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18 stouffville suntribune thursday jan 29 2004 hockey tough guy has new lease on life in syracuse from page 1 spent a night in jail for hitting a spectator on the hand with his tossed stick jan 26 2001 in dayton ohio playing for peoria at the time sugden said he was only faking but the stick flew from his hand he was upset with fans taunting him abjout his drug problem the ban was lifted last fall after an ahl hearing he talks about his past freely now the junior hockey boozing the gameday liq uid lunches in the pros the failed drug test in the minors now he goes to aa meet ings and spends time with his young family in syracuse he hasnt touched alcohol for 20 months cocaine in more than four years but the stories remain like the tatoos reminders of a life almost wasted as brandon puts it ironically mr sugden got drunk for the first time in syracuse as a 13yearold with his toronto minor hock ey team he drank and fought heavily in the ontario hockey league during stops in london sudbury and barrie cocaine was used to cele brate making the old international hockey league brandon sugden stouffville resident expects to be called up to nhls columbus blue jackets in 199899 and continued five times a week until he failed a drug test with dayton the next season monthlong rehab got him clean along with the realization he was killing himself and his career support from fans his story has appeared in papers and was a subject of a tv special in syracuse the response has been sup portive many people wrote me letters inviting me to talk to them at the rink he said theyre recovering addicts and they can relate its nice i still go out with the guys after the game to the bar its a team building thing he said now im the one not drink ing but its so nice to wake up in the morning and not have a hangover on every other team i played on i overstayed my welcome by being the goof mr sugden gets his kicks from playstation games with son anthony 8 and going bowling his favourite band remains marilyn manson wife crystal keeps one of the toughest players in the minor pros on the straight and narrow if i even think about doing something i just have to look at her and realize i cant he said at the rink hes king brandon is easily the most popular crunch play er said dave mccormick who has operated an unoffi cial crunch website for four seasons fans of all ages love him and flock to see him when he represents the team at public appearances sugden stands out as the player who goes to the most appearances and draws the most attention and he can play the crunch are a com pletely different team with sugden in the lineup mccormick said when he is photo courtesy andrea roy syracuse crunch enforcer brandon sugden left fights rocky thompson of the toronto roadrunners this season the same teams play tonight in toronto playing no one pushes the crunch around his presence demands respect from the opposition on several occa sions a fight or punishing check from sugden has immediately swung the game in the teams favour mr sugdens father travis owns a labelmaking busi ness in toronto and lives on a golf course near stouffville in previous business lives www am bdtwiiigcom driver ed certificate program stouffville arena multi purpose room every saturday 900 am tel 9059479622 optimum compounding welcomes patients of creative compounding pharmacy the combination of prescription files and operations takes ontarios first compounding only pharmacy and makes it the only in ontario and largest in canada we are custom medication specialists we are optimum 10171 yonge st richmond hill l4c 1t5 yonge major mac tel 9058836940 toll free 18664105975 fax 9058836941 fax free 18664105976 wwwoptimumcompoundingca suppositories rapid dissolve tablets creams solutions capsules injections troches gels lollipops sticks gummies only research can cure leukemia only excellence in canadian research is funded by lrf please help leukemia 1110 finch ave w ste 222 toronto ontario m3j 2t2 tel 416 661cure 2873 fax 416 6613840 this message bougnt to you as a community service of the economist suntribte he was a pro wrestler cowboy tray travis and a boxer who sparred with muhammad m he also trained boxers for the ring including brandon from age 9 travis gathered documen tation for the appeal of the ban including a testimonial from stouffville spirit general manager ken burrows he became an unofficial member of our team the players loved him mr burrows said brandon rode the buses with the junior team prac tised with them spoke to the teenaged players about the dangers of drugs and alcohol and gave them tips on hockey fisticuffs i miss that i felt like i was back in junior he said some players may have been thinking of straying off the path and i gave them a kick in the ass mr sugden now kicks tail with the big boys when theyre willing to tangle 170 he says of his fight record this year no ones beaten me yet hes celebrated fights by blowing smoke off imaginary handguns earning him another nickname six shooter against the notoriously tough philadelphia phan toms dec 19 mr sugden couldnt find a dance partner no one wanted to go he said after trying to goad phantom tough guys peter vandermeer exnhler craig berube and ei stock against cleveland jan 4 he had the gordie howe hat trick a goal an assist and a fight and i took out the goalie drafted by leafs the toronto maple leafs drafted him 111th overall in 1996 two years later the st louis blues signed him as a free agent three months into his new hockey life mr sugden has been told hell be called up to columbus late this season more likely to spar than score in 33 games this year he has four points and 159 minutes in penalties ill get my feet wet for a few games he said promis ing to keep his hands clean at the same time if someone told me this would happen a year ago i would have told them they were lying attention business owners msaaahawi3m sales for the mam stoufmle unionville telephone directory will be closing on february 13th 2004 phone directories company tmzmdl for more information call m 18777266482