User:Majora4/draft

Bryan Charles Fogarty (June 11, 1969 – March 6, 2002) was a Canadian ice hockey defenceman who played for the Quebec Nordiques, Pittsburgh Penguins and Montreal Canadiens.

He set several records while in the junior leagues and was a high draft choice in the National Hockey League (NHL).

However, his hockey career was marred by persistent alcohol and drug use, which prevented him from playing a full season at any point and led to him being frequently traded.

Brantford Minor Hockey Association coordinator Bob Coyne said that Fogarty's hockey skills were apparent "from day one."

Coyne compared Fogarty to Wayne Gretzky, who had also grown up in Brantford, saying "[Gretsky's] game was outsmarting everybody else. Fogarty's game was outperforming everybody else."

Fogarty was born in 1969 in Brantford, Ontario to parents Tom and Virginia, the youngest of five.

He had two sisters and two brothers.

According to Ken Campbell, Fogarty started drinking at age 14.

When Fogarty was 15 he was already playing with players who were much older than him due to his exceptional skill level, and would frequent bars and strip clubs with the older players.

During his time with the Kingston Canadians he was nicknamed "Tippy" because, according to teammate Marc Laforge, "he was always tipsy".

Over the next few years, Fogarty's alcoholism and drug addiction worsened.

Fogarty was an Ontario Hockey League (OHL) superstar in the late 1980s.

As a youth, Fogarty played in the 1982 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a minor ice hockey team from Brantford.

He was chosen first overall in the 1985 OHL draft by Ken Slater of the Kingston Canadians, ahead of future NHLers Adam Graves (sixth), Bryan Marchment (12th), Brendan Shanahan (13th), and Jody Hull (14th).

Scouts heaped praise upon Fogarty for his hockey sense and puck control.

Combined with his 6'2" 205 pound frame, Fogarty's skills made him one of the best junior players in Canadian hockey history.

Fogarty was drafted ninth overall by the Quebec Nordiques in 1987, six spots before Joe Sakic.

He lasted parts of three seasons in Quebec, then he was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

He signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning as a free agent, and later the Montreal Canadiens, Buffalo Sabres and Chicago Blackhawks, without actually playing for Tampa, Buffalo or Chicago.

Fogarty also spent a fair amount of time in the minors, playing in Halifax, New Haven, Muskegon, Cleveland, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Kansas City, Minnesota and Detroit.

He also played in Europe; in Davos, Milan and Hanover.

Both records still stand, as does his single game record for most assists by a defenceman (8), which he accomplished twice in the same season (1988–89).

After breaking Bobby Orr's 23-year-old record for goals (38) by a defenceman in a season and Cam Plante's Canadian junior record for points (140) in a season by a defenceman with 155 in 60 games with the Niagara Falls Thunder, he was named Canadian Major Junior Hockey Player of the Year in 1989.

Fogarty maintains the distinction of recording the last natural hat trick in Quebec Nordiques franchise history when he scored three straight goals on December 1, 1990, in a 4–2 home win over the Sabres.

He was the first Nordiques defenseman to record a hat trick.

In February of 1991, Fogarty checked into a rehab center in Minneapolis, where he met John Kordic.

Nordiques general manager Pierre Pagé extended a job offer to Kordic, on the condition that he stay sober and off cocaine.

Pagé also made arrangements for Kordic and Fogarty to be roommates at the rehab center, hoping they could help each other stay sober.

In the fall and winter of 1991, Fogarty stayed clean with the help of Kordic.

In January 1992, Kordic began using drugs again and died of a heart attack in August of that year.

Even though they had drifted apart towards the end of Kordic's life, Fogarty still blamed himself for Kordic's death, feeling like he had failed as a friend.

In November 1992 he said "It opened my eyes. When you know someone that close with the same kind of problems — it showed what can happen."

Around that same time, Pagé made a deal with Fogarty.

In 1999 Fogarty attempted a much-publicized comeback with the Toronto Maple Leafs' affiliate, the St. John's Maple Leafs.

He lasted 3 regular season games with them before being released.

In all he played nine seasons of pro hockey in seven leagues for 17 teams, retiring in 2001.

In a 2012 interview with ESPN magazine, Ron Tugnutt, Fogarty's teammate with the Nordiques, shared a story about an incident that happened around 1990 which made the team much more concerned about Fogarty.

Several team members stayed out late drinking one night and Fogarty had drank a lot, and the team worried he might not make it to practice the next day.

However, Fogarty was the first to the rink and "skat[ed] circles around people" during practice.

Tugnutt recalls, "If I drank like he did [that] night, I wouldn't be able to drag myself out of bed in the morning. But it wasn't affecting him. That's when we all became more concerned."