| 10 March 2009
JASON SPEZZA, VARIOUSLY CALLED "THE BAD BOY OF HOCKEY" OR "THE GODFATHER OF WHITTLING" HAS WRITTEN A MUCH TALKED ABOUT BOOK HE CALLS "WHITTLED" THAT PURPORTS TO TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT HIS OWN USE OF ILLEGAL STICK BLADES, AND THE SAME ABOUT OTHER TOP PLAYERS IN THE NHL. THERE'S NO DOUBT BOOK WILL BE A BEST-SELLER, DUE TO PRE-ORDERS ON AMAZON AND ELSEWHERE. YET ALMOST NO ONE HAS READ IT, BECAUSE IT WON'T BE AVAILABLE UNTIL TOMORROW MORNING.
IN THE BOOK AND IN THIS INTERVIEW, SPEZZA NAMES NAMES - SOME OF THEM SUPERSTAR PLAYERS - ALL OF WHOM HAVE CATEGORICALLY DENIED HIS CHARGES. BUT NONE OF THEM AGREED TO TALK TO US ABOUT IT - THOUGH THEY AND MANY OTHERS ARE PUBLICLY CALLING SPEZZA NASTY NAMES. BUT HE'S PREPARED FOR THAT. TAKE A LOOK AND SEE WHAT YOU MAKE OF IT.
GRAEME NICHOLS: Hockey is the national pastime and what you're saying is that the national past time-- again, you-- you--
JASON SPEZZA: Is whittled.
GRAEME NICHOLS: Hmmm?
JASON SPEZZA: National past time is whittled.
GRAEME NICHOLS: Is whittled. Yeah.
JASON SPEZZA: It is.
GRAEME NICHOLS: That's what you're saying.
JASON SPEZZA: And it's reality.
GRAEME NICHOLS: And what you're doing to hockey now - you're taking on the whole hockey establishment.
JASON SPEZZA: I don't know if I'm directly trying to take on the whole hockey establishment. I'm just basically telling a story of my life.
THIS IS THE BOOK THAT HAS PUT THE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE AND ITS AUTHOR ON THE HOT SEAT. JASON SPEZZA WRITES ABOUT HIS CAREER AS A NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE PLAYER, AND HE SAYS THAT FROM HIS FIRST SEASON TO HIS LAST, HE ILLEGALY WHITTLED DOWN THE SIZE OF HIS STICK BLADE.
GRAEME NICHOLS: You say this, "I would never have been a major league caliber player without whittling." Right?
JASON SPEZZA: Well it-it is a true statement. No if and buts about it.
GRAEME NICHOLS: Well-how much-of your entire career's success-do you attribute to-the use of illegal stick blades?
JASON SPEZZA: Maybe not accomplish the things I did, the freakish things I did. Who knows? A lot of it is psychological. I mean, you really believe you have an edge. You feel the strength, and the stamina.
GRAEME NICHOLS: Do you have any shame that your career was fueled by illegal sticks?
JASON SPEZZA: That's a tough question. Because, I tried to do everything possible to become the best player in the world. Do I believe the use of illegal sticks helped me achieve that? Yes. Were there a lot of other players doing it that I had to compete against? Yes.
GRAEME NICHOLS: Did you give some of your sticks to other players?
JASON SPEZZA: Not mine, no. No. Did I put them in contact with the people to acquire them? Yes. Did I educate them on how to use them properly, and what way, shape, or form, and when, and with what grade of sand paper? Yes. Absolutely.
SPEZZA'S ADMISSION THAT HE USED ILLEGAL STICKS FOR HIS ENTIRE CAREER HAS SURPRISED ALMOST NO ONE IN HOCKEY. BUT EVERYONE IN THE GAME IS STUNNED THAT HE HAS GONE FARTHER IN THE BOOK THAN THEY EXPECTED. HE NAMES NAMES, FIVE IN PARTICULAR, OF PLAYERS HE CLAIMS TO HAVE HELPED DOCTOR THEIR STICKS. AT THE TOP OF THE LIST, DANIEL ALFREDSSON.
JASON SPEZZA: Daniel and I weren't really in a sense of buddy buddies. We were more acquaintances than-than actually anything else. But there are certain subjects that we could talk about like obviously the width of stick blades and so forth.
GRAEME NICHOLS: And he was a whittler, if you will?
JASON SPEZZA: Absolutely.
GRAEME NICHOLS: With you?
JASON SPEZZA: Yes.
GRAEME NICHOLS: You write repeatedly about whittling sticks with Daniel Alfredsson. Tell me about your first hand experiences with Alfredsson and illegal sticks.
JASON SPEZZA: Just the first time whittling them in the washroom stalls (LAUGHTER) it was-but-it wasn't like you gave a lot of thought. It was something so...so common...
GRAEME NICHOLS: You wrote "What we did more times than I can count was go into a bathroom stall together, light up the torches and manipulate our stick blades"-that's right. "After practice or right before the game, Daniel and I would duck into a stall in the men's room, load up our torches and sandpaper and whittle ourselves. I would often whittle Daniel."
JASON SPEZZA: Well I think it was more whittle ourselves. I think I whittled him - I mean this is a long time ago. Once or twice for sure. I didn't keep track but an athlete may prepare his stick and may ask another athlete to sand it quickly. And that's the way it works.
GRAEME NICHOLS: And these were not allowed at that time in the league?
JASON SPEZZA: Absolutely not.
IN A STATEMENT TO THE 6TH SENS ALFREDSSON SAID, QUOTE: "ONCE AND FOR ALL I DID NOT WHITTLE NOR USE ANY ILLEGAL STICKS. THE RELATIONSHIP THAT THESE ALLEGATIONS PORTRAY COULDN'T BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH."
BOTH ALFREDSSON AND SPEZZA PLAYED UNDER MANAGER JOHN PADDOCK IN OTTAWA.
GRAEME NICHOLS: Jason Spezza says that-- that-- he and Daniel Alfredsson used illegal sticks a lot when you were managing them back at the Ottawa. True?
JOHN PADDOCK: I don't think there's any doubt that-- it's a fabrication. The product of our good practice habits and the skill of our players-- Daniel was a great example. What we saw was a lot of hard work. And hard work will result in increased production.
GRAEME NICHOLS: Why do you think that Spezza says that Alfredsson was whittling? Honest.
JOHN PADDOCK: First of all, I think he's in need of attention; I think secondly-- I think there's a healthy case of envy and jealousy there.
SPORTS WRITER BRUCE GARRIOCH HAS COVERED HOCKEY AS AN OTTAWA BEAT WRITER FOR WAY TOO LONG. HE'S CURRENTLY WRITING A BOOK ABOUT THE CITY BEING A GOALIE GRAVEYARD.
GRAEME NICHOLS: Here's what John Paddock says about Daniel Alfredsson: "I am absolutely certain Daniel has earned his points from hard work and a disciplined lifestyle." Reaction?
BRUCE GARRIOCH: BRUCE GARRIOCH: Well [ten minute pause; sigh] you know you guys, I think that if... [strained breath] if there's anything that we're being taught about this story, it's [five minute pause; sigh] that Daniel Alfredsson [sigh] has a lot more friends than Jason Spezza. (Thanks Peter!)
AND FOR GOOD REASON SAYS GARRIOCH. FOR SPEZZA'S ALLEGED CHARACTER FLAWS ARE MANY - INCLUDING VANITY, EVIDENCED BY THE FACT THAT HE REPLACED ALFREDSSON AS JEWBILLEE JEWELERS SPOKESPERSON. STILL, GARRIOCH SAYS SPEZZA'S ACCUSATIONS ON THE SUBJECT OF WHITTLING, SHOULD NOT BE TAKEN LIGHTLY.
BRUCE GARRIOCH: I think the reason why Jason Spezza is going to catch a lot of hell for his book is because people think he is full of it. He is not credible. He was not a credible player. He is a snitch which is the worst thing you can possibly be in the ironclad hockey fraternity. He's done a lot of things to offend a lot of people. On this subject however I believe he does have some credibility.
SINCE HIS ROOKIE SEASON, JASON SPEZZA'S BEEN SURROUNDED BY MULTITUDE OF NEW TEAMMATES. IN HIS BOOK, SPEZZA WRITES THAT HE WHITTLED WITH THREE OTHER PLAYERS.
GRAEME NICHOLS: You-did you teach your new teammates how to whittle?
JASON SPEZZA: Yes. We spoke and educated-three or four players here.
GRAEME NICHOLS: Who?
JASON SPEZZA: Dany Heatley.
GRAEME NICHOLS: Right.
JASON SPEZZA: Mike Fisher. Wade Redden.
GRAEME NICHOLS: So you were an eye witness to seeing Heatley, Fisher Redden-
JASON SPEZZA: I whittled them.
GRAEME NICHOLS: Wade...
JASON SPEZZA: Whittled.
GRAEME NICHOLS: Huh?
JASON SPEZZA: I whittled them. Absolutely.
GRAEME NICHOLS: You whittled them?
JASON SPEZZA: Yes. We spoke about it quite in depth. And you know, we'd be working out, talking about it. You know we'd go into dressing room and sand sticks down. Bottom line.
GRAEME NICHOLS: Uh-huh. Into the bathroom. You'd whittle each other up.
JASON SPEZZA: All the time. I mean we just - it was not a - it wasn't a big deal. It was - it was common ground.
IN HIS BOOK, SPEZZA CONTENDS THAT THE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE'S ESTABLISHMENT HAD TO KNOW OF THE GROWING USE OF ILLEGAL STICKS. HE ALLEGES THAT THE OWNERS, BOB GOODENOW THE HEAD OF THE PLAYERS UNION, AND GARY BETTMAN, THE GAME'S COMMISSIONER, WERE ALL TURNING A BLIND EYE.
BRUCE GARRIOCH: To me, Gary Bettman, he'll be defined by how this era is viewed in history. I mean you are looking at a hockey establishment that has said that it wanted to get rid of whittling for ten years yet I don't recall hockey ever doing a public service announcment saying to kids, "hey kids, don't whittle." I don't recall hockey ever doing an independent investigation. They haven't spent a penny, at least to my knowledge to go out an investigate what's going on with this whittling business.
GARY BETTMAN, DECLINED TO TALK TO US. AS FOR JASON SPEZZA, HE IS UN REPENTANT. PERHAPS THE MOST ASTONISHING THING ABOUT HIS BOOK - IN THE FACE OF WIDESPREAD SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE THAT THE ABUSE OF STICK WHITTLING CAUSES SERIOUS HARM TO THE INTEGRITY OF A HOCKEY STICK -- HE STILL ENDORSES THE PRACTICE OF WHITTLING. LISTEN TO WHAT HE TOLD US.
JASON SPEZZA: I don't recommend whittling for everyone and I don't recommend the use of illegal sticks for everyone. But for certain individuals, I truly believe, because I've experimented with it for so many years, that they can make an average athlete a super athlete. It can make a super athlete - incredible. Just legendary.
GRAEME NICHOLS: And how do you respond to Ron Wilson's statement that: "The guy was not only using a stick that was illegal, it was dangerous."
JASON SPEZZA: Nobody here knows the rules. I don't know what the clarification is. We still never got an answer. (Refereee Dan O'Halloran) just told me it was too skinny. It's apparently too skinny. Real dangerous, I guess. Do me a favor and ask Ron how Brian Burke's ass tastes.
AND WITH THAT, JASON SPEZZA WALKED OFF THE SET.
****Unless you're an idiot, you'll realize this interview was completely fabricated."
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
