Breaking: Former NHL head coach Bob Hartley facing a 4 year doping ban.

Bob Hartley in big trouble.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 4 years ago
Breaking: Former NHL head coach Bob Hartley facing a 4 year doping ban.
Sergei Savostyanov/TASS/Zuma

Well this is certainly a very serious situation.

Former National Hockey League head coach Bob Hartley is now facing some serious trouble after some truly scandalous accusations have been leveled his way. According to a report from Kontinental Hockey League report Aivis Kalnins of Hockey Buzz, Hartley is now facing a whopping 4 year ban after accusations that he helped a player avoid a drug test, presumably for performance enhancing drugs. These are of course shocking accusations leveled against the head coach of the Kontinental Hockey League’s Avangard Omsk, but as of this moment they are accusations that both Hartley and the team have categorically denied. 

Hartley departed from the NHL after his coaching stint with the Flames but he has achieved tremendous success in the Kontinental Hockey League, advancing to that league's final with Avangard Omsk, but none of that will matter if he is found guilty of the crimes he has been accused of committing. According to Kalnins multiple Russian outlets are now alleging that he interefered with RUSADA's attempt to perform a doping test on one of the Avangard players. It is unclear how Hartley would have avoided the player in avoiding this test, but it already appears as though RUSADA will investigate the matter which could lead to very harsh penalties.

This could cause a potential problem for the upcoming International Ice Hockey Federation's World Championship as well as Hartley is currently with Team Lativia as they prepare for that tournament. Should a ban for this doping incident come down it seems extremely unlikely that he would be allowed to continue behind the bench for Lativia, and in fact I have to wonder if the investigation alone could be enough to put a halt to his plans for the World Championship. This is a developing situation so we do not have a firm grasp on what this could mean for Hartley in the short term at this time. 

Again it has to be stated here that these are at this time merely accusations and Hartley has not been found guilty of any wrongdoing. Avanagard issued a statement where they called the assertion that Hartley and a team Doctor had blocked a test a "blatant lie" so it seems like they will be fighting this one tooth and nail for what it's worth. Given Hartley's pedigree on the international stage and in the NHL itself I find it very hard to believe that he would risk his entire career over something like this. Although stranger things have happened.


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