The hockey world was left reeling after popular former Maple Leaf enforcer Wade Belak was found dead in an apparent suicide at a Toronto hotel on Wednesday.
Police responded to a call saying a body was hanging in a room at the tony 1 King West hotel and condo building where Belak was staying while rehearsing for CBC’s Battle of the Blades. A body was taken out of the side entrance at 7:40 p.m. and loaded into a waiting minivan.
A police source confirmed Thursday that Belak’s death was being treated as a suicide.
The 35-year-old native of Saskatoon, Sask., is the third NHL tough guy to die since the spring. Winnipeg Jets forward Rick Rypien, who suffered from depression, was found dead earlier this month. In May, New York Rangers forward Derek Boogaard’s death was ruled an accidental overdose of an alcohol and oxycodone mixture.
“What? ... What’s with all the tough guys dying or having problems?” said retired enforcer Georges Laraque when reached by the Star. “Am I next on the list? That’s unbelievable.”
Belak leaves behind wife Jennifer and children Andie and Alex, who were born during his time in Toronto.
"Sad day for the entire hockey fraternity! We really need to take a deep look into the WHY?" tweeted ex-Leaf Jamal Mayers.
Former minor pro hockey player Troy Kahler said he saw Belak drinking on Tuesday night at the Underground Garage at King and Spadina with some friends, including fellow Battle of the Blades contestant Todd Simpson. Kahler said he got his picture taken with Belak on his BlackBerry when they were leaving the bar around 2 a.m.
“He didn’t seem intoxicated at all. He was just as he was always, just happy-go-lucky,” said Kahler, who had met Belak several times before.
Belak was living in Nashville, Tenn., with his family after finishing his career there with the Predators, but was back in town to be part of the CBC reality show.
Shawn Duckman, a local chiropractor who has been friends with the Belaks since they met in a pre-natal class eight years ago, said he spoke to him two days ago.
“He seemed fine,” said Duckman. “The sweetest, most gentle guy ever.”
With his red hair and elaborate tattoo sleeves, Belak was a charming character in the Maple Leafs dressing room, someone who never took himself too seriously and was willing to do whatever it took to stay in the NHL.
“Certainly, he was brave,” said former Leaf coach Pat Quinn. “He’d answer anything as far as the physical side of the game required of him. He didn’t back down from anything.”
But it was his personality that stands out for Quinn.
“He was such a bright light, he had a smile on his face every day,” Quinn said. “The last time I saw him, he was up at TSN to talk about a career change into television. He seemed very, very happy with himself. Certainly, I was delighted to hear that. He was one of those special guys I enjoyed having.”
Paul Dennis, former team psychologist for the Leafs, echoed those sentiments.
“People throw around the term ‘the emotional glue that kept the group together.’ Well, he was that, all of that,” said Dennis. “When things weren’t going well, you knew they were going to come back to perspective with Wade Belak around, that losing a game wasn’t the end of the world. He knew his role, and that there was more to sport than winning. He was a true defender of his teammates.”
Laraque called on the NHLPA and NHL to establish counselling programs for enforcers in the wake of the series of deaths.
“Listen, they have to step up,” Laraque said. “Now more than ever, people have to realize that the job that we did is a really stressful job. Mentally, it’s one of the hardest things. There’s so many guys that have demons and problems with that. We have to do something.
“This, as sad as an incident that it is, is tainting the image of the NHL. If we don’t do something about it, it’s going to be bad. It’s not going to be safe anymore. It’s unbelievable.”
Added retired NHL star Keith Primeau: “My own personal feeling is I believe there’s a direct correlation with the line of work that they’re in.”
Tyson Nash, a longtime Coyotes agitator and briefly in the Leafs organization in 2006-07, raised the ire of the NHLPA by suggesting the association let Belak down.
The players' association took issue with Nash's tweets, pointing out programs run co-operatively among the association, the league and the league's alumni association.
"It's not true, there are programs in place that assist players in transitioning," retired NHLer Mathieu Schneider, who now works for the association, told the Fan590. "There's one called BreakAway. We haven't had a ton of guys use it, but it's there, it's available."
A woman who answered the phone at the Belak family home in Saskatchewan said she wasn’t able to speak.
“No, really I can’t. We’re just very, very upset,” she said.
Belak seemed to be faring well in his post-hockey career. He was working on radio and as an in-game reporter for the Predators. Arthritis in his hip had made it impossible for him to continue playing. He finished up in the NHL with eight goals, 25 assists with 1,263 penalty minutes in 549 games.
He also appeared to be relishing the figure skating challenge posed by the Battle of the Blades, where he represented the Tourette Syndrome Clinic at Toronto Western Hospital as his chosen charity. One of his daughters has Tourette’s.
Belak knew he made the NHL because of his muscle, but it didn’t mean he enjoyed the work.
“On nights you knew you had to fight, there were nerves, you never slept the night before,” Belak told Mark Zwolinski in an interview last March. “But you dealt with it or you didn’t. You don’t really get over it, you just go out and do your job.”
Asked by Zwolinski for his favourite moment as a player, Belak responded:
“Probably my first NHL goal, and scoring my last NHL goal in Toronto, when I broke that streak (nearly four years without a goal). Fans were chanting my name on the streets.”
With files from Curtis Rush, Jayme Poisson and Daniel Dale
Article source: thestar.com
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