John Kordic

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CanadaCanada  John Kordic Ice hockey player
Date of birth March 22, 1965
place of birth Edmonton , Alberta , Canada
date of death August 8, 1992
Place of death Quebec City , Quebec , Canada
size 188 cm
Weight 100 kg
position Right wing
Shot hand Right
Draft
NHL Entry Draft 1983 , 4th lap, 78th position
Canadiens de Montréal
Career stations
1982-1984 Portland Winter Hawks
1984-1985 Seattle Breakers
1985-1988 Canadiens de Montréal
Canadiens de Sherbrooke
1988-1991 Toronto Maple Leafs
1991 Washington Capitals
1991 Nordiques de Québec
1992 Cape Breton Oilers

John Nick Kordic (born March 22, 1965 in Edmonton , Alberta , † August 8, 1992 in Quebec City , Quebec ) was a Canadian ice hockey player . As a classic enforcer , the right winger completed 285 games for the Canadiens de Montréal , Toronto Maple Leafs , Washington Capitals and Nordiques de Québec in the National Hockey League . He won the Stanley Cup with the Canadiens in the 1986 playoffs . He died at the age of 27 after years of drug use .

Career

John Kordic played in his youth for the Edmonton Pats in his hometown, before moving to the Portland Winter Hawks in the Western Hockey League (WHL), the highest-ranking junior league in the region, for the 1982/83 season . With the Winter Hawks, he won the Memorial Cup in his first year as a host before he was selected in the 1983 NHL Entry Draft in 78th position by the Canadiens de Montréal . He then played for two more years in the youth field, where he moved to the Seattle Breakers in exchange for Jim Agnew during the 1984/85 season.

In 1985, Kordic made the leap into the professional field, where he was only converted into a winger and enforcer , so he had previously played in the junior field as a defender. With the Canadiens he won the Stanley Cup as a rookie in the 1986 playoffs at the end of his first season . At the same time, he was a regular member of their farm team , the Canadiens de Sherbrooke , in the American Hockey League (AHL) and won the 1985 AHL playoffs for the Calder Cup with the team . For the 1987/88 season, the Canadian established himself in Montréals NHL squad, but was given in the following year in November 1988, including a six- round vote in the NHL Entry Draft 1989 to the Toronto Maple Leafs . In return, the Canadiens received Russ Courtnall .

In the Maple Leafs jersey, Kordic was suspended for ten games in December 1988 after breaking Keith Acton's nose with a cross-check in a game against the Edmonton Oilers . In the 1989/90 season, the attacker placed second in the league with 252 penalty minutes behind Brian Curran , although he had only played 55 games. From Toronto he was sent in January 1991 with Paul Fenton to the Washington Capitals , which transferred a five-round right to vote for the 1991 NHL Entry Draft to the Maple Leafs. With the Capitals, he ended the season, but received no further contract, so he joined the Nordiques de Québec as a free agent in October 1991 . There the Canadian ran until December 1991, but subsequently switched to the Edmonton Oilers, who equipped him with an AHL contract and used until the end of the season with the Cape Breton Oilers .

In total, Kordic had completed 285 NHL games and recorded 42 scorer points and 1128 penalty minutes.

Circumstances of death

On the evening of August 8, 1992, Kordic rented a room at the Maxim motel in L'Ancienne-Lorette , Québec . In the course of the evening he was noticed there for his extremely aggressive behavior, for example he destroyed parts of his room furnishings and insulted the staff. When two police officers who had been summoned failed to calm Kordic down, he was overpowered and arrested after seven other officers arrived. Because of his agitated behavior, an ambulance was called to take him to Laval University hospital . On the way there he suffered cardiac arrest , as a result of which he was pronounced dead 30 minutes after arriving at the clinic, despite cardiopulmonary resuscitation . The autopsy listed acute heart failure as the cause of death. Kordic was buried in his native Edmonton.

After his death, it was revealed that Kordic had been using anabolic steroids ("anabolic steroids") for a long time to fulfill his role on the ice. At the time of his death, his body weight is said to have been over ten kilograms more than was officially listed at games. 40 syringes and about eight bottles of steroids were found in his hotel room, while various puncture sites were found in the autopsy. In addition, it was reported that the Canadian was addicted to cocaine and regularly consumed large amounts of alcohol , so that a combination of all three drugs was discussed by the police when he died. His cocaine and alcohol problems were known within the NHL, so he was encouraged by the Maple Leafs in the summer of 1990 to undergo therapy , while the Capitals had suspended him twice and referred him to a rehab clinic in Minnesota . Last but not least, his fiancée also reported on depressive episodes , especially after the death of his father in 1989.

His life is treated in the book "The John Kordic Story - The Fight of his Life" written by Mark Zwolinski.

Achievements and Awards

Career statistics

Regular season Playoffs
season team league Sp T V Pt +/- SM Sp T V Pt +/- SM
1982/83 Portland Winter Hawks WHL 72 3 22nd 25th 235 14th 1 6th 7th 30th
1983 Portland Winter Hawks Memorial Cup 4th 0 1 1 6th
1983/84 Portland Winter Hawks WHL 67 9 50 59 232 14th 0 13 13 56
1984/85 Portland Winter Hawks WHL 25th 6th 22nd 28 73 - - - - - -
1984/85 Seattle Breakers WHL 46 17th 36 53 154 - - - - - -
1984/85 Canadiens de Sherbrooke AHL 4th 0 0 0 4th 4th 0 0 0 11
1985/86 Canadiens de Sherbrooke AHL 68 3 14th 17th 238 - - - - - -
1985/86 Canadiens de Montréal NHL 5 0 1 1 +1 12 18th 0 0 0 -2 53
1986/87 Canadiens de Sherbrooke AHL 10 4th 4th 8th 49 - - - - - -
1986/87 Canadiens de Montréal NHL 44 5 6th 8th –7 151 11 2 0 2 +1 19th
1987/88 Canadiens de Montréal NHL 60 2 6th 8th ± 0 159 7th 2 2 4th +1 26th
1988/89 Canadiens de Montréal NHL 6th 0 0 0 -1 13 - - - - - -
1988/89 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 46 1 2 3 -13 185 - - - - - -
1989/90 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 55 9 4th 13 -8th 252 5 0 1 1 -1 33
1990/91 Newmarket Saints AHL 8th 1 1 2 79 - - - - - -
1990/91 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 3 0 0 0 ± 0 9 - - - - - -
1990/91 Washington Capitals NHL 7th 0 0 0 +1 101 - - - - - -
1991/92 Nordiques de Québec NHL 18th 0 2 2 -3 115 - - - - - -
1991/92 Cape Breton Oilers AHL 12 2 1 3 ± 0 141 5 0 1 1 -3 53
WHL overall 210 35 130 165 694 28 1 19th 20th 86
AHL total 102 10 20th 30th 511 9 0 1 1 64
NHL overall 244 17th 18th 35 -30 997 41 4th 3 7th -1 131

family

His brother Dan Kordic was also active in the NHL in the 1990s. His niece Nicole Gass is also an ice hockey player and represented Switzerland at the 2018 Winter Olympics .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Jon Scher: Death Of a Goon. si.com, August 24, 1992, accessed June 11, 2018 .
  2. ↑ a b Joe Lapointe: He Skated on the Ice, Then Fell Through It. Nytimes.com, August 17, 1992, accessed June 11, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Kordic, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kordic, John Nick (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian ice hockey player
DATE OF BIRTH March 22, 1965
PLACE OF BIRTH Edmonton , Alberta , Canada
DATE OF DEATH August 8, 1992
Place of death Quebec City , Quebec , Canada