Two OHL Players Suspended for Meth
Two Ontario Hockey League players have each been suspended for eight games because of doping violations, even though officials believe they unknowingly took banned substances.Plymouth Whalers centre Alex Aleardi and Saginaw Spirit defenceman Ryan O'Connor tested positive for the stimulant methylhexaneamine in November. The World Anti-Doping Agency added the substance to its banned list in 2009.
"We are completely satisfied that the players used a supplement which they had purchased over the counter at a local retail outlet and had no knowledge that it contained a stimulant," CHL president David Branch said Friday in a statement.The CHL, which includes the Western, Ontario and Quebec major leagues, began league-wide testing during the 2006-07 season. The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League had already been conducting drug tests for two seasons as a pilot project.
On the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) 2010 and 2011 Prohibited Lists, methylhexaneamine (dimethylpentylamine) is listed as a stimulant, prohibited in-competition. Recently, nine Australian athletes tested positive for methylhexaneamine and face bans of up to two years. Similarly, the use of the stimulant resulted in the loss of two medals at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Earlier this year, Major League Baseball (MLB) announced that methylhexaneamine was responsible for a series of minor league baseball bans.
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