04/23/24
April 22, 2007
Uh Oh!: Islanders Sean Hill becomes the first player suspended for violating the NHL's drug policy. The sentence, 20 games.
So when did he test positive? How swift is the suspension levied? How much appeal time does he get? Basically - Sean Hill is a twenty minute D-man. During the Islanders run to make the playoffs he was a factor. So when did people know what? If suspended earlier than game 5, maybe the Isles don't make the playoffs at all. Of course, I'm just trying to fiugre out a way where the Leafs are at least screwed out of a playoff spot, as opposed to buffooning their way out of one.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 10:56 AM on April 23, 2007
So when did he test positive? How swift is the suspension levied? How much appeal time does he get? He tested positive before the playoffs. The suspension was levied before the final game of the Buffalo/NYI series (which Sean Hill missed). The reason the suspension took so long to incur was that his suspension had to be heard by an independent arbitrator.
posted by grum@work at 11:37 AM on April 23, 2007
My point was - do you think that the process makes sense? Personally, I have little confidence that hockey has remained somehow protected from the steroid era, when the games' attributes of speed, strength, and recovery would benefit so greatly from their use. That and, like lineman in the NFL, the average wieght of these guys has shot up generationally with only the explanation of "better training" as reason. I agree with Dick Pound. I wouldn't be surprised if a good chunk is 'roiding, and that most of the NHL knows it. The Sean Hill thing is weird because it's timing seems so odd and the process so long.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 11:08 AM on April 24, 2007
I agree with Dick Pound. There is a sentence worth mocking for a couple of reasons.
posted by grum@work at 03:53 PM on April 24, 2007
Link title is uninformative...however, interesting article.