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.:: Hockey Fights ::.
John Kordic vs Gord Donnelly
A game between the Quebec Nordiques and the Montreal Canadiens was never a real game unless there was a couple of good fights! Kordic and Donnelly got suspended for fighting twice that week.
John Kordic vs Gord Donnelly
Kordic Tribute text:
The Darker Side of Hockey
A Tribute to John Kordic
(1965-1992)
By JoiFwd
When people remember John Kordic, they picture a defiant and skilled fighter
with a volatile temper and an appetite for the darker side of life.
Night after night he sacrificed his body for the game of hockey, and for
the fans who loved to watch him fight. They would fill the arenas with
their bloodthirsty cries chanting "Kordic, Kordic!" They usually
got what they wanted, which was to watch John crumple his opponents to
the ice. He would skate off victorious and bloody and the fans would cheer.
He was the bad boy of hockey, and besides, it was all in good spirits,
right? But what the fans did not see or want to realize was that
it was not only his body that he was sacrificing, but also his inner spirit,
his soul. The drugs and alcohol that John Kordic used were not only used
for his pleasure, but also as a coping mechanism.
A Native American by heritage, John was born on March the 22nd, 1965 in
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. During his young adulthood he was described
as being a very timid, skinny, goal scorer. But during the early 80’s,
while John Kordic was only in his teens and playing with the Portland Winter
Hawks, John’s personality underwent a sudden change. He went from a shy,
goal scorer into an infamous enforcer with a violent temper. It was during
these years, when John played for the Portland Winter Hawks, that he developed
his reputation as a vicious enforcer. It was also during these years when
John was exposed to Brian Shaw, owner of the Portland Winter Hawks. Brian
Shaw was known for making unwanted advances toward the players.
When
Brian Shaw first came upon John, he recognized his scoring ability, but
most of all, Shaw recognized that John was a young and timid kid that he
could take easily advantage of, and reportedly, that's exactly what Shaw
did. A friend of John's stated to the "Alberta Report" that Kordic
told him Shaw said "he liked what he saw (on the ice), but he really liked
what he saw in the shower." Although Kordic never came out and said
so, he frequently mentioned things that would suggest that Brian Shaw was
abusing him. Brian Shaw allegedly abused players for 25 years until his
death of AIDS-related cancer in 1993.
It seemed as from this point on, John Kordic was headed towards a downward
spiral. Even though he was the highest scoring defenceman on the Sherbrooke
Canadiens through the 84-85 season, the pressure was still on him to be
an enforcer. The Montreal Candiens were impressed with John's skilled fighting
abilities and called him up as team enforcer. In two months, he was wearing
a 1986 Stanley Cup ring. Life seemed to be going well, but in reality the
weight on his shoulders to fight was growing heavier with each passing
day. John began using steroids in order to enhance his strength and fighting
abilities and later said that he felt pressured into using them.
John's father encouraged his hockey career, but hated for to him fight.
He called John many times to express his displeasure. It deeply depressed
John to know that he was hurting his father, and he cried about it often.
John found himself in a difficult dilemma. On one hand it hurt him terribly
to displease his dad, besides, John hated fighting, on the other hand he
was pushed into fighting by his coaches. In order to keep his job in the
NHL he had to. The ice time that John was given was for him to fight.
When your ice time is for fighting, is there time for you to show off and
develop your puck-handling skills? Later on while with the Canadien’s,
John asserted to the management there that he wanted to change his style
of play, but they never allowed him to.
When John was called up to the Montreal Canadiens, he began hanging out
with other players on the notorious strip, Crescent Street in Montreal.
It was probably there that John got his first taste of cocaine. It was
something that helped to numb the pain inside of him and something that
would plague him for the rest of his life. After two years with the Canadiens,
John was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1988 for Rusty Courtnall.
Unfortunately, in Toronto the fans didn't welcome John with open arms and
the adjustment was not easy for him to take. In the ‘88 season with the
Leafs, John was suspended ten games for breaking Keith Acton’s nose. John
did not use his off ice time for the better either. He was drowning his
sorrows with alcohol and hanging around the “bad” crowd. He had even started
fighting with his teammates. When Gary Leeman, (who was a Leaf at the time)
started going out with the former Mrs. Melissa Iafrate (who's ex-husband
Al Iafrate was a Leaf and a friend of John's) it caused sparks to fly between
Kordic and Leeman.
In 1989, John Kordic’s father passed away and as a result John to fell
into an abyss of despair and depression. John probably dreamed that someday
his father would see him play in the NHL without the fighting aspect. John
was never able to leave that role behind him and his father never got the
chance to see him play in the NHL outside of the enforcer role. After John
father's death, his cocaine and drinking habit was pushed to the brink.
John began skipping practices and games without asking. He was hanging
out with so called “low-lifes” and having run-ins with the law. He was
again traded in 1991 to the Washington Capitals. Things weren't much better
there either. He was still suffering from a deep depression and his substance
abuse problems ceased to drift away. He went to Alcoholics Anonymous but
still couldn't shake his habit. The real problem was not from his alcohol,
cocaine or even steroid addiction, but from the unbearable pain which burned
inside of him. In the seven games that John played with the Capitals he
had an overwhelming 101 penalty minutes. John was released from the Capitals
later that year after being suspended twice for alcohol related offenses.
After going to another substance abuse center, John Kordic started
the 1991-92 season with the Quebec Nordiques (now the Colorado Avalanche).
He was under strict terms with the team and had to undergo regular drug
testing. But John was still depressed and hungered to rid himself of the
emotional distress that he was in. He again turned to drugs for comfort.
In January 1992, he failed his drug test and was thrown off of the Nordiques.
After that, John signed a contract with the Edmonton Oilers’ farm team
and went to Quebec that summer.
John battled hard to beat his addictions, but on August 8th 1992, after
checking himself into a Quebec motel, they crept into his life and quickly
began to devour it. He began taking cocaine, steroids and alcohol. It seemed
at this point that John had little regard for himself. Soon after
the police were called to his room and nine of them showed up to take John
Kordic into custody. They allegedly found John in a rage and more than
likely used excessive force in order to contain him. John was then led
to an ambulance where he later passed out and could not be revived. A lot
of people blame the league's drug policy at the time for John's death.
Doing more in the way of counseling instead of being suspended or thrown
off of teams for failing drug tests could have helped. Luckily the league's
policies have and are changing.
Today Sunday March 22nd
1998, would have been John Kordic's 33rd birthday.
John Kordic said that he didn't want to be remembered for just being a
thug, and he shouldn't. John started his career without the fighting aspect
and scored goals. There was so much more to him then just being a
hockey “enforcer”. It was a role that was forced upon him and not something
that he wanted to do. No one should have to go through what he did. John
was someone who could make his teammates laugh with his practical jokes.
He was a sweet, caring person who liked children. It's truly heartbreaking
what happened to him. John shouldn't be remembered just for just the fighting
aspect of his life or the drugs and wild lifestyle, but for being the beautiful
person that he was on the inside and out. |
We will miss you,
always John and remember you thoughtfully in our hearts.
Happy Birthday
We Love you
John Kordic is
survived by his mother Regina, two sisters and his brother Dan who currently
plays for the Philadelphia Flyers
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email: rats_and_guns_n_roses@yahoo.com
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