How about that Dick Pounder....NOT ONE POSITIVE TEST.

[Cross Traffic]

All NHL players clean in first year of drug tests
By IRA PODELL, AP Sports Writer

All drug tests given to NHL players were clean during the first season of the league's anti-doping program, adopted last year in the labor agreement that ended the yearlong lockout.

"I suppose it's safe to say that the results confirmed what we knew already, which is the use of performance-enhancing drugs is not prevalent in our sport," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said Monday in an e-mail.

There were 1,406 tests conducted in the program that began in January. Daly said he was informed of the results two weeks ago. The findings were first reported by The Canadian Press.

Under the testing plan, the first in NHL history, every player in the league is subject to up to two random tests every year, with at least one on a teamwide basis.

A first-time offender gets a 20-game suspension without pay and mandatory referral to the league's substance abuse program for evaluation, education and possible treatment. A second positive test carries a 60-game suspension.

If a player fails a third time, he would be permanently suspended by the league. The player has the right to apply for reinstatement after two years.

The list of prohibited substances, agreed upon by a joint committee of the NHL and the players' association, includes those maintained by the World Anti-Doping Agency for out-of-competition testing. That doesn't include testing for stimulants.

"We are not surprised by the fact that no NHL players violated our ban on performance enhancing substances after over 1,400 tests were completed during the season," said Ted Saskin, the NHL Players' Association executive director. "We have always known that our sport does not have a problem in this area."

Columbus defenseman Bryan Berard was suspended from international competition for two years after he tested positive for a banned steroid while he was a candidate to play on the U.S. hockey team at the Turin Olympics.

Jose Theodore, now of the Colorado Avalanche, also failed an Olympic screening test because he used a hair-growth drug that is banned because it can be used as a masking agent.

Theodore, then with Montreal, was not chosen for the Canadian Olympic team. David Mulder, the Canadiens' team doctor, said Theodore had been taking Propecia for eight years and not to mask other drugs.

Daly said Theodore wouldn't face NHL sanctions for future positive tests for Propecia because the goalie had already applied for an exemption for prescribed use. Since Berard didn't fail a league-administered test, he also wasn't punished by the NHL.

The league's testing program has been scrutinized and criticized by WADA president Dick Pound of Canada. Pound charged last year that one-third of NHL players were taking performance-enhancing substances.

Before the Olympics, he called the NHL's substance-abuse policy ineffective.

"It amounts to practically nothing," Pound said in February. "There are no offseason tests. And you're not allowed to test a player after a game or before a game."

The NHL and players' association, which jointly run the testing program, have repeatedly disputed his claims.

"Dick Pound should be embarrassed by his baseless and uninformed allegations," Saskin said Monday, "and I would hope that in the future he refrains from commenting on NHL players since his last remarks were so off base."

[Shoalzie]

I've heard for a while that hockey players have been accused of using stimulants, not necessarily performance-enhancing drugs. You could consider caffeine or anything that gives you energy performance-enhancing but they apparently aren't doing the freak show drugs like baseball players are. Considering all of the punishment they take during the season, you'd think guys would be tempted to take something to make them heal quicker but it's good to see they're doing things legitimately...at least according to these test results throughout the season.