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Myhres wants to give back to NHL by fighting substance abuse

By John Down, Postmedia News June 3, 2011 Calgary Herald

Brantt Myhres has been to the dark side . . . again and again and again and again . . . and again.

And now the 34-year-old former National Hockey League tough guy wants to give back, wants to share his knowledge, wants to help players who are struggling with substance abuse.

So with a certificate from Calgary’s Mount Royal University in substance abuse counselling, he has offered his services to the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association. As one who has first hand experience from years of battling with addictions, he believes it is a topic that is often ignored by the public or swept under the rug by the players themselves.

“A lot of it goes under the radar,” he said during a telephone interview from his home in Edmonton. “A lot of people really don’t hear the dark side of it. I played with seven different NHL teams, 17 pro teams to be exact, and I had a first hand glance at the abuse that went on.

“A lot of these guys don’t want to say anything to anybody because their careers are at stake and that’s where I could come in. They could confide in me because I’m speaking the same language. There’s no threat to them, like they’re going to a coach, a general manager or an agent. They’re going to an ex-player who’s been there, done that several times.”

Myhres struck out five times in the NHL, the fifth suspension leading to a lifetime ban.

“I think I was the only player to get suspended four times by the league and then get reinstated,” he said. “I played one game with the (Calgary) Flames, a pre-season game (in 2005), got my orbital bone smashed by (Edmonton Oilers’) Georges Laraque in a fight and after that my spirits were down and I ended up relapsing again.

“It was really dark for about a year and half. At some point I said, ‘I’m either going to die or I’m going to get sober.’ I went back to treatment for six months in Oregon and when I got out, my goal was to give back. I wanted to help players who are struggling with it.”

Myhres met with new NHLPA leader Donald Fehr recently but while they agreed he could be a liaison to players, any formal role would have to be jointly agreed upon by the league and PA.

The recent death of former New York Rangers’ Derek Boogaard further strengthened his stance that the issue needs to be openly addressed. Boogaard’s death was believed to have been triggered by a mix of alcohol and Oxycodone.

“I’d definitely like to see a little more awareness,” he said. “The whole league is up in arms over concussions but could you imagine if somebody had died from one of those concussions how crazy it would have gotten.

“But there seems to be very little attention paid to guys who die because of drug and alcohol abuse. You give an 18- or 19-year-old kid $500,000 or $1 million, it’s sometimes a recipe for disaster.”

Myhres drew his first suspension for alcohol abuse when he was just a 17-year-old member of the Western Hockey League’s Lethbridge Hurricanes. He paid his first visit to rehab when he was a 24-year-old member of the Philadelphia Flyers during the 1997-98 NHL campaign.

“They say insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result,” he said. “I looked at it as doing the same thing over and over and expecting the same result. You know what you’re getting into.

“For me I couldn’t seem to function without being medicated and I think fighting definitely took a major toll on me. I started fighting at age 16.”

Myhres had around 300 fights in pro hockey alone. In 154 regular season games in the NHL with Tampa Bay, the Flyers, San Jose, Nashville, Washington and Boston, he scored six goals and collected 687 minutes in penalties.

He never played in the NHL after Laraque broke his orbital bone, nor did he fight again. Now he’s been sober for three years but it’s an ongoing battle to stay out of the dark side.

“How I win the day is I don’t drink or do drugs,” he said. “I’m in the program and hang out with other people who have addiction issues and we try to get through it together.”

Dean
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