Former NHL goaltender Malarchuk shares message of hope

Every year the scholarship breakfast includes a guest speaker.

This year it was former NHL goaltender Clint Malarchuk.

He shared a powerful message for those struggling with depression and PTSD —- post traumatic stress disorder.

Clint Malarchuk lived every Canadian kids dream —— to play and star in the NHL.

But long before Malarchuk broke into the NHL he was already being confronted by demons.

“Many, many years ago, people did’nt talk about this kind of thing.” says Jean Malarchuk, Clint’s mother. “There was a great stigma attached, and you don’t realize what’s going on. He was hospitalized at the age of 11 —- they called it anxiety.”

Clint Malarchuk went on to excel in minor and junior hockey and was drafted into the NHL.

All the time, secretly inside, the demons.

March 22, 1989 life changed for Malarchuk —– a skate connected with Malarchuk’s throat and cut his jugular vein.

In seconds, he had lost nearly a third of the blood in his body.

He thought he was going to die —- on the ice, as blood gushed from his neck, Malarchuk ask his team trainer to hold onto his hand while he passed to the beyond.

He survived and less than two weeks later was back on the ice — physically scarred with 300 stitches to his neck, but worse, even more emotionally scarrred.

Thirty years ago there was no support system — you were an athlete, suck it up, and get back out there.

“After my accident in 1989, with the Buffalo Sabres, that’s when it spiralled.” says Malarchuk. “I did’nt know I had PTSD from it. I was having nightmares, I wasn’t sleeping —- things really got bad for me.”

As the years went on, it manifested.

In February 2008 Richard Zednik of the Florida Panthers suffered a similar injury, and once again Malarchuk relived the nightmare of what had happened to him nine years earlier.

“That opened it up, and that’s what really got me spiralling down again.” says Malarchuk. “I was drinking, trying to self medicate. I eventually pulled a gun out, and put a bullett in my head.”

The bullet went through the roof of Malarchuk’s mouth, lodged in his sinus pathway, stopping damage to his eyes and brain.

To this day the bullett remains lodged near his forehead.

” ……………..You know, I’m not embarassed.” says Malarchuk. “God saved me for those who are still suffering. I’ve got a bullett in my head. I should be dead.”

Clint Malarchuk survived the suicide attempt.

Others haven’t been as fortunate.

Our investigation of documented suicides by hockey players shows four before 1990 —– Since 1995 there have been fifteen, over half of those former NHL players —- most recently Greg Johnson this summer.

Malarchuk says more needs to be done by the NHL and NHLPA.

“When you’re done, you’re done. They’re not there to help you, and it’s a lot of our former players that need the help —- not the current players.”

After his two near death experiences and years of struggling with depression and PTSD, Clint Malarchuk has joined an increasing number of high profile individuals, who are sharing their own experience in reaching out to help those who are going through the same thing, and to recognize their issues and not be afraid to ask for help, before it’s too late.

“People like myself, Corey Hirsch, Sheldon Kennedy —- being out there, very public about these issues that they’ve gone through, struggled with. Celebrities, actors, actresses who have come out about their problems.” says Malarchuk

“Kids need it.” says Clint’s mother Jean. “People need to know where they can go —- it’s a message of hope.”

by Earl Seitz

Former NHL goaltender Malarchuk shares message of hope

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