Horcoff suspended 20 games for PED use

[CarltonTheBear]

Horcoff's 37 years old and on a 1-year deal, he has 10 points in 45 games this season. That's very likely it for his career. Not a great way to go out.

 

[bustaheims]

Horcoff's 37 years old and on a 1-year deal, he has 10 points in 45 games this season. That's very likely it for his career. Not a great way to go out.

Yeah. Unless the Ducks feel generous about letting him back into the lineup after the suspension is over, that' a career ender.

 

[WhatIfGodWasALeaf]

That's not an insignificant sum of money either. It bothers me a little that they put them in a treatment program, but still take their salary. I fee like they should have the right to earn a portion of it back upon successful completion of the program.

 

[dappleganger]

That's not an insignificant sum of money either. It bothers me a little that they put them in a treatment program, but still take their salary. I fee like they should have the right to earn a portion of it back upon successful completion of the program.

I think thats actually a pretty good idea.

 

[Frank E]

That's not an insignificant sum of money either. It bothers me a little that they put them in a treatment program, but still take their salary. I fee like they should have the right to earn a portion of it back upon successful completion of the program.

It's supposed to be a deterrent.

 

[hockeyfan1]

One wonders if he thought he could get away with it.  Also, he definitely can't be the only one.

 

[Crucialness Key]

I guess Anaheim sure could use a guy like Tyler Bozak now!  

(please ignore his recent stretch of play thanks ok kewl)

 

[LuncheonMeat]

There was an interesting discussion on (the Fan?) this morning talking about drug testing in the NHL. I didn't do any fact checking, but apparently the NHL drug tests 60 individuals a year during non-competition time (read: Summer). When those tests are set up, they're scheduled. The league contacts the player by phone or email and sets up a date for testing, typically 2 weeks out. If the player is unable to schedule for 2 weeks it can be pushed to a later date (read: after XYZ clears the player's system).

I think if the league were concerned with taking the pulse of the players with regard to drug use, those test would be more frequent, and either surprise testing or with a very small window. The system seems fairly broken and fairly easy to work around, at least in the off-season.

 

[bustaheims]

There was an interesting discussion on (the Fan?) this morning talking about drug testing in the NHL. I didn't do any fact checking, but apparently the NHL drug tests 60 individuals a year during non-competition time (read: Summer). When those tests are set up, they're scheduled. The league contacts the player by phone or email and sets up a date for testing, typically 2 weeks out. If the player is unable to schedule for 2 weeks it can be pushed to a later date (read: after XYZ clears the player's system).

I think if the league were concerned with taking the pulse of the players with regard to drug use, those test would be more frequent, and either surprise testing or with a very small window. The system seems fairly broken and fairly easy to work around, at least in the off-season.

I don't know how it works in the summer, but I remember reading somewhere that they do random testing 4 or 5 times a year, with no warning.

EDIT: Found this in an article written in September:

Every player who has participated in an orientation session is subject to testing as follows: each club will be subject to team-wide no-notice testing once during training camp; each club will be selected at random for team-wide no-notice testing once during the regular season; individual players will be randomly selected for no-notice testing during the regular season and playoffs; tests are not conducted on game days.

 

[LuncheonMeat]

I don't know how it works in the summer, but I remember reading somewhere that they do random testing 4 or 5 times a year, with no warning.

EDIT: Found this in an article written in September:

Every player who has participated in an orientation session is subject to testing as follows: each club will be subject to team-wide no-notice testing once during training camp; each club will be selected at random for team-wide no-notice testing once during the regular season; individual players will be randomly selected for no-notice testing during the regular season and playoffs; tests are not conducted on game days.

So it sounds like they have a half-decent program during the season, but it's interesting there's no mention of the off-season. I would think that would be the time to test without warning, when guys are strictly training and trying to recover from the season, and gain strength/endurance/pounds, etc.

 

[bustaheims]

So it sounds like they have a half-decent program during the season, but it's interesting there's no mention of the off-season. I would think that would be the time to test without warning, when guys are strictly training and trying to recover from the season, and gain strength/endurance/pounds, etc.

The off-season stuff is in the article, as well. I just really wanted to highlight the in-season stuff, because I feel that's a bigger deal.

 

[Kin]

There was an interesting discussion on (the Fan?) this morning talking about drug testing in the NHL. I didn't do any fact checking, but apparently the NHL drug tests 60 individuals a year during non-competition time (read: Summer). When those tests are set up, they're scheduled. The league contacts the player by phone or email and sets up a date for testing, typically 2 weeks out. If the player is unable to schedule for 2 weeks it can be pushed to a later date (read: after XYZ clears the player's system).

I think if the league were concerned with taking the pulse of the players with regard to drug use, those test would be more frequent, and either surprise testing or with a very small window. The system seems fairly broken and fairly easy to work around, at least in the off-season.

Worth mentioning that I'm pretty sure that drug testing is something that has to be collectively bargained so the testing policy doesn't just reflect the NHL's seriousness or concern with the issue.

 

[LuncheonMeat]

There was an interesting discussion on (the Fan?) this morning talking about drug testing in the NHL. I didn't do any fact checking, but apparently the NHL drug tests 60 individuals a year during non-competition time (read: Summer). When those tests are set up, they're scheduled. The league contacts the player by phone or email and sets up a date for testing, typically 2 weeks out. If the player is unable to schedule for 2 weeks it can be pushed to a later date (read: after XYZ clears the player's system).

I think if the league were concerned with taking the pulse of the players with regard to drug use, those test would be more frequent, and either surprise testing or with a very small window. The system seems fairly broken and fairly easy to work around, at least in the off-season.

Worth mentioning that I'm pretty sure that drug testing is something that has to be collectively bargained so the testing policy doesn't just reflect the NHL's seriousness or concern with the issue.

Yeah, you're right Nik. I wish I caught the name of the guy who was being interviewed. He did mention that testing is collectively bargained. He then launched into a tirade about Russian players going home during the summer, and their alleged 'doping program'. He lost me there, but he was basically implying that Russian players MUST be doping because of where they're from. He made mention of how many Russian players there were (I don't remember) and that at least some of them must be cheating. You know, because they're Russian, and PEDs are only available in Russia. I don't know the numbers, but I'm guessing a number of those players played junior hockey in N. America, and stick around during the summer to train. And BTW, this was not Don Cherry.

 

[Kin]

Yeah, you're right Nik. I wish I caught the name of the guy who was being interviewed. He did mention that testing is collectively bargained. He then launched into a tirade about Russian players going home during the summer, and their alleged 'doping program'. He lost me there, but he was basically implying that Russian players MUST be doping because of where they're from. He made mention of how many Russian players there were (I don't remember) and that at least some of them must be cheating. You know, because they're Russian, and PEDs are only available in Russia. I don't know the numbers, but I'm guessing a number of those players played junior hockey in N. America, and stick around during the summer to train. And BTW, this was not Don Cherry.

Personally, I don't have a problem with players using PEDs in their off-season training regimen(or at any point really) and looking at Horcoff's numbers this year, I have some pretty serious doubts about their efficacy regardless.

 

[Heroic Shrimp]

There was an interesting discussion on (the Fan?) this morning talking about drug testing in the NHL. I didn't do any fact checking, but apparently the NHL drug tests 60 individuals a year during non-competition time (read: Summer). When those tests are set up, they're scheduled. The league contacts the player by phone or email and sets up a date for testing, typically 2 weeks out. If the player is unable to schedule for 2 weeks it can be pushed to a later date (read: after XYZ clears the player's system).

I think if the league were concerned with taking the pulse of the players with regard to drug use, those test would be more frequent, and either surprise testing or with a very small window. The system seems fairly broken and fairly easy to work around, at least in the off-season.

Worth mentioning that I'm pretty sure that drug testing is something that has to be collectively bargained so the testing policy doesn't just reflect the NHL's seriousness or concern with the issue.

Yeah, you're right Nik. I wish I caught the name of the guy who was being interviewed. He did mention that testing is collectively bargained. He then launched into a tirade about Russian players going home during the summer, and their alleged 'doping program'. He lost me there, but he was basically implying that Russian players MUST be doping because of where they're from. He made mention of how many Russian players there were (I don't remember) and that at least some of them must be cheating. You know, because they're Russian, and PEDs are only available in Russia. I don't know the numbers, but I'm guessing a number of those players played junior hockey in N. America, and stick around during the summer to train. And BTW, this was not Don Cherry.

It was Mark Spector being interviewed, and I'm pretty sure it was Ben Ennis interviewing him.  My recollection was that it was Ennis who led the discussion aggressively into the avenue of the likelihood of Russian hockey players in particular doping, and I thought Spector was merely in moderate agreement with him.  If you really want to listen to it, it starts 15 or 16 minutes into the top "10 am" January 27 Jeff Blair podcast you can find here:  http://www.sportsnet.ca/590/jeff-blair-show/

 

[LuncheonMeat]

It was Mark Spector being interviewed, and I'm pretty sure it was Ben Ennis interviewing him.  My recollection was that it was Ennis who led the discussion aggressively into the avenue of the likelihood of Russian hockey players in particular doping, and I thought Spector was merely in moderate agreement with him.  If you really want to listen to it, it starts 15 or 16 minutes into the top "10 am" January 27 Jeff Blair podcast you can find here:  http://www.sportsnet.ca/590/jeff-blair-show/

Thanks for that. I had my personalities mixed up, but you're right it was Blair that came off a bit like a dinosaur in that interview. I had been listening to TSN in the morning, but Matt Cauz is nauseating. That being said, I usually pick music over the Fan in the morning since it's 73% baseball and 25% basketball. Although they have no Matt Cauz, so that's a plus... sort of.

 

[Heroic Shrimp]

It was Mark Spector being interviewed, and I'm pretty sure it was Ben Ennis interviewing him.  My recollection was that it was Ennis who led the discussion aggressively into the avenue of the likelihood of Russian hockey players in particular doping, and I thought Spector was merely in moderate agreement with him.  If you really want to listen to it, it starts 15 or 16 minutes into the top "10 am" January 27 Jeff Blair podcast you can find here:  http://www.sportsnet.ca/590/jeff-blair-show/

Thanks for that. I had my personalities mixed up, but you're right it was Blair that came off a bit like a dinosaur in that interview.

It wasn't Jeff Blair.  While it was "The Jeff Blair Show", it was being hosted today by Ben Ennis.