It is fitting in many ways that John Kordic spent most of his NHL hockey career fighting. Every night, John battled the toughest guys exceling in hockey's darker side which we in North America consider part of the game. However, John was drawn to the darker side of life too. His pension for sex, drugs, and alcohol were hardly a secret to those around him in the NHL. If hockey does indeed, reflect life and everyday struggles of people, it never did show so clearly as it did with player John Kordic.
Growing up and playing hockey in Edmonton, he was a player who moved the puck well, skated well and scored. Just look at his stats at the end of the 1984-85 season. He was the highest scoring defenceman on the Sherbrook Canadiens, Montreal's minor league club. He was a good caring person. "But then something when wrong," says John's mother Regina Kordic. "He started using nothing but his fists, after a while, I didn't recognize my kid." After being drafted in the 5th round by Montreal and spending time in the minors, would do anything to break onto the NHL. While in the minors, he started using his fists as well as his puck-handling abilities. Maybe a little too much. He caught the attention of Montreal who called him up in time to play in the '86 playoffs. But he was supposed to fill a special role: that of the team enforcer. Two months later, he was wearing a Stanely Cup ring.
But Kordic did not want to fight even though he felt he had to. "I know why I'm here. It's no secret what I do. If you look at my stats...there's always been more PIM's than PTS's," he would say. And many times was subject to disapproving phone calls from his father, even after games which they won. His Dad, who supported his son's hockey abitions never accepted John's fighting in hockey.
"He beat the best fighters in the league," says Jean Perron, his coach in Montreal from 85-87. "Nobody could take John Kordic. The fans would chant his name in the forum Kor-dic! Kor-dic!". But Perron was a witness to many instances of John crying into the phone. "How many times did I see John Kordic crying into a phone after a game that we won? I would say 'John we won the game! What's the problem?' and he would say 'my father watched the game, I fought, he doesn't accept it, and I don't know what to do.' I would say 'John, you have a job in the NHL but if you improve your skills you will get more ice time and maybe fighting will become a second asset in your career." However, that summer of '86, he started to use steroids to get bigger because he was under pressure to fight in hockey. He felt he had to in order to survive as a fighter in the NHL. At training camp at the beginning of the 1986-87 season Perron was alarmed at what he saw. "I couldn't believe it," Perron said. "How could you bulk youself up the way he did? He was all bucked up, I mean four months earlier he was playing at a weight of 205 and then all of a sudden he's playing at 225...I got phone calls saying that he was on steroids and people were asking me to look after him." The fact that he was disapointing his Dad really upset him, and yet he was afraid NOT to fight. But Perron says, "He said he didn't want to fight, but he actully loved to fight. He loved the attention and the only way for him to attract attention was to fight."
But John's sister Toni swears his brother's inner conflict was true. "He hated fighting but he felt he had to into order for him to keep his job." The facts seem to say that he wanted to be a player, not just a fighter, but his coaches would refuse to play him in that capacity. He had even expressed his desire to change his game from fighting to scoring in 1988 to the Canadiens' management. As his then coach Pat Burns says, "It's difficult to keep up the tough guy image, and if you don't, people don't want you around anymore."
Pressure on being the fighter Fueled by this sense of confusion, pressure, and low self-esteem, he then started using cocaine frequently, while playing for the Canadians, who traded him to Toronto in fall of '88. The fact that he was disappointing his family had driven him to drugs and alcohol. While in Toronto things hardly improved. He was suspended for 10 games for breaking Keith Acton's nose with his stick in the fall of '88. While he was serving that suspention, off the ice he was getting into trouble. Toronto police tipped off the Maple Leafs Management saying that Kordic was hanging out with a bad element downtown and was drinking heavy. He got into fights with his teamates and slumped into depression. In the 1989-90 season Kordic had 9 goals, the most he ever scored in an NHL season along with 252 penalty minutes in 55 games. Trapped in a role he didn't want and feeling failure for letting down his father for having to use his fists to make his living, John began to lose his self-esteem and self-respect. He never got the chance to make peace with his father, who died in '89. This feeling that he had somehow failed his father, seemed to push John off a psychological cliff. His cocaine habit snowballed. He began to miss practices, even games without permission. He was hanging out with bums and prostitutes late into the night. But he had chronic money problems and at least twice asked the Leafs for an advance on his salary. Finally, Toronto traded him to Washington in '91. Kordic proceeded to play 7 games for the Capitals, scored no goals or assists, racked up 101 PIMs, was suspended twice for alcohol related offenses and then he was released.
His Last Bow After another stint in a substance abuse center, he begged for a job with Quebec, who took him on stringent terms that he would undergo drug testing regularly. He played 19 game for the Nordiques, had 2 assists and spent 115 minutes in the box. His brother, Dan broke into the league that year with the Flyers. John was so jealous of his brother, for whatever reason, (maybe it was him not having to become a fighter to make in into the league), that he began envisioning his encounters with his brother on the ice. "That little shit, I'm going to kick his ass, he thinks he's better that me," he would tell his fiancee. After she calmed him down he would finally admit that he loved his brother, but didn't know how to show it. I have a tape of one of John's fights and right before the face-off, the two brothers are there, speaking harshly to one another. The tension between them is so obvious, it's rather sad. And it would be one of John Kordic's last hockey fights. He tested positive in January '92 and was thrown off the Quebec team.
The Violent End John would die that summer in a hotel room in a fit of rage in Quebec City alone with steriods, cocaine, and alcohol. No fewer than NINE policemen were called his hotel room the night of his death. He struggled, screamed, and raged until his last breath. Even though the circumstances surrounding his death were cryptic, he died from an overdose of cocaine. His former coach in Montreal would say, "John Kordic died the way he lived, very dangerously". One can't help but feel for John. He was suffering from low self-esteem because he felt he wasn't measuring up to his parents expectations. And he had a genuine inner conflict. He didn't want to fight, but he knew what he had to do to keep his job. Whether in business, relationships, or sports, yes, everyone has a role, but you must believe in yourself. John Kordic certainly didn't. No one desevres to die with that little self-respect. The violent death of a man who played a violent game and lost everything.
Down
the Same Road? : His Brother Dan His brother
Dan is still playing with the Philadelphia Flyers and
seems to have changed HIS game to fighting as well. Early
into the 96-97 season he has the most fights and penalty
minutes of any Flyer this year. What can he be trying to
prove by changing his game? Dan Kordic was a gifted
defenceman. However late last season(1995-96), he was
moved to the left wing as a fighter. You would think he
would learn from his brother's sorrowful experience. Is
this really what he wants to do? I have recieved several
emails on this subject that all seem to agree, Dan is now
there to fight.
Another thing the buzzes me off is that no one seems to remember about his brother's story or all the announcers and press seem to ignore it. The NHL wants to hush it up and unfortunately they have been successful. The NHL did not have a drug program in place that was geared to help the players, instead, it was geared to avoiding the issue. You take drugs? Automatic 40 game (half a season) suspension, period. Only recently, as of 10/2/96 has the NHL changed its drug policy. It the words of Don Cherry, who is an advocator of tough play, "It is demeaning for a human being to sit on a bench for most of the game and be thrown out on the ice only to fight like a mad dog". This tale is well documented in a bootleg tape which I purchased. His story deserves to be told. If you would like to order a tape, it's called the "John Kordic Documentary", call Tough Guys Hockey Fight Tape at: (215)-637-3859
Year Team GP G A Pts. PIM
___________________________________________________________
1985-86 Montreal 5 0 1 1 12
1986-87 Montreal 44 5 3 8 151
1987-88 Montreal 60 2 6 8 159
1988-89 Montreal/Toronto 52 1 2 3 198
1989-90 Toronto 55 9 4 13 252
1990-91 Toronto 3 0 0 0 9
1990-91 Washington 7 0 0 0 101
1991-92 Quebec 19 0 2 2 115
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Totals 245 17 18 35 997
Playoffs 41 4 3 7 131