Blue Jackets’ Berard tests positive for banned substance
Columbus Blue Jackets defenceman Bryan Berard has the dishonourable honour of being the first NHLer to test positive for doping, though the test had nothing to do with the league itself.
Berard tested positive in November for the banned substance 19-norandrosterone, an anabolic agent found in a supplement he apparently took last spring, sources told The Canadian Press on Thursday.
Berard, who was under consideration for the U.S. Olympic team, took the drug test on Nov. 12 drug test as part of the United States Anti-Doping Agency’s out-of-competition testing program.
Luc Robitaille of the Los Angeles Kings broke the Los Angeles Kings’ franchise record for goals with a hat trick in an 8-6 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers on Thursday night.
Robitaille, who broke in with the Kings 19 seasons ago and was the NHL rookie of the year, is the league’s career leader among left wings with 662 goals in 1,401 games. He’s scored 552 of them with the Kings, two more than boyhood idol Marcel Dionne.
Ovechkin Soars, Crosby Crashes… For Now
The Tale of Two Rookies, featuring Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin, remains the spiciest soap opera of this NHL season.
The unstoppable Ovechkin earns rave reviews in Washington, where he regularly leaps tall buildings in a single bound. Meanwhile, in Pittsburgh, Crosby has been sacrificed to the gods of bad hockey management.
Bob McKenzie at TSN.ca sums up the game plan for teams playing the Penguins: “Beat up Crosby, watch him snap.”
Bourque shoots down Bruins GM rumours
Hall of Famer Ray Bourque has shot down the talk that he’s going to replace Mike O’Connell as GM of the Boston Bruins.