler said he was satisfied Probert met conditions for reinstatement. Despite the NHL decision, Probert was only allowed to play games in the United States until the U.S. immigration service dropped its orders to have him deported if he were to enter the U.S. from Canada. This situation would last through the 1990-91 and 1991-92 seasons and part of the 1992-93 season as he appealed the ruling.

When he was reinstated, Probert was finishing his sentence in a Detroit halfway house. After getting clearance from his probation officer and halfway house director, Probert returned to practice on March 19, 1990, and made his 1989-90 debut in a March 22, 1990, game vs. Minnesota. He scored a goal in that game and in each of his next two. Despite the difficult year after his arrest, Probert later said the experience made him a better person. His saga ended when he was released from the Detroit halfway house on May 2, 1990.

Just when it looked as if Probert had truly conquered his chemical dependency problem, he found himself at the center of controversy once again in a series of events that led to his departure from Detroit. On July 15, 1994, Probert suffered minor injuries when he crashed his motorcycle into a car while driving in West Bloomfield Township, Mich. At the time of the accident, a local newspaper reported Probert's blood-alcohol level was as high as .31, more than three times the legal .10 limit. The accident came just two days after Probert had been pulled over for erratic driving and had been unable to produce his license. At the time of the accident, Probert had been ruled an unrestricted free agent. Given added controversy, Detroit senior vice-president Jim Devellano decided not to make another contract offer to Probert. On July 19, 1994, the Wings announced that Probert was no longer part of the team. "This is the end," said Devellano. "In my 12 years with the organization ... we've never spent more time on one player and his problems than we have on Probert."

Five years after he was nearly banned from the NHL for life, Probert's addiction landed him in more trouble. In a bit of deja vu, Probert sat out the entire 1994-95 lockout season after being suspended by the NHL for violating the league's substance abuse policy. The suspension stemmed from a July 15, 1994, motorcycle accident, which led to formal DUI charges against Probert on July 27, 1994. Blood tests from July 15, revealed cocaine in Probert's system, in addition to a high level of alcohol. Probert was not, however, charged with driving under the influence of cocaine, because he was already facing the DUI charge for alcohol. The charges left Probert facinig up to three months in jail. Probert's lawyers disputed the police procedures in evidence collection. Police, however, said Probert had threatened officers and workers at the hospital as they tried to draw his blood. A police report said Probert threatened to kill the arresting officers.

On Aug. 8, 1994, Probert had a hearing with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman to determine the extent of Probert's punishment. On Sept. 2, 1994, the NHL announced that Probert had been suspended indefinitely and could not be reinstated until he had completed a drug rehabilitation program. Probert was ordered to enter the ASAP Family Treatment Center in California. The program was set for a minimum of 28 days, but he ended up spending six months at the center before he applied for reinstatement into the league, which at the time was dealing with the protracted labor dispute and lockout. Probert was finally reinstated on April 28, 1995, allowing him to resume his career at the start of the 1995-96 season. The ruling was a slight disappointment, since Probert had hoped to play in the 1995 playoffs.

Probert was arrested in Delray Beach after a scuffle with Florida police that led to Probert being shocked with a Taser gun. Charged with battery on a law enforcement officer, resisting arrest with violence and disorderly conduct, Probert was held without bail at the Palm Beach County jail. Probert was found not guilty on all charges following a two-day trial. The felony charges had the possibility of sending Probert to jail for a combined 15 years.

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