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NHL great to speak at Addictions Awareness event
kiʔsuk kyukyit
ʔakisq̓nuk First Nation and Shuswap Band present An Evening with Theo Fleury on November 13 at 6 p.m. at the Columbia Valley Centre in Invermere.
Fleury will be speaking in relation to National Addictions Awareness Week 2018.
Fleury, 50, concluded his NHL career in 2003, playing more than 1,000 games and producing more than 1,000 points to place him in the top 75 in scoring all-time in the NHL.
A Stanley Cup winner with the Calgary Flames in 1989 and Olympic gold medalist with Team Canada in 2002, Fleury was a player who bucked the trend at the time – bigger is better. At 5’6” and 180 pounds, the fast and skilled Fleury was the tiniest player in the league but his feistiness and fearlessness translated into excellent results season-after-season.
However, Fleury was a troubled man as he moved from the Flames to the Colorado Avalanche to the New York Rangers and Chicago Blackhawks during his 14-year NHL career, fighting demons with alcohol and drugs.
In 2009 he released his autobiography ‘Playing with Fire,’ which recounted his trials and tribulations, most notably that he was sexually abused by former junior hockey coach Graham James, as was fellow teammate Sheldon Kennedy.
Among many other things, including being a recording artist, Fleury has become an advocate for sexual abuse victims, speaking all over North America.
His is an inspiring story of a boy and a man who overcame challenge after challenge, stumbled, fell down… but got back up again.
The Evening with Theo Fleury is free admission but Columbia Valley Food Bank donations are requested.
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