MOFO Sports
03-21-2004, 11:51 PM
NHL needs to change its tune on drug testing
By Steve Wilstein -- Associated Press
For a sport built on speed, power, aggressiveness and the not-so-occasional brawl, hockey has stayed curiously aloof from the world of drug testing.
The time has come for change.
As the NHL and its players association skirmish over economic issues in collective bargaining, trying to avoid a lockout that could curtail or cancel next season, the doping issue should not be an afterthought or a bargaining chip as it was in baseball.
The NHL does not test for steroids, stimulants or any other performance-enhancing drugs. Players can juice up throughout the season without risk of penalties. All the league does is offer education and counselling.
Of the four major leagues in the U.S., the NFL has the strongest anti-doping program and the NHL the most lame, with the NBA and baseball in between.
The attitude in the NHL is that there is no need to do much more than the little it has for the past decade, even in the face of steroid abuse throughout the sporting landscape.
http://www.canoe.ca/Slam040320/nhl_drugs-ap.html
By Steve Wilstein -- Associated Press
For a sport built on speed, power, aggressiveness and the not-so-occasional brawl, hockey has stayed curiously aloof from the world of drug testing.
The time has come for change.
As the NHL and its players association skirmish over economic issues in collective bargaining, trying to avoid a lockout that could curtail or cancel next season, the doping issue should not be an afterthought or a bargaining chip as it was in baseball.
The NHL does not test for steroids, stimulants or any other performance-enhancing drugs. Players can juice up throughout the season without risk of penalties. All the league does is offer education and counselling.
Of the four major leagues in the U.S., the NFL has the strongest anti-doping program and the NHL the most lame, with the NBA and baseball in between.
The attitude in the NHL is that there is no need to do much more than the little it has for the past decade, even in the face of steroid abuse throughout the sporting landscape.
http://www.canoe.ca/Slam040320/nhl_drugs-ap.html