John kordic biography
- John Nicolas Kordic (March 22, 1965 – August 8, 1992) was a Canadian ice hockey player in the National Hockey League.
- John Nicolas Kordic was a Canadian ice hockey player in the National Hockey League.
- John Kordic made his living as an enforcer as a member of the National Hockey League's Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs (plus a few games with the.
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The John Kordic Story: The Fight of His Life
Adored by his fans and feared by his opponents, John Kordic was the bad
boy of major-league hockey—the designated “goon” on every
professional team for which he played. He was also addicted to alcohol
and drugs, and died under mysterious circumstances at the age of 27, his
death officially attributed to a drug overdose. How a career that had
started with so much promise and success fizzled in a haze of booze and
cocaine is the subject of this book.
Journalist Mark Zwolinski traces Kordic’s life from minor-hockey
days, to junior hockey in the Western Hockey League, to the minors and
majors with the Canadiens, Maple Leafs, Capitals, and Nordiques.
Kordic’s supportive family did not condone the fighting promoted by
his junior coaches, but Kordic enjoyed the adulation that came with
being a successful scrapper. His involvement with drugs and alcohol, and
his wild lifestyle, was common knowledge among hockey insiders. As
portrayed by Zwolinski, the National Hockey League and many team coaches
an
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The Making of 'Death of a Goon': How SI Got The Story of a Hockey Player's Tragic Fate
A version of this story appears in the Aug. 14, 2017 issue of SPORTS ILLUSTRATED. To subscribe to the magazine, click here.
On Aug. 8, 1992, police in Quebec City were called to the motel room of a 27-year-old with a history of cocaine and steroid abuse who was causing a disturbance. It took nine officers to subdue the 6' 2", 238-pound man and get him into an ambulance. He died shortly after arriving at the hospital. His name was John Kordic, a minor league hockey player who just six years before had lived every Canadian kid’s dream by winning a Stanley Cup, with Montreal.
SPORTS ILLUSTRATED made no mention of Kordic’s passing in its next issue, but it came back with an investigative piece the following week that explored Kordic’s brief and troubled life and the circumstances of his passing. It was called “Death of a Goon.” Here, the principals involved with the story—the writer, Jon Scher, now an editor at ESPN.com; hockey editor Paul Fichtenbaum, now the chief content officer of The
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John Kordic
Canadian ice hockey player (1965–1992)
Ice hockey player
John Nicolas Kordic (March 22, 1965 – August 8, 1992) was a Canadian ice hockey player in the National Hockey League.
Hockey career
Kordic played for the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Washington Capitals and Quebec Nordiques, for a total of seven seasons in the NHL. He won the Memorial Cup with the Portland Winter Hawks in 1983, the Calder Cup with the Sherbrooke Canadiens in 1985, and a Stanley Cup with the Montreal Canadiens in 1986.[1] While playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs, he wore No. 27, formerly worn by Leaf players Darryl Sittler and Frank Mahovlich.[2] Kordic was known as an enforcer on the ice.[1]
In 1992, he moved back to Quebec after finishing the season with the Cape Breton Oilers, and had expressed hope that he could turn his life around if he could catch on with the Oilers and play in his hometown.[3]
Death
On August 8, 1992, after overdosing on drugs and being involved in a struggle with police at Motel Maxim in L'A
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