When hockey playoffs start, drug testing stops

[Xitium 272]

http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/conte...OU.html?sid=101

Here is a snip:

... the NHL doesn't test for performance-enhancing drugs during the playoffs. For all the prices paid to hoist the Stanley Cup, a fear of being caught taking banned substances is not among them.

The NHL's performance-enhancing drug policy, enacted three years ago by the league and players union, does not permit testing during the playoffs and off-season. It's a five-month window in which the only enforcement against doping is the honor system.

Wow. Are you kidding me? I just don't understand how this can be true in this day and age.

[j.hoop 64]

is this the BJs next excuse?

[Xitium 272]

is this the BJs next excuse?

Ha.

[esteef 2,679]

Crosby's a juicer!

esteef

[Guest Shoreline]

Those Wings must be cheaters with their superhuman strength and one-punch KO's.

But yeah, on a serious note the NHL should not exclude the playoffs. I'm sure given that Crosby whined about such an idea, and Cheli praised it, many will be inclined to agree with me now.

[hockey&beer 16]

For the few and very far between instances of doping in the NHL, its safe to say that players aren't going to suddenly decide to start shooting-up come game 1 round 1.

On a side note, in other major professional sports do the players get paid for playoffs. NHL players play for free after the season concludes so that may have something to do with it.

[Guest mindfly]

90mg ephedrine 30mins before game, gogo

[Blueliner 69]

is this the BJs next excuse?

Haha that's what I was thinking.

I don't think that the NHL even needs drug testing. There is no need for players to take that kind of stuff. If players got that big, they couldn't play. According to the article, only one player has tested positive. And that was some guy I've never heard of.

I'm sure they put testing in place because they didn't want to hear the flack from the media. It's the same reason why the PGA Tour put in drug testing for it's players. They know nobody is going to use that stuff, but they don't want the media all over their asses.

[Zion 93]

Datsyuk is on the juice.

Flame on!

[cusimano_brothers 1,655]

The League might as well suspend drug testing for the playoffs; it looks like they've suspended officiating as well.

From the quote from the link:

"Blue Jackets captain Rick Nash slowly collected a handful of empty bottles littering his corner of the visitors' locker room in Detroit's Joe Louis Arena and deposited them in a trash can."

I got the mental image of him in his "personalized" bathrobe, pushing a shopping cart on the streets of Columbus and...

[Detroit # 1 Fan 2,204]

Playoffs start, lets hit up the roids!

PLEASE! This is beyond a non issue.

[EuroTwin 240]

The League might as well suspend drug testing for the playoffs; it looks like they've suspended officiating as well.

OOH BURN.

No really though, that's possilby the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Doesn't it seem like the playoffs might be the more likely time of year for guys to start using? I mean, here's a giant silver awesome trophy that's the hardest ******* thing to win ever, and maybe you'll only get this one chance to even TRY to win it, and OH BY THE WAY, we're going to stop testing for drugs now.

Gooooooood luck!

[uk_redwing 495]

Maybe we'll see the BJ players mysteriously swell up to huge sizes now?

[AtomicPunk 296]

Maybe we'll see the BJ players mysteriously swell up to huge sizes now?

Then their coach must REALLY be juicing.