Oilers’ Fuhr Admits Longtime Cocaine Problem : Hockey: Goalie has completed treatment after telling Sather of a seven-year bout with drug.

Goaltender Grant Fuhr of the Edmonton Oilers used cocaine for about seven years, but says he has been drug-free since spending two weeks in a substance-abuse center last summer, according to the Edmonton Journal.

The paper reported Friday that Fuhr at first had lied to Oiler General Manager Glen Sather--who had confronted him several times about possible substance abuse--saying, “It’s not something you tell your boss.”

According to the newspaper, Sather confirmed that Fuhr had tested positive in a private test former agent Rich Winter pressed him to take and was treated for cocaine abuse at the Straight Center in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Sather said that Fuhr broke down when confronted about his cocaine use by Canadian police in Sather’s office a few years ago.

Fuhr, 28, would not answer questions about cocaine, saying only that he had used a “substance” once every three or four weeks but hasn’t touched it since he left the center.

“I was trying to get my life straightened around,” Fuhr said. “I wasn’t happy.”

Sather said Fuhr tested negative for cocaine three times in the last year.

Fuhr said he expected to be suspended for his admissions. Sather said he had already contacted NHL President John Ziegler.

Ziegler, in a statement Friday, said the league had begun an investigation after receiving information indicating that Fuhr “had admitted using an illegal drug.”

“No further comment will be made until the investigation, and, if necessary, hearing process is completed,” the statement said.

A hearing was set for Sept. 26.

Sather said that Fuhr will not accompany the team today when it leaves for an exhibition tour of West Germany and Austria, but that he will report to training camp in Edmonton Sept. 7.

Ziegler said that, pending the investigation and appeal, Fuhr can play in exhibition games but not regular-season games.

Fuhr said he was introduced to the substance by friends and continued using it because “it was the ‘in thing’ to do, part of being the crowd.” He said the friends were not teammates.

Corrine Fuhr, Fuhr’s former wife, said he had used cocaine heavily since she met him in 1983 but had always tried to hide it from her and his teammates.

Oiler forward Esa Tikkanen described seeing a drug dealer toss Fuhr a bag of cocaine in a bar last year, the newspaper said.

Sather said he first confronted the goalie in 1983 or 1984 about a possible drug problem, which Fuhr repeatedly denied.

“I said to him, ‘I’ve got all kinds of reasons to believe you are doing it,’ ” said Sather, who suggested Fuhr enter a drug-treatment center.

Corrine Fuhr told the Journal that she watched her former husband snort cocaine in a city nightclub while they were dating. She said the evidence of his cocaine problem was unmistakable after their marriage in September, 1983.

While Fuhr was leading the Oilers to their first Stanley Cup in the 1984 playoffs, drug dealers were calling his home, threatening him with physical violence if he didn’t come up with cash, she said.

During the six years they were together, Corrine Fuhr said she dealt with an endless stream of phone calls from drug dealers. She recalled finding drugs in Fuhr’s clothes after all-night cocaine sessions and finding the drug hidden in their house on several occasions.

The couple separated in September, 1989. Fuhr remarried last weekend, but he and Corrine have shared custody of their two daughters.

Fuhr joined Edmonton in 1981-82 and has been an integral part of a team that has produced five Stanley Cup championships in the last seven seasons. He won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s outstanding goaltender in 1988.

Last season, the Oilers’ top goalie was Bill Ranford, who played in 56 regular-season games and all but one of their 23 playoff games. Because of injury, Fuhr played in only 21 games, posting a 3.89 goals-against average and one shutout.

Corrine Fuhr said she doubts Fuhr ever played a game while high but said his cocaine use definitely affected his play.

“If it would happen this night, then the game the next day he would have a good day, but the one after that he would have a brutal one,” she said. “It would be a game later that the effects would show up.”