Chris Simon Clean and Sober
Date: March 10, 1996
Author: Adrian Dater, Denver Post Sports Writer
SUNDAY FOCUS
It was a typically bitter-cold night in Hull, Quebec, on December 22, 1991, when 19-year-old Chris Simon and his faithful but insidious companion walked toward one of the noisy honkey-tonks in town.
Simon's companion was alcohol, and whenever those two got together, a third party named trouble was never far behind.
"I'd been drinking that night, and it started with one guy, then two guys, then three guys, and it ended up being five guys," Simon said. "They started mouthing off to me, and I started back."
A five-against-one brawl ensued. After it ended, Simon and all of his opponents spent most of the remaining night in the hospital.
"I got beat up really bad, and the next thing you know, I said, 'Ah that's it. No more drinking.'" said Simon, who had been on break from his junior hockey team in Sault St. Marie, Ontario at the time.
Simon's father, John, worked the dingy ore mines in Wawa, Ontario, and was a recovered alcoholic for nearly eight years at the time. He didn't want to see his son become his partner in the mines.
"He kept saying to me, 'You know, the more you keep drinking, the worse things are going to get. Until you decide that's the end, it's going to keep getting worse.'" Simon said.
"Whenever my father speaks, he doesn't speak for nothing. He says things when they mean something, and I really listened to him. But still, I was fighting it."
Simon's deceptive friend in a bottle talked him out of ending their relationship. His physical wounds quickly healed, but at the same time, a fresh shield of denial went up.
Eight days later, on New Year's Eve, Simon was back in Sault St. Marie with his Greyhounds teammates. A party was taking place at the team hotel, and some nearly 1,000 revelers started trashing the place.
Simon, who'd had a couple of drinks but said he wasn't intoxicated, was seen kicking an exit sign on the ground by a couple policemen walking up some stairs. He was charged with vandalism and spent New Year's Eve in a jail cell. Scared out of his mind, he remembered his father's words.
This time, the simple truth hit home. While others celebrated into the wee hours on a traditional night of imbibing, Simon sat in a cold jail cell and resolved that New Year's Eve would be his last evening spent with a bottle.
"I was really embarrassed. That's when I said, 'That's it.'" said
Simon, who later was found not guilty on the vandalism charges.
He hasn't had a drink since. With the help of his family, teammates,
and current Buffalo Sabres coach Ted Nolan, the Colorado Avalanche
wing has beaten the alcohol that came close to beating him.
But he knows that his former friend will always be lurking and
willing to take him back.
When he thinks about how close the booze came to sending him off the
ice and into the dark mines back home, the otherwise fearless 24-year-
old shudders.
"I took a tour of them once. Oh, God, you wouldn't believe it. It's
gross," Simon said. "For me to be where I am today, I need to be
without drinking. That's what keeps me going, and I'm happy now. I
don't have anything to complain about."
And despite his father's bout with alcoholism and not growing up with
much money, Simon's childhood also was relatively complaint-free.
John Simon is an Ojibway Indian. When his bid for an NHL career
fizzled out at the semipro level, he moved to Wawa- an Indian name
that means "Land of the Wild Goose." He married Linda, a white
Canadian woman, when both were just 18.
Chris and his sister Charlee grew up not on a reservation but in a
close, middle-class home in a typical neighborhood.
Simon still vividly recalls the time he spent with his mother's
father.
"My mom and dad worked a lot when I was growing up, but my grandpa on
my mother's side was retired and was a trapper," Simon said. "He
used
to take me with him when I was 1 1/2 or 2 years old and I couldn't
even walk. He'd put me in the pack-sack and take me out ice-fishing
and trapping. It was mostly just wolves and foxes. We didn't go after
the bears too much. But I know how to do all that now, and I love it."
At about 4 years old, Simon laced his first pair of ice skates and
fell in love with hockey. From then until he left home at 14 to play
bantam hockey in Sault St. Marie, Simon was the best player in Wawa.
"I was like Joe Sakic or Peter Forsberg are now." Simon said.
"I was
a finesse player and scored a lot of goals. I was just average size,
but... for the next couple of years (after I left home), I grew a
lot."
His body grew, but his hockey skills and coordination took awhile to
catch up. Often he looked plain clumsy at Sault St. Marie and later
at Ottawa, where he played major junior hockey in the Ontario Hockey
League.
Simon and Ottawa coach Brian Killrea knew Simon would have to change
his game to get to the next level.
"He told me at the time that the fastest way to make it to the NHL
was to either be a power forward or a referee." Simon said. "He
said,
'I think you should be a power forward.'"
That's when Simon's transformation into a fighter began. Although he
boasted some good offensive numbers (36 goals, 38 assists in 57 games
for Ottawa in 1989-90), Simon began gaining a reputation more as a
fighter.
Not coincidentally, that's also when the drinking and the
confrontations with strangers began.
"I just started getting in trouble," Simon said. "People would
start
challenging me in bars. I had nothing against those people, but I
wasn't going to back down from anyone."
"But it was stupid, because I know now that when I'm not drunk and
when I'm sober, nobody's going to make me do anything I don't want to
do."
"I know that when I'm living a sober life, I don't want to be hurting
people or getting hurt away from my job. If it happens on the ice,
then that's fine because it's not against the law. You get your five
minutes and then you get out of the (penalty) box."
Simon showed enough promise at Ottawa for Philadelphia to make him
the 25th overall pick in the 1990 NHL entry draft. Simon kept up his
play in the minors, even as his drinking became more of a problem.
After hitting bottom, Simon finally reached out for help and found
plenty of it. Particularly from Nolan, also an Ojibway, who was
coaching Sault St. Marie.
"I owe that guy so much," said Simon, who also attended Alcoholics
Anonymous. "He is a great guy and I'll always admire him."
Nolan's feelings are mutual. "I'm so proud of Chris and all he's
overcome. He's a tremendous young man who had a few problems, but who
showed that hard work and the desire to turn things around will do
just that. He had caring people around him, but the bottom line is
that he had to go through this himself."
Now in his fourth season in the Avalanche organization, Simon also is
overcoming his image as a fighter on the ice.
His stickhandling and passing often have been superb. And because his
fighting skills are so feared around the league, he gets into fewer
fights.
He has 10 goals this season, which started with a contract holdout
that kept him off the ice through the first seven regular-season
games. He signed a one-year contract worth about $500,000, but many
think he could make close to double that next year.
"A lot of the guys were sitting around in the dressing room talking
about how they couldn't believe how strong he was in front of the
net," Los Angeles goalie Byron Dafoe said. "He's a huge asset to
that
club."
Some have speculated that Simon might want to sign with Buffalo and
play for Nolan next season, but Simon said he wants to stay with the
Avalanche.
"I love playing for (Avalanche coach) Marc Crawford." he said.
"He's
given me such an opportunity to play. He could esily say, 'You just
sit on the bench and go out and hit a few guys and get in a fight.'
But he puts me on the power play and in important situations at the
end of a game. I have to give him a lot of credit. The coaching staff
here is great."
And so are his teammates, Simon said, particularly concerning his
recovery. "They've shown a lot of respect toward me about not
drinking. They don't tease me or offer it to me. They know I don't
drink and that I have a problem with it. We've got really mature guys
on this team and they really help me a lot." he said.
All Simon wants to do with the rest of his life is play as long as he
can in the NHL, then retire to the woods of Wawa to fish and trap.
"If you ever go through Wawa and ask anyone where I am, they'll
probably tell you I'm on the lake fishing somewhere. I go pretty much
every day, rain or shine. You get out there on a lake and there's no
one around you- it's unbelievable." Simon said.
"When I'm done playing, I'm either going to open a hunting and
fishing camp or just do it on my own, like a private guide. I like
teaching them what to do and what not to."
But Simon could be a treasure of things much more important than
fishing.
"My philosophy about life is, 'Don't ever give up.'" he said.
"No
matter what you're going through, there's help put there."
And Simon could offer advice on picking your friends.
Thanks for digging this up, Ace!