A Strange Association

The defanged NHL Players Association did not create David Frost.

But with the OPP having now laid some serious charges involving alleged sexual exploitation against the hockey coach/agent, it's worth pointing out the NHLPA was for several years more than willing to help Frost advance his career.

It was in September, 2002, that The Star broke the news that Frost had been certified by the NHLPA as a player agent despite having already been suspended several times by different hockey leagues for his conduct and despite having been convicted of assaulting one of his own players while coaching a Junior A team.

Think about that one. Frost pleaded guilty in 1997 to charges he repeatedly punched one of his players while coaching the Quinte Hawks Jr. A club.

And still the powerful NHL players union gave him its stamp of approval.

Frost claimed at the time he worked with agent Mike Gillis. Gillis, however, said that wasn't true at all.

And still the union certified him.

Agents were stunned, but few chose to speak up. The reason? Frost talked incessantly about his close ties with union boss Bob Goodenow, having coached his son, Joe, and Frost traded on that relationship repeatedly in conversations.

If you talked to Frost, you heard more than once about how he and Goodenow were tight.

And Goodenow never denied it. Or explained it.

For more than three years, Frost stayed on the NHLPA certified agent list. It was understood by union insiders it was simply Goodenow's call, even after Frost was the alleged target of a murder scheme by one of his clients, Mike Danton, and after Danton was sent to jail for that crime.

For three years, the union allowed Frost to operate under its auspices. He never added more clients, but the designation as a certified agent nonetheless gave him a layer of useful credibility.

And not a single person with the NHLPA ever stood up and made a stink about it.

When it was all over, did the union pull the plug on Frost? Nope.

Frost resigned. And that happened only after Goodenow had already made his exit.

Comments

[Scott]

All of this seems like a return to years past. Brings back odd memories of Sheldon Kennedy's past and struggles. I think a lot of people need to really consider how much power these men hold over the young junior players. Apparently, Frost used to tell Danton and others he would get them to the 'promised land', that was the same garbage Graham James would say to Sheldon Kennedy. I think we as fans of hockey also need to question the Danton situation more so now. I think these charges against Frost should really open peoples eyes to a problem that seems to not disappear.

[Marco B]

There are so many things wrong with this whole situation, I don't know where one would really start. There is no doubt whatsoever that the young men who are climbing the ranks through the junior system could have "stars in their eyes" put there by a predatory adult, but what of the parents of these young men. Isn't there something to be said of their involvement as well, relinquishing control of their son's lives' because they too have "stars in their eyes". I'am not commenting directly on the Jeffersons' complicity, as from what I've heard there might have been some family issues before Frost appeared on the scene. All parents have to share some of the responsibility when things go this horribly wrong. I am a coach and I realize that all kids do not have those ideal home lives that we hold up as the North American standard, however this does not excuse the parent of their responsibility to their own children and the watchfulness they must excercise when those same kids start moving up the ladder. We hear these same stories over and over again not only in sports but in the entertainment world as well. Is fame and noteriety really that important that we're willing to forget our parental responsibilities

[The Acid Queen]

Bob Goodenow has a lot to answer for when this is all over.

[Bryan Davies]

The grand Canadian obsession with making it to the NHL is a hot house environment where certain varieties of plants resistant to any herbicides take root, usually in the shade. As the Cox column sugggests, the entire hockery industry is complicit to a degree - the notion of investigating sex parties involving Junior A players held 10 years ago is the ultimate in black humour. The barn door is shut, the horse is long gone, the incalcuable damage done. Hockey wrings its collective hands and the police stir up the old ashes. . .for every abuse ever perpetrated upon vulnerable young athletes.

The Canadian hot house. . . is not unique to hockey. American basketball has its urban street agents, working players as young as 12, a la 'Hoop Dreams'. This industry seduces athletic talent and discards it just as quickly. Brazilian soccer turns a blind eye to the manner in which talent is recruited out of the favelas of Sao Paulo and Rio - no one cares who is left along the way, so long as the game at the top remains the best. It seems that every sport has its Sauron.

It was the hockey culture, of which Bob Goodenow is only a part. . . is structured to encourage the end justifying the means. David Frost, or people like him, will exist in sport so long as we as a society put 'the game', 'the league', 'the finals' or any other pinnacle above the process and the athletes by which the sport exists.