THE CANADIAN PRESS
TORONTO — With the baseball world reeling following the release of the Mitchell Report, the NHL says widespread use of performance-enhancing drugs is not an issue among hockey players.
"I don’t think we’ve ever had the same problem," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told The Canadian Press on Friday. "Hockey players have been tested for many years in international play. It’s simply not part of their culture. And we have tested NHL players up to three times a year since January 2006 and obviously have not had many issues other than one failed test."
Defenceman Sean Hill of the Minnesota Wild is the only player so far who has violated the NHL’s anti-doping policy. He was hit with a 20-game suspension last spring while still playing for the New York Islanders.
In a report issued Thursday, former U.S. Senator George Mitchell linked 85 baseball players to the illegal use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs.
Longtime anti-doping advocate Dick Pound says other leagues, including the NHL, should pay special attention to the Mitchell Report.
"If I were the commissioner of any of the other leagues, I would be studying the Mitchell Report really carefully and saying to all my people — employees, players and leaders of the associations — `We don’t ever want this kind of report to come out regarding our sport. So let’s look at the recommendations that are being made here and let’s be pro-activ(The Canadian Press)e in getting them done before somebody decides that hockey, or basketball, or football requires an investigation," the outgoing president of the World Anti-Doping Agnecy told The Canadian Press on Friday.
Daly says no Mitchell Report is needed in hockey.
"There is no need for an independent inquiry in our sport," said Daly. "We have more historical evidence than baseball did that performance-enhancing drugs have never been a material part of our culture. We are comfortable with our existing program and are always looking for ways to improve it.
"We need to be vigilant in making sure it’s state of the art and is doing everything we can possibly be doing to achieve the objective of ensuring the sport is clean."
The NHL does not test for the drugs on WADA’s list of banned substances that are prohibited only during competition, such as stimulants. Some cold remedies that contain stimulants, such as ephedrine, are suspected to be used by some hockey players.
The NHL Players’ Association says its testing program works.
"The NHLPA and the NHL have a performance-enhancing substance policy in place that includes an effective education, testing and discipline regimen," NHLPA spokesman Jonathan Weatherdon said Friday. "We continue to review the program to ensure that performance-enhancing substances do not become a problem in our sport."
The NHL’s anti-doping policy has repeatedly been called into question by Pound, a Montreal lawyer. He says the policy is seriously flawed and made headlines in November 2005 when he estimated that one third of NHL players were likely taking performance enhancing substances — mainly stimulants.
Players as well as league and union officials unanimously denied Pound’s claims.
Pound reiterated his concerns Friday with the NHL’s anti-doping policy, mainly that the league doesn’t test players during the summer months.
"I think you have to have a program that’s 7/24/365, that has an independent administration — so you don’t have the fox looking after the hen house — and that has transparency in terms of informing the public in terms of the results of all these things," said Pound.
"The whole point of a program is not necessarily the in-competition, but during the off-season," he added. "If you’re going to do a steroid program for example, that’s when you do it. And if you know you’re not going to be tested in the off-season, then it’s a licence to go ahead. You can always be clean by the time the training camps get going again in the fall."
Defenceman Bryan Berard of the Islanders and Colorado Avalanche goalie Jose Theodore both failed out-of-competition tests administered by their respective national anti-doping organizations in November 2005 but neither was suspended by the league because the failed tests happened before the NHL established its new policy.
