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MENTAL HEALTH
Terry Trafford was a prospect whose greatness never materialized.
Living away from home, playing for the Saginaw Spirit in Michigan, Trafford started to slip. He broke several team rules during his four years with the Spirit — a major junior team in the Ontario Hockey League.
Last winter, the team suspended him after he was caught smoking marijuana.
Instead of driving back to his family in Toronto, Trafford pulled his truck into a Wal-Mart parking lot and killed himself.
It was later revealed that Trafford struggled with depression. He chose to hide it from his teammates and family — something experts say is common among people who suffer from depression.
It would be oversimplifying to link Trafford’s death to hockey, but the tragedy brought attention to the stress young athletes face. This season, the OHL began implementing a mental health strategy for its players and staff.
Dr. Neil Widmeyer, a sports psychologist who works for the Guelph Storm, has seen a draft of the plan and told reporters last month that it’s “a good step.”
He said the plan emphasizes an understanding of the factors that trigger depression. It encourages teammates, coaches, billet families and teachers to be vigilant about mental health.
As one might imagine, competitive hockey players are reluctant to speak openly about depression.
McKinven says he used alcohol to cope with the stress of elite hockey during his time in Ontario’s Tier II junior league.
“I played with a lot of guys who had drinking problems,” he said. “I didn’t realize that I had an issue until I finished playing. … But when I was with my teammates, it was just normal. … If I had a problem and I wasn’t feeling right, if I tried to go to my coach, there’s a good chance I would have been released because I would have been considered weak. There’s a stigma surrounding that and it’s still very prevalent in hockey. Don’t show any weakness.”
Don’t show any weakness: a phrase repeated by the 10 former CHL players interviewed by The Gazette — most of whom refused to be quoted for this article.
James played for the OHL’s Owen Sound Attack, in front of sold-out crowds who expected their team to compete for the Memorial Cup (the CHL’s championship trophy) each season.
The pressure to win, to get to the playoffs, to be drafted by an NHL club, was constant.
“With some coaches, it’s: ‘Win at any cost,’ ” he said. “Because they want to end up in the NHL, too. They can ride a good team or a good player to a job in the pros. … There’s stuff that goes on that I would say is borderline mentally abusive to 16-year-old kids.
“Coaches yelling at kids, telling them they’re ****, banging hockey sticks near their face and throwing garbage cans, throwing skates at the wall. There’s tonnes of that **** that goes on that nobody outside the team sees.
“If parents and other people saw it and there was a culture that permitted players to talk about it, people would be pretty appalled at what goes on behind the scenes.”
Although each CHL team has a player liaison — a teacher or police officer that players can confide in — they’re usually not mental health professionals and they report to the coach and management.
One former employee of a QMJHL team says it’s problematic that there is no independent mechanism to ensure players are treated fairly.
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