Over at SI.com, Adrian Dater has a fascinating look at smoking in the NHL. While it’s almost unheard of for current NHL players to smoke cigarettes, that wasn’t always the case, and Dater took an in-depth look at how things used to be. In some locker rooms, ashtrays used to be commonplace, and a large percentage of players would light up before, after and even during games.
Smoking In The NHL Used To Be Quite Common
Take this anecdote about Al Iafrate and his blowtorch.
"I remember my first NHL exhibition game as an assistant with Philly [in 1990]," says Ken Hitchcock, who now coaches the St. Louis Blues. "We were in Washington, and I went to give the lineup to the referees and you had to walk by the Washington dressing room. And Al Iafrate was lighting up with a blowtorch for bending sticks. Coming from junior hockey, I found that rather unique."
The trend of players smoking in all sports has waned -- Dater also discusses reasons for that in his story -- but the look back at how things used to be is certainly an interesting exploration of an offbeat piece of NHL history. Read the rest over at SI.com.
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