WANT THE HOCKEY CAREER TO GO UP IN SMOKE? Hockey dopers can forget about college hockey if they can't get off the pipe.

What is the single word that can force just about any college hockey coach to think again about a prospect? Marijuana.

There are even junior organizations with players toking up on the funny weed courtesy of the resident head coach. In the hockey house, on the team bus, and likely just about anywhere else the urge to lighten the load hits. Let’s not even get into the team captains that are allowing the younger players to get roped into the insanity.

Even players from camps are unable to resist the urge. What are coaches to think when they step onto an hotel elevator and are forced to hold their breath in an effort to avoid a contact high? How did they know it was players? Because the staff and players were taking up 96% of the available rooms.

How stupid can boys be?

This is certainly not the first time we’ve had to address this type of behavior, and certainly won’t be the last. The problem is so wide spread that now every player will be facing additional scrutiny when the colleges start snooping around…if they start at all.

Drugs are the kryptonite for prospective college athletes. When I grew up, there was a distinct difference between the stoners and jocks. When did the pot-heads start to make their way into the locker room? What thought could possibly be going through a young man’s head before taking that first puff?

It simply does not make any logical sense. Prospects spend thousands of hours preparing and praying for the hockey dream, only to let it slip away for moments of a perceived high?

Boys, it’s not cool, This type of behavior is self-destructive and simply stupid.

For those high-level prospects that elect to party away their college opportunities, I do have one dim light at the end of your hockey tunnel; single A minor professional player.

Yes sir, prospects can play professional and earn as much as $500 a week continuing the dream. Leagues like the Federal Hockey League boasts a number of call-ups to the ECHL, but few players are able to move up the ladder from there.

$500 a week? I believe that a young shift manager at McDonald’s makes more than that.

To summarize, let’s make this very simple. Smoke pot and forget school. Smoke pot and hockey prospects are just about guaranteed to end up with their name on the front of the work shirt, not on the back of a college or pro sweater.