MONTREAL -- A new book by a retired hockey enforcer suggests the scourge of steroids in professional sports extends far beyond baseball and was commonplace for years in NHL locker rooms. Bryan Trottier Jersey . Georges Laraque says he knew a lot of players, including some of the leagues top performers, who used steroids while he was in the league. "I have to say here that tough guys werent the only players using steroids in the NHL," Laraque wrote in "The Story of the NHLs Unlikeliest Tough Guy," published by Viking Canada. "It was true that quite a lot of them did use this drug, but other, more talented players did too. Most of us knew who they were, but not a single player, not even me, would ever think of raising his hand to break the silence and accuse a fellow player." Laraque, who is now a deputy leader of the federal Green Party, doesnt accuse any players by name in the book either, but he does offer some hints for what to look for. "First, you just have to notice how some talented players will experience an efficiency loss as well as a weight loss every four years, those years being the ones the Winter Olympics are held," he wrote. "In the following season they make a strong comeback; they manage a mysterious return to form." Laraque said enforcers also used steroids to gain weight before arriving in the pros, and substances like Ephedrine so they would be desensitized before a fight. "Before a game, as I would warm up on the ice, I would always look at the tough guy on the other side," he wrote. "If his arms were trembling, if his eyes were bulging, I knew for sure he wasnt going to feel any of the punches I would give him." Laraque, who last played in the NHL in 2010, said the league began to tackle the problem in his final years in pro-hockey by setting clear rules against performance-enhancing drugs. But he said that hockey now must take action against human growth hormone, a drug purported to improve workouts and healing time, which players have started using in recent years. The NHL and the NHL Players Association have not yet responded to Laraques claims. Testing for performance enhancing substances was included in the collective bargaining agreement reached by the NHL and the NHLPA in 2005. Under that agreement, every player in the league is subject to three "no-notice" tests from the start of training camp through the end of the regular season. In the book, Laraque said he asked the NHLPA to take action soon after his career began in 1997. The NHLPA listened, but initially refused to take any action, "for obvious political reasons." "They wanted to keep drug testing as a card in their negotiations with the league," he wrote. "Plus, since their main goal was to protect the players, to take action against drugs would have harmed some of those players." Last year, a Virginia chiropractor who treated members of the Washington Capitals pleaded guilty to misdemeanour steroids charges. Douglas Nagel, who had offices in the same Arlington, Va., mall complex as the Capitals practice facility, was placed on three years of probation and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service. Capitals players Matt Bradley, Shaone Morrison and Eric Fehr admitted receiving chiropractic treatment from Nagel but denied getting steroids from him. Nagel denied that he ever distributed steroids and said the drugs he ordered from a Florida supplier were for personal use. The supplier, Andrew Thomas, had told investigators that Nagel had boasted the steroids were for professional athletes. When Nagel was arrested in March 2010, the NHL and the Capitals said the league had done a thorough investigation and that there was nothing linking the Nagel case to steroid use by any members of the team. But Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said at the time that the NHL was not co-operative in his investigation of the case. Billy Smith Jersey . Teague one handed three pointerTheres something to be said about having the nerve to go up and take a shot from downtown late in a close playoff game, but what is there really to say when that shot is one handed? Teague answers that question with a simple Jordan like shrug of the shoulders. Mike Bossy Islanders Jersey . -- Oakland Raiders running back Maurice Jones-Drew is being sued in Florida, accused of punching a bouncer at a St.I was hosting SportsCentre with Darren Dutchyshen the day the planes hit the towers. We debated all day whether or not we should do a highlight show on a day when sports could not have mattered less in our world. We ended up doing a very somber half-hour, mostly reaction to the tragedy from prominent athletes, and reports on how the various sports leagues would be canceling games. I struggled to figure out if and how sports mattered in all this madness. I guess out of that, came this column I wrote for TSN.ca on September 11, 2001. We, in sports, seem determined to attach a number to everything, and the nightmare of September 11 is no different. The "Sports World", this imaginary bubble we supposedly live in, lost L.A Kings scouts Ace Bailey and Mark Bavis. Two. A neat, tidy death toll, perfect for the tickers at the bottom of the screen. But wrong. We also lost soccer moms, and Little League dads, and big sisters who became corporate bigwigs, but could still whip you at 21 when they came home for Thanksgiving. We lost star shortstops from the corporate softball league, and secretaries who didnt play, but always brought the oranges, and cheered like you were Derek Jeter. We lost 11 year-old boys who could have been the next Jordan or Gretzky, and four-year old girls who could have been the next Mia Hamm or Venus Williams, not to mention whom they could have become in the real world.We lost fans. We lost Mets fans and Yankees fans, and fans who couldnt stand either, which was a damn brave stance in New York. We lost Jets fans whod always go to the game with the same three buddies, each shirtless with a big green painted letter stretching from navel to neck. And no matter how cold, theyd remain skin to the wind, screaming: "J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets!" Even when it was 21-3 Colts. Mikhail Grabovski Jersey. We lost bosses you couldnt stand, until they invited you to the box at the Rangers game and you both wore your Messier shirts, and forever bonded. We lost girlfriends who left you alone on Sunday afternoons in the fall, or better yet, sat right next to you and cursed like a convict when Kerry Collins threw a pick. We lost guys from the mailroom whod spend a couple of days wages to sit in the nosebleeds with their girl at a Knicks game, and stockbrokers in Boss suits whod spend a couple grand to impress a model with courtsides. But theyd cheer just as wildly. New York has great fans. We also lost Red Sox fans, Bruins fans, Patriots fans, Capitals fans, Redskins fans, Wizards fans, and probably at least a fan or two for every team out there. Even the Bengals. We lost fathers whod take you to Mini-Putt and blow a six-inch gimme on 18 every time to lose by one, so hed have to take you for ice cream yet again. We lost mothers who somehow found time to run households with a bunch of kids, corporate divisions with hundreds of employees, and marathons in under four hours. We lost Grampas who took you out for your first round on a real course, and pretended they didnt see when you teed it up on the fairway. We lost coaches whod work 60-hour weeks, and then spend their Saturdays trying to teach six year-olds to stay in position, and not all chase the same ball. We lost entire lines from the Firefighters Shinny League. And you know what the saddest part of all is? Sport was just a tiny part of who these people were. We lost all of them. cheap nfl jerseyscheap jerseys ' ' '
